Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Telephone Conversations”
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State1
The Sec. said they had the meeting with the Congressional leaders,2 and on the whole it went pretty well—although it raised some serious problems. The Sec. said the feeling was that Congress would be quite prepared to go along on some vigorous action if we were not doing it alone.3 They want to be sure the people in the area are involved too. Both did not blame the Congressmen for this thought. They agreed that the stakes concern others more than us. The President said you can’t go in and win unless the people want you. The French could win in 6 months if the people were with them. The Sec. said the position of Britain is what they were thinking of. It is hard to get the American people excited if they are not. The Sec. suggested the President write the PM. The President suggested working up a cable on a personal basis to be sure he sees it.* The President suggested if ANZUS, as a base, would ask us to consult—then he interrupted this thought and said the Australians must be terribly excited. The Sec. said the Australian and New Zealand Ambassadors were coming in Monday. The President said why not suggest to them consultation with Britain, Thailand and the Philippines.
The Sec. said Bonnet was in and is cabling his government. If they pull out, it will change the scenery, but the Sec. said he does not think they will.
The President asked who was at the meeting, and the Sec. told him.
The President asked if there was any other move to date [today?]? The Sec. said no, and the President said he could come down if needed. The Sec. said no, it was not necessary.
- Drafted by Phyllis D. Bernau of the office of the Secretary of State. President Eisenhower was speaking from Camp David, Md., where he spent the period from Friday afternoon, Apr. 2, to Sunday evening, Apr. 4.↩
- For the memorandum of that meeting by Secretary Dulles, see p. 1224.↩
- According to the memorandum of a telephone conversation between Secretary Dulles and Senator Knowland on the afternoon of Apr. 3, the Senator said that he thought the meeting had been helpful. The Secretary said that it had provided him with what he needed to go ahead. (Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Telephone Conversations”)↩
- The Sec. said we would do something. [Footnote in the source text. A handwritten notation at this point read “MacArthur and Bonbright working on this.” For the message sent to Prime Minister Churchill, see telegram 5179 to London, Apr. 4, p. 1238.]↩