Office of the Historian

456. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State1

Washington, November 1, 1956, 11:05 a.m.

TELEPHONE CALL TO THE PRESIDENT

The Secretary read the attached draft2 to the President and asked him what he thought of it. The President said certainly it was mild enough. The President added that he was trying to reduce the whole thing to writing. He thought we ought to get up to NY with [Page 917] the draft of the resolution and have Cabot get as many people on it as possible. Then when it comes to a vote ours will prevail. He said the resolution had to be accompanied by such a statement. The President said that the first objective was a cease fire to keep the war from spreading. To develop the final resolution—that will represent the considered judgment of the United Nations. The President said we were not going to get a cease fire by merely telling everyone to stop fighting. You have to state your views and it has to be understood that a cease fire will require withdrawal to their own shores. The President said he saw nothing wrong with the statement at all.

The Secretary said that substantially the program he had indicated would be suspended. All this has been done in the case of Egypt already. It would suspend military shipments to Israel.

The President asked if the people here agreed with him on this. The Secretary said yes but they would like to go stronger. The Secretary said he would get to work on the resolution.

The Secretary then read the President #2120 from Paris.3

The Secretary said he may go up to NY for the meeting this afternoon. The President thought it a good idea. The President said he would send the Secretary up by plane if he wanted to go.

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Asbjornson. Another memorandum of this conversation prepared in the Office of the President is ibid., Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries.↩

  2. Attached but not printed. Dated November 1, it is marked draft #2, bears no title, and indicates Dulles as the drafting officer. It reads as follows:

    “Under the Tripartite Declaration of May 25, 1950, and the President’s statement of April 9, 1956, the United States declared its deep interest in and its desire to promote the establishment and maintenance of peace and stability in the Middle East and its opposition to the use of force or threat of force between any of the states of the Middle East.

    “On October 31 the President declared that it was the purpose of this Government to do all in its power to localize the fighting which has now broken out in the area and to end the conflict.

    “As a provisional measure, the United States is suspending the shipment of goods of a military character and Governmental programs to the countries of the area of hostilities which in the judgment of this Government might prolong the hostilities. Appropriate agencies of the Government are being notified accordingly.”

    ↩
  3. Document 453.↩