412. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, October 29, 1956, 8:15 p.m.1
OTHERS PRESENT
- Secretary Dulles
- Mr. Coulson
- Colonel Goodpaster
I joined the meeting after it had been in progress for about five minutes. The President was saying that the prestige of the United States and the British is involved in the developments in the Middle East. He felt it was incumbent upon both of us to redeem our word about supporting any victim of aggression. Last spring, when we declined to give arms to Israel and to Egypt, we said that our word was enough. If we do not now fulfill our word Russia is likely to enter the situation in the Middle East. In his opinion, the United States and the United Kingdom must stand by what they said. In view of information that has reached us concerning Mysteres and the number of messages between Paris and Israel in the last few days, the President said he could only conclude that he did not understand what the French were doing. Mr. Coulson said he did not know about the messages. The President said that if he has to call Congress in order to redeem our pledge, he would do so. We will stick to our undertaking.
[Page 840]Mr. Coulson asked if we would not first go to the Security Council and the President said we plan to get there the first thing in the morning—when the doors open—before the USSR gets there.
Secretary Dulles recalled that the Baghdad Pact ambassadors had seen him today, and had asked him what the U.S. is going to do to redeem its pledge. The President said that we had had a great chance to split the Arab world. Various of the countries were becoming uneasy at Egyptian developments. He does not know what Sir Anthony Eden is thinking at the present time, but he is certain that it is important that we stick together.
Mr. Coulson said it should be easy to agree in the Security Council. He recognized, however, that the French may be involved in this operation. The President said he could not understand why the French would conceal the movement of the Mysteres. He asked Mr. Coulson to communicate these ideas urgently to London and assure Selwyn Lloyd and Sir Anthony that we wished to be with them. He said he would not betray the good word of the United States, and he will call the Congress if necessary in order to redeem our pledge.
Colonel CE, US Army
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Top Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster.↩