Office of the Historian

179. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, Washington, March 1, 1957, 3:59 p.m.1

Washington, March 1, 1957, 3:59 p.m.

TELEPHONE CALL TO THE PRESIDENT

Mrs Meir made her speech precisely as agreed and L made his.2 The Sec is leaving now. The Pres thinks our best bet is instead now of fooling around is to have our people begin to talk with the Arabs. They agreed it is too bad the Richards Mission is not in shape to move.3 The Sec said it will probably be a couple of weeks more and it is a pity.

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Bernau.↩
  2. Meir and Lodge delivered their statements during the 666th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, which began at 3 p.m. on March 1. (U.N. doc. A/PV.666) For text of their statements, see United States Policy in the Middle East, September 1956–June 1957, pp. 328–332 and 322–327, respectively. Lodge’s statement is also printed in Department of State Bulletin, March 18, 1957, pp. 431–434. In her statement, Meir announced her government’s plans for a full and prompt withdrawal from the Sharm el-Sheikh area and the Gaza Strip, in compliance with General Assembly Resolution 1124 (XI) of February 2, 1957.↩
  3. See Document 207.↩