261. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the Minister of the British Embassy (Lord Hood), Department of State, Washington, August 8, 1958, 11:30 a.m.1
SUBJECT
- Special General Assembly and Jordan
Special General Assembly—The Secretary told Lord Hood there was a possibility the President might go up to New York and make a general speech to set the tone of the meeting. Hammarskjold had suggested this and had also urged that no Heads of Government take part and that if the President appeared in New York, it be as head of state. The Secretary made clear that if the President should go to New York, it would not be as head of delegation and he would not participate in the debate. He said that the decision would in large measure depend on whether we found it possible to prepare the kind of speech that would justify the President’s appearance in New York.
The Secretary said that Gromyko had applied for a visa and that he would therefore probably go to New York and hoped that in the circumstances Selwyn Lloyd could come. The Secretary was not sure of what extent he would take part in the debate but there would be a great deal to do in lobbying with other delegations and some quick decisions might have to be taken.
Jordan—Lord Hood said his government was most grateful for the very effective action taken by the Secretary with respect to the Israeli Government. The revived airlift would succeed in effecting a much better supply position and he thought that for the future the question of overflights would only arise as an ad hoc matter for humananitarian or emergency reasons. He reported that a battalion of troops had been moved from Aden to Aqaba, which took care of the problem of reinforcement.
Lord Hood then said that from the British point of view the main objective in the Special General Assembly was to get authority for the Secretary General to take action in Jordan. It was their hope that a resolution providing for United Nations presence in that country, possibly calling for an enlarged UNTSO, would make possible release of some Jordanian troops from the frontier for internal security duties. This should provide a breathing space.
[Page 445]The Secretary thought there was strong reason for United Nations action in Jordan. The problem was part of the general Palestinian question for if the Armistice collapsed, the Israelis had indicated they would move in. The Secretary pointed to the problem of obtaining Lebanese and Jordanian agreement to some form of United Nations guaranteed special status. Lord Hood asked whether we were worried about the Israelis and whether they should be warned against taking any action. The Secretary replied he was not yet completely caught up since his return from Rio but that he saw some advantages in the existence of an Israeli threat. Lord Hood said that Mrs. Meir would be in London on Sunday to talk with the Foreign Secretary. The Israeli had already raised with the British Government the question of guarantees, more arms, etc., and the British Embassy would like to discuss this problem with officials of the Department. The Secretary observed that we had received a similar request from the Israelis. In this connection, he pointed out that the Russians would probably have a proposal on arms embargo which we would have to deal with.
Economic Proposals—There was a brief discussion of the possibility of advancing some proposal for economic development. The Secretary said this raised many problems. He thought this might be dealt with in a general way but doubted that we could have anything concrete in time for the special session of the General Assembly.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 785.00/8–858. Secret. Drafted by Reinhardt. Lord Hood was Chargé d’Affaires.↩