The London Tripartite Conversations, July 29–August 2
21. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/7–2956. Top Secret; Niact. Received at 3:15 p.m. Repeated to Paris.
22. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/7–2956. Top Secret; Niact. Received at 4:03 p.m. Repeated to Paris.
23. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Secretary of State in Washington, July 29, 1956, 5:40 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–2956. Secret. Drafted by Dulles.
24. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–2956. Top Secret; Niact. Received at 7:14 p.m. Repeated to Paris.
25. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3056. Top Secret; Niact. Received at 9:27 a.m. Repeated to Paris.
27. Memorandum of Telephone Conversations Between the President and the Secretary of State, Washington, July 30, 1956
Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Bernau. During the morning of July 30, Dulles held a series of meetings with Department of State officials regarding the Suez situation and the instructions to be sent to Murphy. At 10:34 a.m. a meeting began, attended by Dulles, Hoover, Phleger, Prochnow, MacArthur, Aldrich, Rountree, Bliss, Bowie and Elbrick. Eisenhower’s call came during this meeting. (Dulles’ Appointment Book; Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers)
28. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3056. Top Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Drafted and approved by Dulles and signed by Rountree.
29. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, July 30, 1956
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 784A.56/7–3056. Secret. Drafted by Blackiston.
30. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, July 30, 1956, 4:45 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3056. Top Secret. Drafted by Kirk. A marginal notation by Kirk indicates that Hoover approved the memorandum on July 31. For additional documentation on petroleum planning and the Suez Canal, see volume X.
31. Telegram From the Embassy in Egypt to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3056. Secret; Priority. Received at 9:17 p.m. Repeated Priority to London, Moscow, and Paris.
33. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 674.84A/7–3156. Top Secret; Niact; No Other Distribution. Received at 10:17 p.m., July 30.
34. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, July 31, 1956, 9:45 a.m.
Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Top Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster.
35. Letter From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Eden
Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File. Top Secret. The source text bears the following typewritten notation: “1 copy only retained. This.” A series of telephone conversations between Eisenhower and Dulles on July 31 preceded the dispatch of this letter. At 12:55 p.m. Eisenhower telephoned Dulles to convey the substance of the letter and to ask whether it should be cabled to London or hand delivered by Dulles. The Secretary responded that it would be more effective for him to carry it. Eisenhower said that the note was to be seen only by the Secretary and the Under Secretary and that at the White House only Colonel Goodpaster had seen it and only one copy would be retained in the files. (Memoranda of telephone conversations, July 31; ibid., Eisenhower Diaries and ibid., Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations)
At 1 p.m. Dulles telephoned Eisenhower and suggested that the President not comment on the Suez situation at his press conference the next day. Eisenhower said that he would refer to the situation as serious and say that negotiations were going on and that he had sent Dulles there. (Ibid.) At 1:05 p.m. the President telephoned Dulles and said that “he feared his first version of page two intimated too strongly possibility of calling special session of Congress. He dictated revised page two to me [Ann Whitman], which was sent over barely in time for Secretary to make his scheduled departure.” (Notes by Ann Whitman; ibid., Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries) No copy of the original version of p. 2 has been found in either the Eisenhower Library or Department of State files. Dulles’ Appointment Book indicates that the Secretary was airborne for London at 2 p.m., July 31. (Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers)
37. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/7–3156. Top Secret; Priority. Received at 5:22 p.m. Repeated to Paris.
38. Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3156. Top Secret; Niact. Received at 10:23 p.m. Repeated Niact to London.
39. Message From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Mollet
Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204, The Pres. and Sec. exchanges of Corres. with DeGaulle, Mollet, Gaillard, 7/56–1/61. Secret. The text of this message was transmitted to Paris in Niact telegram 418, August 1. (Ibid., Central Files, 974.7301/8–156) Chargé Cecil B. Lyon delivered the message to Mollet at 9:50 a.m., August 2. (Telegram 576 from Paris, August 2; ibid., 711.11–EI/8–256) Ambassador Dillon had joined Dulles in London. Howe transmitted a draft of this message, a copy of telegram 549 (supra), and a copy of an August 1 New York Times article by Harold Callender to Goodpaster on August 1. (Covering memorandum dated August 1; ibid., 974.7301/7–3156)
40. Special National Intelligence Estimate
Source: Department of State, INR–NIE Files. Secret. Special National Intelligence Estimates (SNIEs) were high-level interdepartmental reports presenting authoritative appraisals of vital foreign policy problems on an immediate crisis basis. SNIEs were drafted by officers from those agencies represented on the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC), discussed and revised by interdepartmental working groups coordinated by the Office of National Estimates of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), approved by the IAC, and circulated under the aegis of the CIA to the President, appropriate officers of cabinet level, and the National Security Council. The Department of State provided all political and some economic sections of SNIEs.
41. Memorandum of a Conversation, British Foreign Office, London, August 1, 1956, noon
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3156. Top Secret. Drafted by Murphy. The source text is erroneously dated July 31. Other accounts of this meeting are in British Foreign Office, “Record of a Meeting Held in the Foreign Secretary’s Room, Foreign Office, at 12 noon on Wednesday, August 1, 1956”; “London Tripartite Conversations,” pp. 53–60 (both ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 724; and Secto 7 from London, August 1 (ibid., CF 726).
Dulles arrived in London at 9 a.m. He spent the morning at the Embassy where he conferred first with Aldrich, McCardle, Phleger, Murphy, Barbour, and Foster, and then later with Caccia, Aldrich, and Murphy. No accounts of these conversations have been found in Department of State files. (Memorandum of Secretary’s Engagements, August 1; ibid., CF 728)
42. Memorandum of a Conversation Between Prime Minister Eden and Secretary of State Dulles, 10 Downing Street, London, August 1, 1956, 12:45 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 971.7301/8–156. Top Secret. Drafted by Dulles. The time of the meeting is from “London Tripartite Conversations”, p. 60a. “London Tripartite Conversations” contains no account of this meeting but notes: “The substantive record of this meeting is filed in the Office of the Secretary of State.” (Ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 724) Presumably the memorandum of conversation printed here is the “substantive record” indicated.
43. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/8–256. Top Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Received at 8:55 p.m., August 1. Repeated to Paris.
44. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/8–256. Top Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Received at 10:04 p.m., August 1. Repeated to Paris. The outgoing copy of the telegram, ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, indicates Burdett as the drafting officer.
45. Telegram From the Embassy in Egypt to the Embassy in the United Kingdom
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/8–156. Secret; Niact. Received in the Department of State at 11:38 a.m. The source text is the copy sent to Washington.
46. Memorandum of a Conversation, 11 Downing Street, London, August 1, 1956, 6:30 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/8–156. Top Secret. Drafted by Aldrich. 11 Downing Street was Macmillan’s residence. A typewritten note at the end of the memorandum indicates: “Foregoing was drafted by Ambassador Aldrich en route from London to Washington and handed by him to Deputy Under Secretary Murphy for the record.” Murphy wrote a briefer memorandum of this meeting which contained many of the same points as Aldrich’s version. (Memorandum of conversation by Murphy, August 1; ibid., 974.7301/8–156)
47. Telegram From the Department of State to the Secretary of State, at London
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/8–156. Top Secret; Niact. Drafted by Rountree and approved and signed by Hoover.
48. Message From the Secretary of State to the President
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 684A.86/8–256. Secret. Transmitted Priority and eyes only for Hoover to the Department of State in Dulte 2 from London, August 2, 2 p.m., which is the source text. It was received at 9:57 a.m. Hoover forwarded the telegram to the White House; a copy is in the Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series.
49. Telegram From the Embassy in United Kingdom to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–LO/8–256. Top Secret; Niact; Limited Distribution. Received at 6:05 p.m. Repeated to Paris.