786A.11/4–3050
Memorandum by Mr. Frederick H. Await of the Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs to the Ambassador in Saudi Arabia (Childs)1
Subject: Special Medical Mission for King Ibn Saud.
The special medical mission sent to treat King Ibn Saud arrived on schedule at Riyadh at noon, April 18. The party was headed by Brigadier General Wallace H. Graham, USAF, personal physician to the President, and included Capt. Frank P. Kreuz, USN, orthopedist, Dr. Gilbert H. Marquardt of Northwestern University, specialist in internal medicine, Dr. Darrell C. Crain, Jr., arthritis specialist in Washington, D.C., Edward E. Stults, pfc, USA, x-ray technician, James D. Brown, HM2, laboratory technician, Ralph D. Rich, HM1, USN, physio-therapist technician, and Fred H. Await of the Department of State.
Mr. Hey ward Hill, Counselor of Embassy at Jidda had come to Riyadh the day before to greet the party and make the proper introductions at Court. He was accompanied by an Embassy interpreter, Bakur A. Khomais.
The party was accommodated at the new guest palace recently completed for the King of Afghanistan.2 It was comfortably furnished and complete and private bathroom facilities were provided. Every room was equipped with ceiling fans. The dining room was large and furnished in western style. All food came from the Crown Prince’s palace where a large stock of American canned goods are kept. Every effort was made to prepare the food to our liking.
Our initial reception by the King was at 4:00 p. m. and His Majesty was very patently glad to see us. He said he was deeply touched by the President’s gesture in sending him his own physician. He welcomed the whole group warmly and said that he would be at the entire disposition of the doctors. The King seemed considerably aged and enfeebled since my last visit to Riyadh in 1946 and his voice was very low and his words mumbled. He made to [no] attempt to rise upon our arrival or departure. His Majesty uses a wheel chair constantly when moving about, but the treatment given by the doctors relieved him a great deal from the stiffness and pain in his knees and reduced the swelling in his legs to almost normal. Before our departure on May 1st, he was able to move about with considerable ease and with his knees fully straightened. He was delighted with the progress made in improving his condition.
[Page 1170]The King has become increasingly senile and on a few occasions was pettish and even angry with his servants in our presence. Two incidents involved his doctors who, the mission is convinced, have done very well by His Majesty and could have done better had the latter accepted their recommendations and treatment. The mission overlooked no opportunity to commend the Court physicians to the King. Although the King’s doctors, Madhat Sheikh al Ard and Adib Tebni, may well have viewed the mission’s arrival with some misgivings at first, General Graham and his team worked closely with them from the outset and won them over to complete friendship and cooperation. Dr. Said Abdul Rahim Dabbagh, a very capable bacteriologist brought to Riyadh from Jerusalem by Dr. Madhat, was very helpful to the mission, although His Majesty objected to his attendance upon him. Friendly relations were also established with several other doctors in Riyadh, including Dr. Adib Hashim from Mecca, Dr. Frederick Waltherscheid, a Nazi refugee from the British, and Dr. Hans Mueller, a Nazi refugee from the US occupied zone of Germany.
Although ministering to the King was the principal purpose of the mission, and daily and sometimes twice daily treatments were given, the doctors were in heavy demand by other members of the Royal Family and by high officials of the Court. Among these were the Emir Saudi bin Jiluwi of al Hasa, Fuad Bey Hamsa, King’s Councillor, Rushdi Bey, Chamberlain, the King’s favorite sister, Nura, Rashid Ali al Kilani, the refugee from Iraq and the British, a former wife of the Crown Prince, his three daughters, several princes, and Abdul Rahman Tubeshi, King’s Councillor.
The mission was given every facility possible for carrying on its work and it received lavish and most cordial hospitality from the King and several of the princes. No effort was spared to make our stay comfortable and we had complete freedom of movement in and out of the palace and through the city, including the colorful market of the old walled area.
It was noted with considerable interest that many of the old restrictions on music, games, toys, and other forms of non-religious pastime have been lifted in Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince has a soccer field laid out at one of his palaces and games are played on Friday afternoons. Many of the younger princes participate and on Friday, April 25, the American visitors and the Bechtel men were invited by the Crown Prince to play baseball at his Nasiriya Palace, followed by a challenge soccer match with the local Saudi team. The latter played in regulation shorts and skivvy shirts and performed very well indeed, beating the Americans 6–0. HRH the Crown Prince was an interested and even active spectator, along with a considerable entourage. On a brief visit to Jidda several football fields were seen and [Page 1171] games there attract very sizable crowds. Some inter-city games are played. In addition to football, at least two of the Princes, Emir Saud and Emir Tallal, also have facilities for swimming, tennis, badminton, and other outdoor sports. It is recalled that some six years ago, several Arabs who were playing with a homemade rag ball in Jidda were imprisoned, and the Bechtel personnel in Riyadh report that up to a year ago police would smash any phonographs or toys they came upon. Sports and other forms of entertainment are, therefore, a recent innovation in Saudi Arabia, but the speed with which they have taken hold of popular interest is amazing. Most of the credit for this change in Saudi Arabian life is undoubtedly due directly to the Crown Prince.
An old friend from Jidda, Izzedine Bey Shawa, and formerly of Palestine, was in attendance on His Majesty. When it was possible to have a word with him, he told me that he had returned to Saudi Arabia for an assignment in the Government service. I asked if he knew what it was to be, and he stated that he was to be the deputy administrator of a new political unit which would embrace the Tapline area in the northern part of al Hasa and al Nejd Provinces. He added that a Suadairi family leader would be the top authority. I asked when the new administration would go into effect and he replied that he hoped it would be in two or three weeks.
Muzahim Bey Bajahji, former premier of Iraq, arrived in Riyadh on Saturday, April 22, and was lodged in the new guest palace with the medical mission. The purpose of his visit was not ascertained. It was noted, however, that Rashid Ali, the Iraqi rebel who threw in with the Nazis in an abortive putsch in Iraq during the war, abruptly ceased to put in any appearance. He had been coming to the guest palace for treatment of a heart condition, but he failed to keep appointments after Muzahim Bey arrived. He likewise ceased to attend Court or receptions given by various princes during the period of Muzahim Bey’s visit, although he had been regularly present at such functions previously. Muzahim Bey departed Wednesday, April 26 and Rashid Ali was observed to have resumed his Court appearances at a reception April 28 given by the Crown Prince. By way of conjecture, it is suggested that Muzahim Bey, having fallen from power in Iraq, may have endeavored to take a cue from Syria and come to Saudi Arabia to seek a loan with the promise of opposing any union of Iraq and Syria.
An unusual entertainment was offered us by the Crown Prince on April 28. He invited us to his usual Friday evening reception and informed us that a special program by the young princes of the royal household would be offered. Shortly after our arrival at the palace a lavish high tea was served. Following that we were invited to attend a program out of doors which had obviously been prepared for the [Page 1172] occasion of our visit. The program was very long and consisted primarily of short speeches of eulogy to King, Crown Prince, country, and the flag, but it was particularly notable for several skits and group singing of the national anthem (twice) and of a pledge to the flag. Many of the speeches delivered by the young princes were given in English, a remarkable accomplishment in view of the fact that they had been studying the language only four months. About forty princes participated, ranging in age from 4 to 15 years.
The program was an impressive accomplishment in itself, but it was remarkable also for the fact that this was the first time, according to the Crown Prince, that plays of a nonreligious or comic character had ever been given in Saudi Arabia.
One skit had obvious political implication of great current importance in Saudi Arabia, although it was superficially attributed to Yemen. The King of Yemen, an elderly and infirm old man, was carried in to his throne where he called all his sons about him. Each was asked to discuss an aspect of life that was important to him—love of country, obedience, respect for motherhood, food, etc. After hearing from each, he expressed his thanks to God for such fine sons, and then said he was an old man who had ruled his country 40 years and it was burdensome to him. He forthwith announced his abdication in favor of his eldest son. The implication was very clear and it was notable that the old king, supposedly of Yemen, did not wear the Imami headdress, but the red qutra and gold agal of Ibn Saud, who has ruled 50 years. The skit was suitably applauded by the audience which included over one hundred Arabs as well as ourselves and a few American employees of Bechtel Inc. The Emir Feisal had remained only for the opening part of the program, but his withdrawal was believed to have been prompted by the chill and damp of the evening.
It was interesting to note that the Emir Saud did not recognize the Saudi national anthem when it was first played and Rashid Ali, sitting near him told him what it was. Neither he nor any of the audience stood during either rendition of the anthem. The omission, however, was not indicative of any disrespect, but was undoubtedly merely ignorance of its national significance. It was a creation of the US Marine Band for the occasion of the Crown Prince’s visit to the United States in 1947 and has since been officially adopted for international ceremonial purposes, but it has not yet become familiar in Saudi Arabia where music and musical instruments were until very recently considered offensive.
There may have also been some significance in the repeated cheers by the young princes for the health and long life of the Crown Prince. [Page 1173] Similar cheers were given for the Crown Prince and King, but on several occasions cheers were given only for the Prince.
At the close of the program HRH made a point of requesting that the doctors not speak of the entertainment to the King when they were attending him.