Office of the Historian

641.74/12–1851: Telegram

The Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery) to the Department of State 1

secret
Cairo, December 18, 1951—3 p. m.

904. King has become progressively more angry with Wafd and particularly with way in which it has consistently out-maneuvered him ever since abrogation of the treaty. Determined to break the present govt, he is in need of two things:

(1)
An occasion on which he can do so without putting himself in the wrong with people and
(2)
An indication from the Brit that they wld be prepared to settle with a successor govt along lines sufficiently acceptable to Egypt people to render successor govts position tenable.

Gallad Pasha tells me that the right occasion arose on the night Dec 8 when the Wafd had failed so miserably in its announced “resist with all available force” move to stop the Brit demolition at Kafr Abdu but that King was unfortunately taken unawares and did not seize his advantage.

King was opposed to any break in relations with Brit and was not prepared accept even Amr recall. Cabinet, realizing this, announced recall in Al Misri before obtaining King’s approval. This placed King in impossible position in public eye and he resentfully signed the order.

King is furious over what he terms “blundering tactics” of Brit in arranging Eden–Salaheddin meeting. In his opinion mere fact a mtg is taking place is a victory for Wafd and makes his job of breaking govt more difficult. He believes Salaheddin only anxious for mtg in order to be able publicize “I told Eden so and so”. King is of the [Page 442] opinion Salaheddin will reject any proposals made by Brit and that his rejection of them will make it impossible for a successor govt to consider them.2

Caffery
  1. Repeated to London, Paris for MacArthur, Ankara, Arab capitals, Tripoli, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Rome, and Moscow.↩
  2. In telegram 909 of December 19 from Cairo, Caffery reported that he had spoken with Sirry Pasha, “who made it clear he cld not undertake to head a new govt here at this juncture unless Brit FonOff changed its present attitude.” Sirry, Caffery added, “is probably the outstanding polit leader here who is basically friendly to Western world.” (641.74/12–1951)↩