518. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, November 6, 1956, 8:37 a.m.1
OTHERS PRESENT
- Mr. Allen Dulles
- Under Secretary Hoover
- Colonel Goodpaster
- Dr. Flemming (part of meeting)
- Governor Adams (part of meeting)
Mr. Dulles showed the President late intelligence indicating that the Soviets told the Egyptians that they will “do something” in the Middle East hostilities. Following discussion of the possibility of Soviet movement of Air Forces into Syria, the President asked Mr. Dulles to conduct high reconnaissance in this area, avoiding, however, any flights into Russia. Flights over Syria and Israel should be conducted.
Mr. Dulles and I reported developments as set forth in the intelligence summary and the State Department summary today.2
The President said our people should be alert. If the Soviets attack the French and British directly, we would be in war, and we would be justified in taking military action even if Congress were not in session. Mr. Dulles raised a question as to the status of Cyprus with respect to the NATO obligation. The President said that if reconnaissance discloses Soviet Air Forces on Syrian bases he would think that there would be reason for the British and French to destroy them… .
Colonel, CE, US Army
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Top Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster. The time of the meeting is from the record of the President’s Daily Appointments. (Ibid.)↩
- A memorandum by Armstrong, entitled “Summary of Intelligence Briefing, November 6, 1956” is in Department of State, INR Files: Lot 58 D 776, Middle East Crisis 1956 (Arab-Israeli Crisis). It contains a summary of developments pertaining to the Middle East and Hungary. The Department of State Daily Secret and Top Secret Summaries are ibid.: Lot 60 D 530.↩