21. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles 0
[Here follows a brief discussion about sending a message to Congress requesting passage of the Mutual Security authorization as originally requested in light of the Middle East situation.]
The President then said that he felt strongly that we should assign first priority to increased military and economic aid for Turkey and Iran. They should have all the assistance they can absorb. The Secretary said we had had trouble with Defense about going further than the 10 divisions for Iran, and the President answered that we should get those 10 divisions fixed up fine.
The President also says we must get Lebanon into condition where it can take care of itself because we cannot keep troops there indefinitely.
Pakistan should have second priority (second because it is so close to Arab world and there is always the problem of India).
The Secretary is coming over later this morning and there will be a conference on this proposed message to Congress re mutual aid bill. The Secretary also has some secret things to talk to the President about.1
The Secretary reported that Selwyn Lloyd would be here tomorrow morning.2
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. No classification marking.↩
- See Document 22.↩
- See Document 23.↩