286. Letter From President Eisenhower to President Tito1
Dear Mr. President: I was happy to receive your letter of August twenty-sixth2 in which it is clear that you are raising issues basic to the relations between our two countries. We are studying your views most carefully, and I am sure that I shall have a number of comments and observations to make in my reply.
I appreciate your motives in renewing our correspondence at this time on these matters, and I believe that your initiative will prove to have been a useful step in strengthening the good relations and cooperation between our nations.
With every good wish,
Sincerely,
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File. Secret. In a memorandum to the President, dated September 13, Secretary Dulles advised that a definitive answer to Tito’s letter of August 26 could not be made until the President had decided whether to continue aid to Yugoslavia under the terms of the Mutual Security Act, as amended. Dulles therefore suggested that an interim reply be sent and suggested the text printed here. (Ibid.) The text of the letter was sent to the Embassy in Belgrade in telegram 218, September 18, with instructions that the letter be delivered promptly to Tito. (Department of State, Central Files, 611.68/9–1856)↩
- See footnote 2, Document 284.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this stamped signature.↩