125.824/10–1353

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of West, Central, and East Africa Affairs ( Feld )

confidential

Subject:

  • U.S. Representation in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.

Participants:

  • Mr. Desmond Crawley, British Embassy (Commonwealth Relations Office Affairs)
  • AF—Mr. Nicholas Feld
  • AF—Mr. James Durnan

Mr. Desmond Crawley, recently arrived British Embassy official who handles Commonwealth Relations Office affairs, called on me today at his own request to reiterate the views of the British Government regarding U.S. representation at Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. These views were previously expressed to Mr. Cyr of AF by Mr. Peter Marshall, Second Secretary of the British Embassy, on August 27, and were summarized in a previous memorandum of conversation.1

The reason for the “repeat performance” became clear when Mr. Crawley revealed that the British Government was now cognizant of the fact that Sir John Kennedy, Governor of Southern Rhodesia, had recently sent a letter to President Eisenhower on his own initiative and without apparently first clearing it through London.2 This letter, which reached the President through Mr. William H. Ball and the Department, had caused the British Government some concern. This was particularly with respect to one paragraph in which the Governor stated that Sir Godfrey Huggins, Prime Minister designate of the new Central African Federation, had expressed the hope that the United States would soon elevate the status of its Consulate General at Salisbury to diplomatic status. Mr. Crawley said that this statement was at variance with the view of the British Government on this subject and he wanted to make clear that Sir John’s letter did not represent the official British attitude on this matter.

Mr. Feld said that the Department understood what had happened and appreciated the British Government’s desire to set the record straight.

  1. Ante, p. 333.
  2. A copy of this letter was not found in Department of State files.