38. Editorial Note
Prime Minister Mollet was invited by Ambassador Dillon on January 22 to pay an official visit to the United States, February 26–28. He immediately accepted the invitation. (Telegram 3521 from Paris, January 22; Department of State, Central Files, 033.5111/1–2257) He was accompanied to the United States by Foreign Minister Pineau. Briefing papers and other papers relating to this visit are ibid., 033.5111, and ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 833A. Secretary Dulles’memorandum for the President regarding the visit is printed infra.
On February 26, President Eisenhower met privately with Mollet from 10:30 to 11:38 a.m. There is no record of this conversation. During the same period, Secretary Dulles was meeting with Pineau. A memorandum of their conversation is printed in volume XVII, pages 285–289. At 11:38, the President and Prime Minister were joined by Dulles and Pineau, by Ambassador Alphand; Louis Joxe, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry; Herman Phleger; William Rountree; and Colonel Vernon A. Walters. There is no record of this conversation which continued until 12:02 p.m. At 1 p.m. the President gave a luncheon in Prime Minister Mollet’s honor. (Eisenhower Library, President’s Appointment Book) The memorandum of the conversation between the United States and French Delegations, which began at 2:30 p.m., and Secretary Dulles’ brief memorandum of his conversation with Prime Minister Mollet at dinner on February 26 are printed as Documents 40 and 41.
Secretary Dulles and Foreign Minister Pineau met at the Department of State on February 27 from 10 to 11:15 a.m. Memoranda of their conversations on European defense (standardization in NATO) and the Suez Canal question are in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 833A.
At 11:15 a.m., President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Mollet and their advisers met in the Cabinet Room of the White House and made minor changes in the communiqué which was to be issued on February 28. A memorandum of this conversation is ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199. After this meeting, the President and Prime Minister met privately in the President’s office for 15 minutes. There is no record of their discussion. (Eisenhower Library, President’s Appointment Book)
Dulles and Pineau met again at 4 p.m. on February 27 at the Department of State. A memorandum of their conversation on the question of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is printed in volume XVII, page 305.
[Page 104]The President, Dulles, Mollet, and Pineau had a final conversation from 9:30 to 9:45 a.m. on February 28 at the White House. No record was kept of the topics discussed. (Eisenhower Library, President’s Appointment Book)