34. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the British Ambassador (Caccia), Washington, May 14, 1958, 6:48 p.m.1
The Sec returned the call and C said he got a message saying the Sec thought it unwise to tell Nuri and Hussein. Does the Sec want to press it. In London they felt they are bound to hear of it and our relations are such if they heard from other means and had not heard from us voluntarily it would undermine their confidence in us. The Sec asked what they would say? C said addressing themselves to the request, it was put to us by Chamoun and we emphasized we hoped no request would be made but did assure if it were we would do our best to respond as substantially and as quickly as we could. Now it looks as though he has hopes of holding it without a request. The Sec said he would add we would respond but only if some of these other Arab states were prepared to back it up. C agreed. The Sec said Rountree is against it because it would leak in exaggerated form that we had agreed to send troops to Lebanon and cause trouble here—it would not be interpreted properly—Nuri would blow it up. C said he thinks we can try to protect it along the lines the Sec suggested. We would be disposed to respond but an integral part would be whether they would themselves support any action we might take. The Sec said also to say we think it would be very unfortunate if the situation deteriorated to a point where it would be called for—it would create serious difficulties. Our response would be the lesser of two evils and [Page 54] we hope both can be avoided. The Sec said if you feel you have to do it he would acquiesce. C thinks they would feel that and is grateful for the Sec’s answer. C said from the conversations yesterday he would hope Nuri would take the same view—it would put him in a bad position if we were forced to do it. The Sec agreed.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. Transcribed in Dulles’ office by Phyllis D. Bernau. The source text indicates that Ambassador Caccia placed the call.↩