Office of the Historian

188. Memorandum of a Conversation, White House, Washington, July 17, 3:30 p.m.1

Washington, July 17, 3:30 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Foreign Secretary Lloyd’s Visit

PARTICIPANTS

  • United States
    • The President
    • Secretary of State Dulles
    • G. Frederick Reinhardt
  • United Kingdom
    • Foreign Secretary Lloyd
    • Lord Hood, British Minister

The Secretary reported on the progress of his conversations with Mr. Lloyd.

United Nations—The Secretary said he and Mr. Lloyd had agreed that the United Kingdom and Jordan should make a statement in the Security Council with respect to the British response to King Hussein’s request for military assistance but they hoped that it would not be necessary to table a resolution and thus avoid a debate with Egypt.

[Here follows discussion of unrelated matters.]

Jordan—Mr. Lloyd said he had been asked by Mr. Macmillan to say how very grateful they were for U.S. support with respect to Jordan. The Secretary had given something to the press, we were to make a statement in the Security Council, and our experts were looking [Page 321] into the problem of logistical support. This was all to the good but the British Government would be particularly happy if the Jordanian exercise could be a truly joint operation. This would in effect make it a kind of deterrent. The President pointed out that we did not have the advantages of a parliamentary form of government and that our operation in the Mediterranean had been presented as being limited to Lebanon. We would surely stand shoulder to shoulder with the British but as in the Torch Operation2 there were occasions when it was well to have a division of effort. There was a brief discussion of the progress of the British troop movement into Amman, concerning which information was very meager, as well as regarding the plot against King Hussein. The Secretary reported that he had been called at 2 a.m. because the Israeli insisted that we support the British request for overflight commission. He had agreed to this but the timing has been very late.

Mr. Lloyd said the British were putting 2200 paratroopers into Amman and the Guards Brigade would be behind. They did not want to put in too many forces because of the supply problem which had to be carried out by air.

[Here follows discussion of unrelated matters.]

Jordan—At the end of the meeting Mr. Lloyd again raised with the President British hopes that there might be a U.S. participation in Jordan. The President gave him no encouragement but said that we would of course not permit the British to get into a jam there.

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International Series. Top Secret. Drafted by Reinhardt. The full text of this memorandum is scheduled for publication in volume XII.↩
  2. Reference is to the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942.↩