Office of the Historian

205. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, May 19, 1982, 11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Summary of the President’s Meeting with King Hassan II of Morocco

PARTICIPANTS:

  • President Ronald Reagan
  • Vice President George Bush
  • Alexander M. Haig, Secretary of State
  • William P. Clark, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
  • Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Morocco
  • Nicholas Veliotes, Assistant Secretary, State Department
  • King Hassan II
  • Ambassador Ali Bengelloun
  • His Excellency Ahmed Reda Guedira, Counselor to the King
  • His Excellency M’Hamed Boucetta, Minister of Foreign Affairs

A focus of the Oval Office discussion was on peace in the Middle East, with special reference to the Camp David negotiations and the King’s peace initiative to settle the Western Sahara War. The President told the King that despite differences between Morocco and the United States on the Camp David peace process, we hope to find some common ground. The President received the King’s views on the Palestinian issue and on the Iraq-Iran War. In this respect, prospects for peace in the Gulf were discussed in detail.

Regarding the Western Saharan peace process, the President was pleased to acknowledge Morocco’s continued adherence to the King’s peace initiative for a cease-fire and referendum presented to the Organization of African Unity.2

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The President and the King had lunch in the State Dining Room from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. A focus of the luncheon discussion was on security in the Middle East. In this respect, the President and King talked about their common perceptions of threats to the area and the need for increased strategic cooperation between the two countries. Considerable time was spent on the Persian Gulf in general and on Iran in particular. The King surmised that Iran would not end the war until President Saddam Hussein of Iraq is replaced. The following participated in the luncheon:

United States

  • The President
  • The Vice President
  • Secretary Haig
  • Secretary Baldrige
  • Edwin Meese, III
  • William P. Clark
  • Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, Jr.
  • Ambassador-at-Large Vernon Walters
  • Assistant Secretary Nicholas A. Veliotes
  • Raymond Tanter, NSC

Morocco

  • King Hassan II
  • His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Abdallah, King’s brother
  • His Excellency M’Hamed Boucetta, Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • General Moulay Hafid El Alaoui, Chief of Royal Protocol
  • Ambassador Ali Bengelloun
  • His Excellency Taieb Bencheikh, Minister in charge of Economic Affairs, Office of the Prime Minister
  • General Ahmed Dlimi, Director of the King’s Aides de Camp
  • His Excellency Reda Guedira, Counselor to the King
  • Colonel Major Mohamed Kabbaj, Inspector, Royal Moroccan Air Force
  • His Excellency Abdelfattah Frej, Director of His Majesty’s Private Secretariat

  1. Source: Reagan Library, Near East and South Asia Affairs Directorate, Moroccan Hassan (05/18/1982–05/21/1982). Confidential. The meeting took place in the Oval Office. No drafting information appears on the memorandum.↩
  2. See footnote 2, Document 400.↩