294. Memorandum of Conversation0

SUBJECT

  • Prime Minister Nkrumah’s Talk with the President

PARTICIPANTS

  • The President
  • Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister of Ghana
  • The Under Secretary of State
  • His Excellency D. A. Chapman, Ambassador of Ghana
  • Joseph Palmer 2nd, NEA:AF

The President welcomed the Prime Minister, emphasizing our pleasure at the fact that he had found it possible to visit the United States. The Prime Minister similarly expressed his appreciation at the honor thus accorded him.

Following a discussion of air communications in Africa, the Prime Minister mentioned that he had recently been in Morocco. The President spoke in friendly terms of the high esteem which he had for the King, who had visited the United States last year. The Prime Minister said that he had been greatly impressed in his recent trip to the independent states of Africa with the quality of the leadership which he had found generally in North Africa. The President said that he felt that this area had a great future. We were anxious to have close and friendly relations with the peoples of the North African area, but sometimes we did not meet with the understanding of our policies and intentions which we would like to see.

The Prime Minister said that he would like to speak in great frankness and to tell the President that he had encountered a general feeling among the leaders of North Africa that the United States did not sufficiently understand their needs and their problems. He said that he had heard this particularly from President Bourguiba of Tunisia, who had spoken of his high hopes of obtaining the understanding and assistance of the United States and his disappointment that it had not been forthcoming in sufficient measure.

The President said that the cornerstone of American policy is to assure the strength and stability of independent countries. We believe that in so doing, we strengthen ourselves. However, there are heavy demands and requirements for assistance in all areas of the world and it is not always possible for us to respond as fully as we would like.

[Page 647]

The President mentioned, in this connection, the difficulties foreign aid and the reciprocal trade program have encountered in the Congress, but said that he was glad to say that there had been a greater understanding of these problems during the last two weeks, and that there is now a more promising prospect for legislation which will serve the liberal foreign policy objectives which he had mentioned. The President emphasized, in this connection, that the United States has no intention whatsoever to dominate any country in the world. Our sole objective is to buttress their stability, prosperity and independence.

The President went on to say that it is an unfortunate fact in international relations that efforts to create a strong and durable association between two countries usually encounter the problem of the interests of a third country which intrude to complicate the desired relationship. By way of illustration, he referred to Israel as a complicating factor in American relations with the Arab countries. The Prime Minister confirmed his agreement with the truth of this observation.

He said that he had been struck, however, with the fact that many Arab statesmen were prepared tacitly to accept the fact of an independent Israel. The Prime Minister felt that this was particularly the case with Libya. The President replied that he had often heard similar expressions from Arab leaders. Unfortunately, however, they do not feel that they can openly encourage a similar sense of reality by their people. The Prime Minister agreed, observing that this is particularly true with Egypt.

The conversation broke off at this point for the reception before lunch.

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File. Secret. Drafted by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Joseph Palmer 2d.
  2. The meetings between President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Nkrumah were presumably held at the White House.