142. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, Washington, February 24, 1957, 3:03 p.m.1
TELEPHONE CALL TO PRESIDENT
The Sec reported on his morning meeting with the Senatorial leaders. He said the atmosphere had been good. Russell had delivered a tirade against foreign aid, but even this was not too bad. Johnson had issued a nice statement at the end on behalf of everybody.
Re Israel situation. The Sec said he had received advance word from Arthur Dean in New York who had met with Eban this morning.2 The Sec said the situation was not unhopeful, there was no outright rejection. The Pres asked why we could not say that we would introduce a resolution in the UN and have our ships proceed into the Gulf of Aqaba, as soon as the Israelis withdrew. The Pres said this would show that we are not talking about theory but what we would do. The Sec said it was tied in with Gaza, that Israel could not expect to exercise the right of innocent passage in the Gulf while occupying Gaza. The Pres said of course they would have to get out of there too, but to let them know that we would then be willing to introduce the resolution into the UN, we would help take care of the 200,000 people and keep Egypt out of the Strip. The Sec said that really this was assured now, the problem now was one of face-saving. The Sec said the time schedule was bad, time had run out. The Pres felt that if Mrs. Meir could say that we would introduce this resolution and begin using the Gulf, this might be a face-saving device.
The Sec said he would report to the Pres as soon as he finished his meeting. The Pres said he would be right here.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Carolyn Proctor. On Sunday, February 24, Dulles conducted Department of State business from his home in Northwest Washington. (Dulles’ Appointment Book; Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers)↩
- In his autobiography, Eban recalls that after arriving in New York in the early morning of February 24, he first reported on his discussion in Jerusalem with Golda Meir and then met with Arthur Dean. (Abba Eban, An Autobiography, p. 245) Following that conversation, Dean telephoned Dulles’ residence and dictated a list of Israeli terms for the evacuation of Sinai and Gaza, which presumably Eban had given to him. Dean also reported that “the position of the Ben Gurion Government at home is very tense and the right wing party has withdrawn from the coalition and others demanding Eban’s resignation. Eban expresses the hope that no leaks or suggestions be made to the press that Israel has withdrawn its absolute conditions as this might cause the fall of the Ben Gurion Government prior to the time that arrangements could be concluded. He suggests the Secretary say, if pressed, that the situation is clarifying somewhat.” A transcript of Dean’s dictation is in the Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. It bears the handwritten inscription by Dulles “Phoned by A.D. after talk with Eban N.Y. 2.24.57 a.m.”↩