Office of the Historian

149. Notes on a Conversation Between the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Jones) and the Under Secretary of State (Dillon), Department of State, Washington, May 31, 19601

Washington, May 31, 1960

On May 31 I saw Mr. Dillon who had read my memorandum of May 262 regarding the U.S. response to Ben Gurion’s requests, I told Mr. Dillon that were it any other country except Israel I would not bother him. However, this was an election year and Mr. Ben Gurion had seen the President, the Vice President, the Secretary and Mr. Dillon to whom he had made strong appeals not only for military equipment but assistance in connection with the financing of Israel’s arms burden.

Mr. Dillon said that he agreed that everything touching this question should be handled with the greatest delicacy. He had read my memorandum and (I gathered) was not adverse in principle to something of the kind being done. However, he said the Contingency Fund was at such a low ebb that there “simply is not any money”. He mentioned the needs of Chile. He said it was hard for him to believe that $1,000,000 as suggested by Herzog would make a great deal of difference either to Ben Gurion as an individual or to Israel as a country having in mind the fact that U.S. aid to Israel in one form or another is in the neighborhood of $300,000,000 annually.

Mr. Dillon reiterated that we were prepared to take into account the requirements of Israel’s budget and could do so in various ways. But he felt it would be wrong to “link” any help to Israel with Israel’s purchases of military equipment. He said I was at liberty to pass this [Page 330] on to Ambassador Harman which I propose to do when I see him at luncheon on June 8.3

  1. Source: Department of State, NEA Files: Lot 70 D 304, Ben Gurion Visit. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Jones.↩
  2. Supra.↩
  3. Following a discussion of refugees at the luncheon on June 8, Jones told Harman that the United States “had done well by Israel in the past” and “there was no reason why this situation should change.” But he told the Ambassador that Dillon was unwilling to link any special portion of assistance to pay for arms. (Memorandum of conversation; Department of State, Central Files, 784A.00/6–860)↩