Office of the Historian

98. Memorandum From Harold H. Saunders of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)1

Washington, September 4, 1968.

SUBJECT

  • Bakkush Visit—5 p.m. Meeting Today

In introducing the substantive aspects of the Libyan visit, you might make the following points:

1.
Bakkush represents the younger generation of western-educated, technically-competent Libyans who, a few years ago, were the main critics of the traditional Libyan regime but who, now, have found an outlet in the government itself and some hope of a voice in shaping Libya’s future. One of the main themes we will be stressing is Libya’s rapid economic progress and our desire to continue a close technical relationship with this new generation of Libyans.
2.
As a practical move in this direction, during the visit we will be signing a series of technical cooperation agreements. These are important milestones. AID has phased out in Libya because of rapidly growing Libyan oil revenues. These agreements are designed to provide a framework for continued technical cooperation despite the fact that we are no longer in an aid donor-recipient relationship.
3.
We will have to talk about the Arab-Israeli problem, but the Libyans would probably prefer to play it down and concentrate on their own development. We have an interest in that development too since American companies have the majority of concessions for developing Libya’s oil revenues. We also have an important air training base there, which we hoped to continue using at least though 1971.

In short, this is not a major visit but it is one with some interesting angles to exploit in our public statements.

After this introduction, I would be inclined to ask Bess Abell whether there are any questions she would like to ask of the State people present. Bess has a guest list and gift suggestions. She will not have seen State’s suggestion for entertainment. As far as I can see, there are no outstanding issues except that Bess may wish our help in paring down the State Department’s guest list suggestions.2

Hal
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Libya, Proposed Visit of PM Bakkush, 9/25–26/68. Confidential.↩
  2. On September 4, Prime Minister Abd al-Hamid Bakkush resigned and King Idris named former Foreign Minister Wanis al-Qadhaafi to replace him. On September 9, the White House announced that since Bakkush had resigned, the official visit scheduled for September 25 and 26 would not take place. (Telegram 235498 to Tripoli, September 10; Department of State, Central Files, POL 7 LIBYA)↩