Office of the Historian

74. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State in Washington and the Representative at the United Nations (Lodge) in New York, February 10, 1957, 3:45 p.m.1

Washington, February 10, 1957, 3:45 p.m.

TELEPHONE CALL FROM AMBASSADOR LODGE IN NEW YORK

The Sec said we had thought about the possible use of force there. The Sec said he thought we might use force there if they tried to use force to stop American boats. The Sec said we deliberately phrased it “passage depends upon the prior withdrawal of its armed forces”, not merely withdrawal from Sharm el Shaikh. The Sec asked if Lodge knew what the thinking was in terms of sanctions. The Sec said he does not know it, but that is an exact quote from Ben Gurion’s letter to the Pres (I believe the he was Hammarskjold and Lodge was discussing his comments on the memo)2 and the Sec said he was going to let that stand, but that he would make the other changes L. mentioned. The Sec said we would have a terrible time on sanctions. The Sec said he was not sure we could do it any more than we are doing it now. The Sec said he might have to ask L. to come down to Washington. It was hard to handle the situation with the Pres away. The Sec said he will talk to Fawzi (he again meaning Hammarskjold I think).

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Proctor. The source indicates that Proctor could hear only Dulles’ side of the conversation. The parenthetical insertions in the source text are Proctor’s.↩
  2. Prior to this conversation, Lodge had discussed the U.S. draft aide-mémoire with Hammarskjold. Lodge’s report of his conversation with Hammarskjöld was transmitted to the Department of State in Delga 700, Document 76.↩