374. Memorandum for the Record0
SUBJECT
- Meeting with The President, December 2; in attendance, Mr. Bundy
[Here follows item 1 on an unrelated matter.]
2. I again brought to the President’s attention the seriousness of the Yemen problem. I extended the discussion to express my worries over the entire Middle East because of the Yemen conflict over the northern tier of Africa, the continuing problems with the Israeli border, the Iraq-Syria situation and finally the problems between the oil companies and the producing states which resulted in a planned meeting of the eight producing states in mid-December. This coincided with the determined effort on the part of several countries to renegotiate their concessions. I explained to the President that the producing states are taking the position that the oil companies are in competition, one with the other, had forced the prices down to the advantage of the Western consumers, i.e. Western Europe, Scandinavia, the United States and Japan, and to the disadvantage of the Middle East and Venezuelan producers. I pointed out to the President that Mr. McCloy and Mr. Bunker were well-informed on the Middle East situation, most particularly the Yemen and the problems of Nasser.
Action: This entire area should be kept under the most active surveillance and observation by both DDI and DDP.
3. Syria. Comments on Syria were included in my discussion on the Middle East; however I ventured that it appeared to me that while the forces ascending in authority in Syria and Iraq were not Nasser satellites, that Nasser’s wave of influence was on the upsurge and we could expect further efforts on his part to consolidate his position in these two countries.
[Here follow items 4–8 on unrelated matters.]
- Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Job 80 B 01285A, Box 2, DCI Files, DCI (McCone) Memo for the Record, Meetings with the President. Top Secret. Drafted by McCone on December 3.↩