684A.85/3–950
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
Subject: Telegrams from McDonald on Israeli-Jordan Negotiations
I discussed this matter with the President along the lines indicated in the briefing book and recommended to him that he should not send a personal message to Abdullah because Abdullah’s primary difficulty was with his own Cabinet with which he had agreed not to press this matter further until after the April elections. It seemed to me that a message from the President, which had been suggested by the Israelis would be most certain to leak and he might find himself the principal issue in the Transjordan elections.
[Page 789]The President said that this recommendation thoroughly accorded with his own strong feeling upon reading the telegrams.