313. Editorial Note
At the 360th Meeting of the National Security Council, March 27, Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles reported on the change of power in Saudi Arabia as follows:
“According to quite good information, said Mr. Dulles, King Saud’s brothers had got together recently [1-½ lines of source text not declassified] Feisal is alleged to be taking complete control of foreign affairs, and will allegedly arrange some kind of tie-up with Syria and Egypt. Mr. Dulles also provided a brief character sketch of Feisal, which indicated that he should not be put down as anti-American. He was definitely anti-Communist.
“The President commented that Feisal had been extremely pleasant in his contacts in Washington. The Secretary of State also thought that Feisal had mellowed, as did the Vice President, who described Feisal as pro-American and smart as hell.” (Memorandum of discussion by Gleason, March 27; Eisenhower Library, Whitman Files, NSC Records)