177. Editorial Note
The closing of the Suez Canal after Egyptian President Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal Company on July 26, 1956, adversely affected Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; none had an indigenous oil supply and each was heavily dependent upon oil for industry, agriculture, and domestic heating. Each government requested the United States to cooperate in existing plans, put forward by the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, for the allocation of oil in Europe. Documentation on Scandinavian attitudes on this question is in Department of State, BNA Files: Lot 59 D 21 and Lot 58 D 399. Norwegian Foreign Minister Halvard Lange discussed the Middle East [Page 499] situation and the oil problem with Acting Secretary Hoover on November 30. A memorandum of their conversation is ibid., Central Files, 611.57/11–3056. Extensive documentation on the crisis, including the question of possible oil shortages in Western Europe, is in volume XVI.