60. Memorandum From the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant (Boster) to the Executive Secretariat1
Washington, May 22,
1958.
There follows, for appropriate distribution, an excerpt from a conversation between the President and the Secretary on May 22:
“I discussed the prospective trip of Dr. Milton Eisenhower to Central America. I expressed the view that it would be desirable to carry through on this visit, although perhaps some slight alteration in the timing might be useful to avoid labor and university gatherings. [Page 252] The President said he would get in touch with Dr. Eisenhower along these lines.”2
DEB
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 120.1520/5–2258. Secret.↩
- After this conversation with Secretary Dulles, President Eisenhower telephoned his brother and suggested that he inform reporters, if asked, that he intended to make his trip to Central America but to be vague about its timing. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries) During another conversation with the President on May 26, the Secretary informed the President that the Department of State was trying to get an accurate assessment of the current situation in each of the Central American nations that Dr. Eisenhower planned to visit. Dulles believed that Dr. Eisenhower should carry out the trip. He noted, however, that the situation in Panama was sufficiently serious to warrant cancelling that portion of the visit. (ibid., Meetings with the President)↩