205. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy0
SUBJECT
- Visit by Nasser
Despite the recommendations of Ambassadors Bowles and Badeau favoring an early State Visit by President Nasser, we consider the circumstances unpropitious. My memorandum of January 10 proposing consideration of a visit by Nasser envisages the possibility of political advantage from the visit sufficient to offset certain obvious political drawbacks. We now believe it unrealistic to look for a balance of political advantage from a visit in April. Our growing doubts have been crystallized [Page 506] by Nasser’s intemperate speech on February 22.1 Following so closely on his talks with Ambassador Bowles, the speech forces us to the conclusion that for reasons best known to Nasser he has higher priorities at present than the improvement in the atmosphere for United States-UAR relations.
In the belief that in principle it remains desirable to invite Nasser to the United States in due course, we recommend the reservation of a block of time in December for such a visit following the Congressional elections. We would commence early in the Fall an evaluation of its suitability and utility, bearing in mind the possible visit to Israel at the beginning of November by former President Truman, and the fact that we have tentatively set aside time in late November or early December for a State Visit by President Tito of Yugoslavia to whom an invitation has already been extended.
Apart from delay in an invitation to Nasser, we intend to continue our current program of step-by-step efforts to draw the UAR into a closer relationship with the long-range objectives of providing the UAR an acceptable alternative to primary reliance on the Sino-Soviet Bloc, assisting in the more rapid development and modernization of the UAR, and ultimately moderating some of the UAR’s more extreme policies. We continue to believe we should avoid public controversy with the UAR, discussing our differences frankly in private.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 786.11/3–262. Secret. Drafted by Strong. Komer forwarded this memorandum to President Kennedy on March 5; see Document 206.↩
- Telegram 1259 from Cairo, February 24, attached to the source text, described Nasser’s 2-hour discourse of February 22 as rambling and defensive, with a heavy emphasis on “now let me give you the inside dope about the traitors in our midst.” Nasser emphasized the continuing UAR dedication to Arab unity and to social justice. He attacked several Syrian officials, condemning them for American contacts, castigated King Hussein and Saudi Arabia, but included “relatively mild” references to Israel. The Embassy concluded that, by Nasser’s standards, the speech was “‘non-aligned’, in that while Arab traitors who connive with West were attacked, West itself not direct target, and Soviet bloc unmentioned” and that “all in all, this was one of Nasser’s less significant pronunciamentos.”↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.↩