535. Message From Prime Minister Eden to President Eisenhower 1
Dear Friend: Thank you so much for your message.2 I am so grateful for the help which you are giving us.
I entirely understand the force of what you say. As regards your point (a) I do not think there need be any difficulty. In our reply to the Secretary General, we did not in fact make it a condition of our acceptance of the cease-fire and entry of a United Nations Force that the obstructions in the Canal should be cleared by our troops. This is however something which has got to be done most urgently in the interests of the world. We are on the spot and the only people who can do it quickly. We therefore think it right that we should be allowed to carry it through unhindered. I am personally inclined to agree with your point (b) namely that the Big Five should be excluded from the United Nations Force. This is however a matter on which there are very deep feelings here. I could not take a decision of such magnitude without consulting my colleagues and I will do so as soon as possible in the morning. I think that before we can take a decision we may want to know more about what the functions of the United Nations Force are to be.
I am asking our Representative at the United Nations to explain matters to Hammarskjold on the above lines. Do please believe that I am sincerely anxious that we should work together in all this. But these are matters of such importance for our country that I must ask for a little further time to consider them.
I too was delighted to hear your voice this evening. I hope that we can keep in close touch.
Yours ever,
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File. Secret. Delivered to the White House under cover of a note from Coulson to President Eisenhower which reads: “The Prime Minister has asked me to give you the enclosed personal message.”↩
- Document 527.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩