Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXI, Near East Region; Arabian Peninsula

344. Telegram From the Embassy in Saudi Arabia to the Department of State¹

Jidda, August 19, 1964, 3 p.m.

135. Embtel 133.² Translation of Faysal’s letter to President Johnson dated August 17.

Excellency:

I received with great appreciation Your Excellency’s letter dated 15 June 1964.³ I thank Your Excellency for informing me of the satisfaction expressed to you by your Secretary of State, Mr. Dean Rusk, following his meeting with our Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister in Washington June 15 concerning the results yielded by the visit to the Middle East of the USSR Prime Minister.

I considered that Mr. Khrushchev, in his statement to which Your Excellency referred, had not succeeded in finding accommodation but (rather) had spotlighted the basic conflict between the Communist concept of class unity and the Arab doctrine of national unity.

But I do not consider this statement important enough to outweigh the many advantages which his visit in this area won for the Soviet Union and the Communist system which is closely associated with it.

That statement troubled those who are sincere about Arab unity, which aims at strengthening the bond between all Arabs in all classes, yet for those who comprehend there is no truth in the Communist doctrines (they saw) it offers nothing new, since (they realize) these doctrines are basically aimed at the destruction of nationalist concept. The residual effect of this statement lay not in the fact it was made. It lay in the fact that it was published during his visit to an Arab country and in its hidden distant objective as shown when it attacked Kuwait. Were this the extent of its effect on thoughtful men, who comprehend Communist doctrines, the statement for the masses I believe would not have the effect which the visit itself had. Because the worker, and the peasant, has a limited culture; he is not affected by such a statement to the extent that he is affected by the spectacle of the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union being embraced and embracing his colleague, smiling for all to see. His host provided great propaganda for the Soviet Union and its leader as always supporting the people’s desire for freedom and hurrying to offer every help to raise the standard of living, especially for the worker and the peasant.

In this regard I am happy to express to Your Excellency my deepest pleasure in the warm sentiments Your Excellency expressed about the program of reform which I am trying to achieve in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I feel great confidence that Your Excellency will not spare any effort to offer assistance which will guarantee the achievement of well being for our country and which will provide the best evidence both of what links us and links the friendly peoples of our countries in strong friendship. I hope this sincere cooperation is increasingly strengthened with the passage of time.

In connection with what Your Excellency indicated regarding the desire of the Republican leadership in Yemen to establish peaceful relations with the Saudi Arabian Kingdom, we have assured Your Excellency more than once that we sincerely desire friendly cooperation with any Yemeni Government deriving from the free will of the Yemeni people far from any foreign influence and following the withdrawal of the foreign troops from the soil of Yemen! We seek only stability and a cooperation with our neighbors which will enable us to implement the program of reforms we have charted for our country. This was why we signed the disengagement agreement—despite our certainty of the lack of sincerity of the other party regarding its implementation—and (why) we have renewed it six times for a total of one year. What induced us to sign it and to comply with its provisions was a desire:

1. To demonstrate our good intentions following the guarantee of the United States as expressed personally by Mr. Bunker, representing the late President Kennedy, that the honor and the dignity of the United States stood behind the implementation of this agreement. This guaranty was repeated every time the agreement was renewed.

2. To give the United Nations the opportunity to carry out its responsibilities to establish peace and security in the area, fearing the spread of the flame of discord to other areas which would thereby help spread those extremist doctrines which you and I are trying to combat.

Now has happened what we expected from the beginning. Recently in an unmistakably clear fashion the President of the UAR informed Mr. Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations, that he will keep his army in the Yemen and he has no present intention to withdraw it. The Secretary General of the United Nations was confident of this before his meeting with the UAR President as he indicated in his report which he presented to the Security Council, No. S5794 dated 2 July 1964, regarding the operations of the UN observation mission in Yemen!⁴ He reported there was no benefit to be expected from continuing to renew the agreement as formerly done if something did not occur during the coming period of renewal which would represent compliance with its provisions. Mr. Spinelli, special representative of the Secretary General, also indicated this during his recent visit to me on August 15.

In recent days we have seen plainly what the UAR is harboring for our country, particularly before the meeting of the second Arab summit conference. We were shocked on August 13 and August 15 by violation of Saudi air space by Egyptian aircraft. Three aircraft circled repeatedly at low altitude over cities on our southern frontier. Therefore, we find ourselves obliged as of now to secure the defense of our country by various planned measures. I have explained the situation to Ambassador Hart in a more detailed fashion. He will forward it to Your Excellency.

I await with hope the day when stability will be realized in this region and when its reponsible leaders will be enabled to move their people toward progress and prosperity.

I am happy to convey to Your Excellency my best salutations and good wishes for yourself and for the success and the increasing happiness of the American people.

Signed Faysal.

Hart

1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Cental Files 1964-66, POL 27 YEMEN. Secret; Priority; Limdis. Also sent to Cairo, Dhahran, Taiz, and CINCSTRIKE/CINCMEAFSA for POLAD and repeated to USUN.
2. In telegram 133 from Jidda, August 18, Hart reported that on August 17 he met with Crown Prince Faisal, who said that UAR planes had invaded Saudi air space twice in the last few days, and that he had received a report from inside Yemen that UAR troops were moving northward toward the Saudi border. Therefore, he had decided to send weapons and troops to defend the Yemen border, and considered the disengagement agreement as ended and would feel free to help the royalists after September 4. Faisal said it was essential to know where the United States stood if war broke out between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republic; if the United States could not help, he would seek help anywhere he could get it. Hart reminded the Crown Prince of the 1963 U.S. position on helping Saudi Arabia against unprovoked attack, but pointed out that the United States would consider aid to the royalists’ provocation. The Ambassador urged Faisal to keep his troops in a defensive posture if he wanted U.S. help. (Ibid.)
3. Document 229.
4. An excerpt from the Secretary-General’s July 2 report to the Security Council (UN doc. S/5794) is printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1964, pp. 726-727.