595. Memorandum From the Counselor of the Department of State (MacArthur) to the Acting Secretary of State1
Mr. Hoover: In the course of my 8:30 meeting at the White House this morning, the President brought up the question of the great undependability and unreliability of Nasser ….
The President said he thought the person to build up was King Saud, who was a great spiritual leader and keeper of the holy places, etc.
The President said he had in mind, and had mentioned to you yesterday, the possibility of Bob Anderson undertaking a trip to meet with Saud. Bob could point out that if the present situation continued, and if Nasser controlled the oil flow through the Canal and his influence on the Syrians, a situation could arise which could well be met by the West. For example, oil production in Texas could be doubled, there could be great increases in Venezuelan and Canadian production, and if we ever started on this course, we could be a competitor of Saudi Arabia for selling oil and it would be very difficult to cut back. In other words the Saudi Arabia economic future based on oil was being risked by Nasser’s overweening ambitions, etc.
The President said he knew you were considering the feasibility and desirability of some such positive approach, and simply mentioned it to me because of his continuing interest in it.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 774.11/11–2056. Top Secret.↩