Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXI, Near East Region; Arabian Peninsula

133. Memorandum From Harold H. Saunders of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) and Edward Fried of the National Security Council Staff¹

Washington, February 2, 1968.

SUBJECT

• Prime Minister Wilson and the Persian Gulf

I have refrained during previous Wilson visits from pressing any of my concerns because I realize that higher priority items are on the agenda for these talks. However, this time I would like to make a plea for one sentence in your Memorandum for the President on the Persian Gulf. I should imagine this would not distort the agenda you are planning since it is part of the larger subject of British retrenchment.

The point I would like to see the President make is: We hope the British will retain a substantial political position in the Persian Gulf and not dismantle its present network of political posts and treaties.

Our reasoning is that the British, even if they may have to pull their troops out, can still do a lot to encourage new political and economic relationships in the Gulf. They have the influence and the experience where we do not.

I also want to strike one note of caution. I understand that the following sentence now appears in the Secretary’s Memo to the President: “The President may want to urge the Prime Minister to insure that the UK Government does everything possible to promote regional security arrangements in Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf.”² If you haven’t seen the reaction to Gene Rostow’s offhand comment in a BBC interview about new security arrangements in the Persian Gulf, you ought to know that this got every major country in the region up in arms against us. The fact is that we have no intention of participating and want to make this clear. Any equation of Persian Gulf and security arrangements in Southeast Asia will do more harm than good, although we obviously want the nations of the Persian Gulf to unite on their own initiative in a variety of ways to ward off Soviet penetration.

Hal

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, United Kingdom, Visit of PM Wilson, 2/7-9/68. Secret.
2. The language in the Secretary’s February 3 memorandum to the President reads: “In the case of Southeast Asia, urge that the UK concert with the countries of the area to promote regional security arrangements prior to the British departure. In the case of the Persian Gulf, stress importance of maintaining other elements of British position thereafter.” (Ibid., Visit of PM Wilson Briefing Book, 2/7-9/68)