Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, Volume VIII

782.11/8–1153

No. 481
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the President¹

Washington, August 13, 1953.

Subject:

• Invitation to the President of Turkey to Visit the United States

On various occasions in the past several years, Turkish officials have informally expressed the hope that the President of Turkey might be invited to visit the United States. This desire has been accentuated in recent weeks by the invitation to the King and Queen of Greece. Because Greece and Turkey have been bracketed together since our policy with respect to these two countries was enunciated in the Greek-Turkish Aid Bill in 1947, there is a feeling in Turkish official circles that an invitation to the Greek head of state without a similar invitation to the Turkish President reflects a waning interest on our part and a lack of appreciation of the heavy contributions Turkey is making in the common cause.

In addition to this consideration, I consider it appropriate that we publicly manifest, by means of a friendly gesture to the Turkish President, our appreciation for the stalwart collaboration of a nation which has steadfastly resisted Soviet pressures and which has become an outpost of Western strength and stability in a disturbed area. I therefore recommend that an invitation be extended to the President of Turkey to visit the United States. As he would probably not wish to absent himself from Turkey in the months preceding general elections scheduled for May 1954, I suggest that, if you approve, the visit be set for December of this year or January of 1954, the exact date to be agreed upon later. An appropriate occasion for the issuance of this invitation would be at the time Ambassador Warren presents his credentials to the Turkish President.²

JFD

1. Drafted on Aug. 7 by Baxter of GTI.
2. On Aug. 29, the Embassy in Ankara was informed that President Eisenhower wished to extend an invitation to President Bayar to visit Washington and suggested that Ambassador Warren might tender the invitation on the occasion of presenting his credentials. (Telegram 226; 782.11/8–2953) Ambassador Warren reported on Sept. 18 that he had extended the invitation when he presented his credentials (Sept. 17) and that President Bayar had accepted for the dates Jan. 27–29, 1954. (Telegram 300 from Ankara; 782.11/9–1853)