73. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Secretary of State in Washington, June 14, 1958, 3:41 p.m.1

TELEPHONE CALL TO THE PRESIDENT (Gettysburg)

Sec. told Pres. Rountree just talked to McClintock in Beirut. Connection was bad but the information he got was on the whole reassuring in sense that situation was serious, that fighting had not been on large scale—it had been rather sporadic and had died down. McClintock went on to say security forces had situation well in hand. Chamoun may still call on us but this indicates situation is not as bad as reported by Malik.

[Here follows discussion of the situation in Cyprus.]

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Transcribed in Dulles’ office by Jane Morris. The call was in response to a call from the President a half hour earlier in which he indicated that he had just received a message from the White House concerning Lebanon and asked whether Dulles thought it was necessary for him to return to Washington. Dulles replied that he did not think it was necessary unless the Chamoun government made a formal request for support from U.S. troops. (Memorandum of a telephone conversation, June 14, 3:24 p.m.; ibid.; included in the microfiche supplement)