Office of the Historian

345. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1

Washington, December 5, 1967.

Mr. President:

SUBJECT

  • Your meeting with Ambassador Ray Thurston (Somalia)
  • 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 6

This is a brief handshaking-photograph meeting.2 Thurston wants the Somalis to know he saw you personally to report on the very encouraging progress being made in the East African detente between Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The detente is the first real break in a long-standing quarrel between these three countries over common border areas. The dispute heated up to an undeclared border war several times, but the situation has cooled off considerably in the last few months.

The real push for the detente has come from Somalia. They’ve pulled back the guerrillas who were raiding disputed areas in Kenya and Ethiopia, and they’ve stopped hostile propaganda. The Somali Prime Minister had a good meeting with Haile Selassie and Jomo Kenyatta a few months ago. All three countries have resumed diplomatic relations. And only a couple of days ago, the Somali Parliament gave the Government a solid vote of confidence on the policy of detente.

All this is very good news for us. We’ve been trying to encourage a reconciliation for a long time, and Thurston has done an able job. If you take a moment to chat, you might tell him: [Page 591]

1.
We’re very pleased with the progress of the detente, and especially the show of statesmanship by Somalia.
2.
There are bound to be ups and downs in this problem. We know the border dispute is old and deep.
3.
But the Somalis have made a very good start toward reconciliation. Thurston and his Mission should keep up the good work of quiet encouragement.

W.W. Rostow 3
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Somalia, Vol. I, 1/64–5/68. No classification marking. Drafted by Rostow, Hamilton, and Roger Morris.↩
  2. Ambassador Thurston met with the President from 5:45 p.m. to 5:49 p.m. on December 6. (Ibid., President’s Daily Diary)↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩