223. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles0
TELEPHONE CALL TO THE PRESIDENT (Gettysburg)
[Here follows discussion of an unrelated subject.]
Pres. asked about Cyprus. Sec. said all we have is that there are big demonstrations going on in Athens largely Anti-American.
Pres. said he did not understand Greeks getting mad at us. Sec. said everywhere in the world everyone thinks we can fix everything. They don’t realize we don’t run the whole world.
Pres. said how do we do anything with the Turks or Greeks. Turkey is thinly populated—couldn’t we get Turks out and in better position elsewhere? Sec. said we would never get them out of there. Pres. said there were only 5,000 Turks in Cyprus. Sec. said (after checking with Rountree) there were 160,000–about 20% of the total population. Pres. said that knocks out any resettlement.
Pres. said he guessed all we can do is pray.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. No classification marking. Transcribed by Phyllis D. Bernau. Secretary Dulles was in Washington.↩