Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Lebanon and Jordan, Volume XI

119. Telegram From the Embassy in Lebanon to the Department of State¹

Beirut, July 10, 1958—8 p.m.

258. Because of urgency of information indicated Embtel 256² I decided to see Chamoun this afternoon and not tomorrow as indicated Embtel 244.³

Interview opened on sarcastic note when President said he hoped my government was satisfied that he had once and for all buried issue of his re-election in his statement to AP. He added we seemed more disposed to listen to our enemies than our friends. I said we were not at all happy at turn events in Lebanon had taken and recalled at one time we had indicated our full support for his re-election, opportunity for which had been denied by these events. I said however if he wished to open on question of elections Department’s 104⁴ came at an appropriate moment. I then gave him substance of that telegram.

With scarcely any pause for reflection President said only candidate who could muster enough votes in Parliament to be elected July 24 was General Chehab. When I mentioned candidates favored by Prime Minister (Embtel 244) he said neither Tian nor Boulos⁵ could secure sufficient parliamentary support.

I asked President if he thought Chehab could be persuaded to run. Chamoun said he did not know, but he was continuing his attempt to persuade him.

Without mentioning source (Colonel Zouein today) I said an intelligence report⁶ had reached me that Phalangist and PPS partisans might attempt on July 24 to sabotage meeting of Parliament by setting up a fusillade to frighten Deputies away. Chamoun said categorically and with great emphasis this would not happen.

I likewise informed President of my talk this morning with Reyes (Embtel 244)⁷ and his proposal to hold a national congress July 21. I indicated Reyes favored Chehab. Chamoun said he had no objection if Reyes could get together such a conference.

Comment: All of this looks fairly straightforward, which in itself in Lebanon is a cause for suspicion. I recall distrust of President’s motives in favoring Chehab voiced by Prime Minister this morning (Embtel 244) and various reports reaching me that Chamoun is really angling for a condition of no solution in which performance he would be continued in power. As against this however is growing impatience of country at continued stalemate and obvious will of important commercial elements that Lebanon find its own solution by July 24. Much may depend accordingly on degree of encouragement given to Chamoun by his Turkish and Iraqi friends over this weekend.

McClintock

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 783A.00/7–1058. Top Secret. Repeated to London, Paris, and USUN.
2. McClintock reported, in telegram 256 from Beirut, July 10, that Colonel Zouein, Commandant of the Gendarmérie, told him that Chamoun intended to use the possibility of intervention by Iraq and Turkey “as his last cartridge.” Zouein characterized Chamoun as “the man of Nuri Pasha.” McClintock noted that he had confirmed from other sources that the Turkish Government viewed Chamoun as the indispensable man in Lebanon, and McClintock concluded that he would not be surprised if Chamoun asked for military support from the Moslem powers of the Baghdad Pact. (Ibid.; included in the microfiche supplement)
3. In telegram 244 from Beirut, July 10, McClintock reported on a number of conversations with political leaders concerning a settlement of the crisis in Lebanon. He found Prime Minister Solh disdainful of General Chehab as a possible presidential candidate, despite a “considerable ground-swell” building in favor of Chehab’s candidacy. And he noted that the Edde brothers had served an ultimatum to Chamoun that if Parliament was not convened to choose a new president as scheduled on July 24, their “national bloc” would enter the ranks of the opposition. McClintock described a number of other political initiatives afoot in Beirut. (Department of State, Central Files, 783A.00/7–1058; included in the microfiche supplement)
4. Supra.
5. Emile Tian, former President of the Court of Cassation and former Minister of Justice, and Jawad Boulos, writer and well-known political figure.
6. Not found, but see footnote 2 above.
7. In telegram 244, McClintock reported on a meeting with the proprietor of the Bristol Hotel, a Greek Orthodox businessman who said that he could produce on July 21 a national congress representing all the business, industrial, professional, and labor associations in Lebanon to address the political crisis which threatened to paralyze the economy.