167. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Secretary of State and Senator William F. Knowland, Secretary Dulles’ Residence, Washington, December 8, 1956, Noon–1:15 p.m.1
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[Page 397]I then talked in considerable detail about the Middle East situation stating that it seemed basic that the United States must make its presence more strongly felt in the area. There seemed to be three choices: (1) To join the Baghdad Pact; (2) To try to organize a new grouping; and (3) To deal on a bilateral basis with some maneuverability. This latter I suggested should be on the basis of a Congressional resolution authorizing the President to use the Armed Forces and to spend certain sums to bolster the military defense abilities and economies of countries whose governments showed a determination to combat Communist infiltration.
I said that I had come to the conclusion that this third choice was the best. There were grave liabilities which attach to the Baghdad Pact and the process of creating a new organization would be full of delays and pitfalls. Senator Knowland indicated general concurrence without any commitment as to details. He said that it might be difficult to get the votes to adhere to the Baghdad Pact without some pact for Israel and that if the two pacts were tied together it might be impossible to get a two-thirds majority for either. The Senator did, however, suggest that if Israeli troops were withdrawn, if there was sort of a UN trusteeship in the Gaza Strip and if the UN troops could create an effective cordon to separate the Israelis from the Arabs, then some sort of a pact might be considered, but he doubted that without meeting these conditions the Senate would want to buy into the kind of feuding and reprisals that had been characteristic of the former period.
The Senator said there would be difficulty in boosting very much the foreign aid although perhaps the President would enjoy during this Session a new “honeymoon”. I said I thought there would probably have to be somewhat more military and economic aid for the Middle East, although if Communist China indicated a non-belligerent attitude, we might be able to cut a little off of our Far Eastern commitments. I said there might have to be some aid to Europe but this could not very well be calculated at the moment other than financial aid to support the pound sterling.
Senator Knowland asked how soon I thought the Canal might be brought into operation, and I said I hoped that this might be within six weeks, at least for the smaller vessels. I said the important thing was the opening up of the Iraq pipeline through Syria. The Senator agreed that this was very important.
The Senator said that he believed that our Middle East policies had been thoroughly sound and would go down in history as being a landmark in the development of world order.
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- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Memoranda of Conversations. Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Dulles on December 9.↩