Office of the Historian

153. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, July 17, 1958, 2:30 p.m.1

Washington, July 17, 1958, 2:30 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Duration of U.S. Stay in Lebanon

PARTICIPANTS

  • UK
    • Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd
    • Admiral Denny, NATO Standing Group
    • Marshal of the RAFDickson
    • Sir William Hayter, Foreign Office
    • Lord Hood, British Chargé d’Affaires
    • Mr. Roger Jackling, British Embassy
    • Mr. Willie Morris, British Embassy
    • Mr. Denis Laskey, Private Secretary to FM
    • Mr. Donald Legan, Foreign Office
  • US
    • Secretary of State
    • Secretary of Defense
    • General Nathan Twining
    • Mr. Allen Dulles
    • General W. Wisenand
    • Under Secretary Herter
    • C—Mr. Frederick Reinhardt
    • NEA—Mr. William M. Rountree
    • EUR—Mr. C. Burke Elbrick
    • NE—Mr. Stuart Rockwell
    • NE—Mr. David Newsom

Mr. Lloyd asked the Secretary whether the U.S. forces intended to clear out of Lebanon quickly. The Secretary replied that it was the U.S. intention to stay there. The only possibility, he said, might be that whoever was elected President might ask the U.S. forces to leave, say in September. If that should happen, he said, he did not see how the U.S. forces could remain.

  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 63 D 123, CF 1050, Memoranda of Conversation, Lloyd’s Visit, July 17–20, 1958. Top Secret; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Newsom. Lloyd visited Washington July 17–20 to discuss the Middle East crisis. A number of the discussions between Dulles and Lloyd concerned the British intervention in Jordan on July 17, and are printed as Documents 186–188. The discussions also ranged over Kuwait, the Persian Gulf, the Baghdad Pact, Iraq, Turkey, French interests in the crisis, and the strategy to follow in the United Nations. Memoranda of these conversations are in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 63 D 123, CF 1050. A general discussion of the Middle East with Eisenhower at the White House at 3:30 p.m. on July 17 touched on most of the issues discussed by Dulles and Lloyd, but did not deal with Lebanon. The text of the memorandum of conversation among Eisenhower, Dulles, and Lloyd is scheduled for publication in volume XII.↩