657. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, December 15, 1956, 2:28–4 p.m.1
OTHERS PRESENT
- Secretary Dulles
- Under Secretary Hoover
- Colonel Goodpaster
[Here follows discussion of other NATO-related subjects.]
He [Dulles] said that the biggest difficulty had been the desire of NATO countries to have U.S. policy made in the NATO Council. He had stressed that we stand ready to discuss policies—and prefer to do so earlier rather than later—but that we could not commit [Page 1310] ourselves to anything of this kind. The President interjected that the others obviously could not either, for constitutional reasons.
Mr. Dulles said that the NATO countries had suggested a communiqué implying that all the countries, the U.S. included, had concerted a policy of handling the Middle East situation. When Mr. Dulles pointed out how such a statement would appear to world opinion and asked them to reconsider their proposal, they dropped this provision. The Secretary said it was difficult to find and to follow the narrow path between, on the one side, strengthening NATO, and, on the other, avoiding the appearance of “teaming up” and taking positions in the UN as a bloc.
[Here follows discussion of other NATO-related subjects.]
In further discussion concerning the Suez situation, Mr. Hoover said Hammarskjold’s patience with the British and French is beginning to wear thin. Mr. Dulles said that their “take all or nothing” stand regarding their equipment for clearing the Canal had been unwise. He said that the British and French in Paris had told him they were giving up this stand (but Mr. Hoover thought they had not gotten this word through to Hammarskjold in New York).
Mr. Dulles suggested that we might be able to get Nehru to exert some pressure on Egypt in the direction of a decent permanent settlement of the Canal problem, prompt clearing of the Canal, and a settlement of the Israeli problem. Mr. Hoover said that the Arabs had been very clever in their dealing with Hammarskjold—much more so than the British, French and Israelis—with the result that they have frequently appeared to be in full concord with his efforts and objectives. Mr. Dulles said the problem of arranging for Israeli shipping through the Suez is going to be very difficult but thought it should be faced. The President commented that the Egyptians are likely to have a hard time backing away from the policy they have been following.
Colonel, CE, U.S. Army
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster. The time of the meeting is from the record of the President’s Daily Appointments. (Ibid.)↩