269. Editorial Note
On August 13, President Eisenhower addressed the Special Emergency Session of the General Assembly called to consider the crisis in the Middle East. The session had opened on August 8 with statements by Soviet Representative Sobolev and U.S. Representative Lodge reiterating positions taken in the foregoing Security Council debate. (U.N. doc. A/PV 732) Eisenhower addressed the organization for the first time in 5 years and did so as a head of state rather than as a member of the U.S. delegation.
[Page 468]His speech touched on the specific issues involved in the debate initiated on August 8 largely as a point of departure for an overview of regional problems. He pointed out that U.S. and British forces were in Lebanon and Jordan at the invitation of the local governments, and he pledged that U.S. forces would be withdrawn whenever requested by the Lebanese Government or as soon as the independence and integrity of Lebanon was assured. He added that the crisis occasioned by indirect aggression in Jordan continued and urged prompt action by the General Assembly to prevent an expanding conflict of a “far-reaching nature.” To guard against this kind of indirect aggression, Eisenhower proposed the creation of a standby U.N. Peace Force to react to threats when they occurred.
Considering the region as a whole, Eisenhower also suggested that, to alleviate tensions between Israel and the Arab States, the nations involved in the 1948 hostilities should call for a U.N. study of the flow of heavy armaments into the area to determine whether arms control arrangements could be instituted. The centerpiece of Eisenhower’s address was a proposal to establish a regional economic development plan and corresponding Arab development organization to accelerate inprovement in living standards in the Arab States. He suggested consultations between the Secretary-General and the Arab States to ascertain whether a consensus existed in favor of establishing an Arab development institution. If such an organization was established and governed by the Arab States, and if it was supported with Arab resources, Eisenhower indicated that the United States would also be prepared to support it. (U.N. doc. A/PV.733, printed in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958, pages 606–616)
President Eisenhower’s speech was drafted by C. D. Jackson, a long-time presidential adviser and speech writer, who was recruited from Time-Life in New York as a consultant to Secretary Dulles to help prepare the speech. Eisenhower had told Dulles on August 7 that he did not want to engage in controversial debate or head the U.S. Delegation to the emergency meeting of the General Assembly, but was willing to make a lead-off address couched in lofty terms that would rise above the immediate controversy. (Memorandum of conversation with the President, August 7; Eisenhower Library, Meetings with the President) Eisenhower discussed the speech with Jackson on the same day and told him that he wanted no more than a paragraph on the immediate crisis in the Middle East. He wanted the rest of the speech to deal with constructive and useful proposals, and demonstrate that the United States was practical as well as idealistic. (Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation, August 7; ibid., Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries)
[Page 469]Jackson submitted a 7-page memorandum to Dulles on August 7, outlining the nature of the speech he felt Eisenhower should deliver. Jackson saw the speech as an opportunity for the United States to demonstrate a positive attitude toward the “constructive” aspects of the nationalist movements emerging in the Middle East and around the world. Eisenhower should, he felt, reaffirm U.S. determination to oppose Communist disruption and expansion, but offer a program of economic encouragement to constructive nationalist movements. He did not feel that the speech should be framed in a negative vein as a condemnation of indirect aggression. (Department of State, Central Files, 320/8–758) There is a full account of the background and drafting of the speech in the log maintained by Jackson from July 24, when Dulles called to ask him to come to Washington, through the delivery of the speech on August 13. (Eisenhower Library, Jackson Papers, Log—1958) All these documents are included in the microfiche supplement.