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

275. Memorandum of Conversation¹

Washington, June 21, 1966, 5:05-6:25 p.m.

SUBJECT

• President’s Meeting with King Faisal

PARTICIPANTS

• The President
• King Faisal
• Mr. Isa Sabbagh, Interpreter

Before going into the Cabinet Room the President and King Faisal had spent one hour and 20 minutes in a personal chat and an exchange of views of a general nature at first with increasing emphasis on social reforms in the United States of America and in Saudi Arabia.

The President opened the personal tete-a-tete by once again assuring His Majesty of a warm welcome as an honored guest, adding how much the President had been looking forward to this visit. The President emphasized how heads of states had their own problems, some of which were very similar in nature and he went on to enumerate what he subsequently crystallized as “my bill of rights”. These, if the President has the longevity of life and the tenure of office and the good health, would assure every citizen of equality, of a decent home, of a decently paying job, of fresh air and water, adequate education to the highest levels possible, medical facilities from infancy to old age, and the beautification of the United States of America. At this point, he invited the King to enumerate what he had been doing for his own people, given his acknowledged wisdom and determination. The King described at length the increasing efforts exerted during the last 3 or 4 years in the field of education with the result that in Saudi Arabia a school is being built every 3 days or less. Here, the President expressed his appreciation of this “wonderful work” particularly since “I started my working career as a school teacher”. As to the problems that Saudi Arabia faced and is still facing in this field, the greatest of these is the shortage of teachers who, of necessity, have had to be imported from neighboring Arab countries. Problem number two was the need to revamp the educational curriculum for elementary schools because the original education plans were drawn up with the assistance of non-Saudi experts, mostly Arabs from other parts of the world, particularly Egypt. At this point the King said, “we have discovered that some of the subjects suggested according to those old plans included matters which would fashion the tender young minds of our youth in a way prejudicial to the interests of our country. In view of these two problems, we have come to the decision that it would be unwise to our future generations to place these easily molded minds in the hands of strangers who do not share with us the genuine interests of our country”. Turning to the field of medicine, the King mentioned that his Government was doing its utmost about providing hospitals and clinics even in the remote parts of the vast Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but that there too Saudi Arabia faced the problem of the inadequacy of doctors, nurses, and professional people in their field. Here also, Saudi Arabia has had to resort to the importation of doctors and specialists from neighboring Arab countries, because it would be impossible to import a large number of non-Arabic speaking doctors without providing each doctor with a translator between him and the patient. King Faisal admitted, however, that all that has been done is not, in his opinion, enough. He was also looking forward to the time when they could feel that they have achieved self-sufficiency in this regard. As to the pace of progress and development, King Faisal thought that the pace was consonant with the smooth evolutionary development of that country given its built-in peculiarities and checks. In fact, some well wishers who had re-visited the country recently after the passage of some ten years expressed their opinion that progress was moving at too fast a rate. King Faisal said he did not think so but in any case there was no room for comparison between what the country now had and what it did have or, in fact, did not have ten years ago.

At this point President Johnson expressed his deep admiration for what King Faisal and his Government were trying to do for their own people because, to the President, social advancement and meaningful development were the only reply to the Communist ambitions of infiltrating and gaining control of a country. The President noted that he was very pleased that he and King Faisal shared the same views as to the Communist dangers to the area and the tactics the Soviets resort to.

The President told King Faisal “Even before you say it, Your Majesty, I would like you to know that we are aware of Nasser’s tactics, ambitions, propaganda and designs”. “I have my problems with the fellow.” In elaborating, the President expressed his opinion that the U.S. considers it in the long run prudent to leave room for a dialogue with somebody like Nasser because once you slam the door in his face you might heave him into the lap of the other side and, as a consequence, you might have another Dominican Republic develop in that area. As His Majesty is aware, the President said, we had to go in with armed forces into the Dominican Republic to put a stop to the Communist takeover of that country and to make sure that free elections were carried out. On the question of the U.S. relations with the U.A.R. the President mentioned that we seek reasonable relations and maintenance of our limited influence with President Nasser. The President said we are actively reviewing the extent of our future assistance, taking into consideration various actions of Nasser including his attitude toward and relations with Saudi Arabia.

With respect to the area generally, the President admired King Faisal’s restraint in the face of all the intrigues, accusations and propaganda campaigns levelled at him and his country. Coupled with this admiration the President urged the King to keep up this attitude of self-restraint because “we both want to see a peaceful settlement of the Yemeni problem”. At this point the President referred with appreciation to the King’s restraint in replying to questions posed by a BBC representative lately.

The President expressed his knowledge of and support for Secretary Rusk’s suggestions at lunch that “we keep discreetly in closer touch about developments in the Arab world and indeed elsewhere where we have common interests”. The President said that he felt sure he could benefit and learn a lot from such a wise man as King Faisal whose word “my people tell me” is his bond. The President would therefore welcome the views of His Majesty on the following points (the President said maybe the King would wish to take a little time to ponder these points, therefore he did not have to answer right away). The points were:

1. Appraisal of the forces at work in the Arab world.

2. The possibility of helping such areas as South Arabia and the Gulf in developing peacefully. The President wondered what His Majesty felt about the possibility of Saudi Arabia cooperating with moderate elements and governments in the area for the purpose of helping those two regions such as the establishment of an Arab development body.

3. The areas where redoubled efforts could be exerted for increasing development in Saudi Arabia. As to the President’s remarks about Faisal’s wisdom and the President’s ability to learn therefrom, Faisal replied that such a generous remark indicated modesty which in this case was synonymous with greatness. It staggered Faisal’s imagination to think that such a person, one human being, could really find time, energy and dedication to the solution of tremendous problems internally, to the carrying out of such terrific advances in the fields of civil rights and social development as the President had crystallized in his “bill of rights” and at the same time to keep up the healthy American leadership of the Free World, because “whether you like it or not” you are the leader of the Free World. To Faisal it was a sign of God’s blessings that he granted the United States of America such an intelligent, determined and dedicated President. Heaven forbid that His Majesty should seek to malign the memory of the late President Kennedy, whom he admired greatly, but looking back on those days His Majesty felt that during President Kennedy’s latter period in office and because of President Kennedy’s bigness of heart and goodness of nature, there were a few areas where, if unchecked, social reforms might have tended to slip into the abyss of increasing socialism which in itself would in the long run almost automatically develop into Communism. His Majesty noted that since President Johnson’s tenure of office that tendency had been firmly checked.

The President wished to take the opportunity to reassure His Majesty of our previous expressions of help and support for the wise programs that he and his Government were carrying out. He wanted His Majesty to know that he, the President, appreciates what King Faisal and his Government were trying to do for their own people and that such efforts were bound to forestall any Communist ambitions in the direction of Saudi Arabia. The President wished to reiterate the assurances given by the U.S. Government to Faisal of our concern for the safety, integrity and well being of your country and yourself. “As long as I am in office” said President Johnson, “I will not permit your country to be gobbled up by the Communists. And now, after I have had the pleasure of meeting you and knowing you, and especially after this rewarding conversation, I would like you to know that I appreciate Your Majesty personally much more this evening than I did even this morning, and I would like you to know that I wouldn’t permit you to be gobbled up either.” The President emphasized that it was precisely because we took this kind of attitude towards our loyal friends that he related with sorrow, that since World War II America has sacrificed something like 170,000 casualties in our fight for freedom and liberty and the betterment of mankind and in standing up to the Communist encroachments. King Faisal reacted almost emotionally to this by saying “We deeply appreciate the sacrifices and the efforts expended by the U.S. in behalf of humanity.”

Reverting to the subject of President Nasser, President Johnson said that he doubted very much if Nasser, in the absence of any provocation on the part of Saudi Arabia, either directly or by helping the royalists in the Yemen to commit any provocative act, “would dare attack Saudi Arabia”.

The President said we have sold arms and equipment to Israel as we have sold similar material to Jordan and to Saudi Arabia, but it was not the policy of the U.S. to be the major supplier of arms to that area.

Since time was running fast the President suggested that King Faisal and he join “our colleagues” in the Cabinet Room where, if he thought possible, King Faisal would give his observations on the President’s remarks.

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Saudi Arabia, Memos, Vol. I, 12/63-4/67. Secret; Exdis. Drafted by Sabbagh on June 22. The time of the meeting is from the President’s Daily Diary. (Ibid.) The memorandum is Part I of II. Part II is Document 276.