118. Memorandum of Discussion at the 260th Meeting of the National Security Council, Washington, October 6, 19551
[Here follow a paragraph listing the participants at the meeting and a report by Sherman Adams on the President’s health.]
1. Significant World Developments Affecting U.S. Security
[Here follows an oral briefing by Lieutenant General Cabell on other subjects.]
An unofficial tally of October 5 with respect to the elections in Indonesia indicated that the National Party (PNI) was maintaining a substantial lead with about 28 per cent of the votes thus far counted. Next in line were the Orthodox Moslem Radicals (NU) with about [Page 200] 24 per cent of the votes. The Masjumi had just overhauled the Communists and was now third with 23 per cent of the votes. The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) had 22 per cent of the votes. General Cabell pointed out that the votes counted thus far came largely from the island of Java which accounted for 64 per cent of the electorate.
. . . . . . .
Admiral Radford commented that the Communist Party had improved greatly in the election by virtue of its activity in building schools. Dr. Flemming inquired whether the Indonesian Communist Party had helped to finance and otherwise support the campaign of the Nationalist Party. …
Dr. Flemming asked the Secretary of State how significant he felt this set-back to the United States actually was. Secretary Dulles said that he could not be sure yet that the results of the election really constituted a set-back for the United States. The previous coalition government of the Nationalists and the Communists might be recreated. That was the worst prospect. The resurgence of the Masjumi Party over the last few months had been encouraging but they seemed to have lost some momentum. Nevertheless, the electoral situation was still fairly close at the moment. The combined vote of the Nationalists and the Communists was approximately 12.6 million. The combined vote of the other anti-Communist parties was 11.8 million. Election returns from the outer islands might well change the face of these totals. Nor was the possibility to be excluded that the Moslem parties might join in a new coalition. In any case Secretary Dulles said that it was too early to assume that the combination of the Nationalists and the Communists would secure a majority. A situation may finally emerge which is not as good as we had hoped nor as bad as we had feared.
The National Security Council:2
Noted and discussed an oral briefing by the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence on the situation, with specific respect to the Middle East, Greece, the Saar referendum, the position of the Faure3 Government and the Indonesian elections.
[Here follows the remainder of the memorandum.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records. Top Secret. Prepared by Gleason on October 7.↩
- The paragraph that follows constitutes NSC Action No. 1446. (Department of State, S/S–NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95, Records of Action by the National Security Council, 1955)↩
- French Prime Minister Edgar Faure.↩