452. Editorial Note
On July 13, Secretary Dulles and President Eisenhower, in the course of a conversation at the President’s residence at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, discussed the “stockpile” operation as well as the current status of the Aswan Dam project:
“(5) I discussed with the President the general Arab-Israeli situation, pointing out that while it was still tense the prophets who had anticipated Israel being over-run in June were already proved wrong. I did say, however, that I felt it was important for us to make some statement promptly about our ‘stockpile’ operation which had now been advanced to a point where a vessel with necessary supplies was in the Mediterranean. I showed the President a proposed message to Hammarskjold on this subject. The President read it carefully, asked some questions, and then said that he approved of it.
“(6) I said that on the Aswan Dam, we had sat tight while Shepilov was in Egypt and that instead of this leading to a Russian proposal to build the dam as many had anticipated, the Egyptians were now back saying they would take our proposal on the original terms and withdraw their own counter proposals. I said we were not in a position now to deal with this matter because we did not know of the legislative situation. Also our views on the merits of the matter had somewhat altered. I said we were considering this carefully and would consult with the President next week.” (Memorandum of conversation by Dulles; Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President)