Office of the Historian

387. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, October 27, 1956, 11 a.m.1

White House, Washington, October 27, 1956, 11 a.m.

OTHERS PRESENT

  • Secretary Dulles
  • Under Secretary Hoover
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary William
  • Rountree
  • Colonel Goodpaster
[Page 794]

[Here follows discussion of Hungary, scheduled for publication in volume XXV.]

Discussion next turned to the Middle East and Secretary Dulles referred to the partial mobilization by the Israelis, and the danger that they might make some substantial move. In response to a question by the President, Mr. Rountree suggested Jordan as the most probable direction. The Secretary next referred to indications of possible developments in Syria, and suggested that the Israelis might have information about this, and be planning to move against Jordan if anything were to occur in Syria.

Secretary Dulles then suggested to the President that the latter send a message to Premier Ben-Gurion. After discussion and certain amendments, relating primarily to the danger suggested by Mr. Hoover that tensions are so great that any armed action might set off great consequences, the President approved the message for dispatch, subject to any necessary editorial revision.2

Secretary Dulles handed the President an extract from a report in 1949 of the Foreign Relations Committee3 indicating that U.S. ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty was not to be construed as endorsement of the colonial policies of other NATO countries.

The President wished the Secretary a good trip and a successful speech in Dallas.4

G
Colonel, CE, US Army
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Top Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster.↩
  2. Infra.↩
  3. Not attached to the source text. For text, see U.S. Congress, Senate, Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations on Executive L, Eighty-First Congress, First Session, The North Atlantic Treaty (Washington, 1949), p. 23.↩
  4. Dulles left Washington by air for Dallas at 11:59 a.m., October 27, and returned at 4:15 p.m., October 28. (Dulles’ Appointment Book; Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers) For text of his address before the Dallas Council on World Affairs, see Department of State Bulletin, November 5, 1956, pp. 695–699.↩