264. Letter From the President’s Special Representative and Adviser on African, Asian, and Latin American Affairs (Bowles) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)0
Dear Mac: Several of our friends have been rather concerned about the possible domestic political difficulties which may result in any change of our attitude toward the United Arab Republic.
In this regard, I think you may be interested in the enclosed speech which I gave recently to the American Jewish Congress.1
As you will see, the speech strongly implies an approach to the Middle East which would encourage internal development in the hope that if individuals such as Nasser become involved in their internal affairs, there will be less time and energy to carry on the conflict which has plagued this area for so many years.
At dinner I met with various members of the board of directors of the American Jewish Congress and opened up this question with great frankness. The views which I expressed seemed to be very much accepted.
I hope you will agree that this is reassuring evidence that while there may be criticism from some individuals that with careful handling and frank explanation our domestic political problem should not present any unmanageable difficulties.
In this regard, I believe it would be most helpful if we could extend an invitation to Nasser in the next few weeks to visit the United States sometime after the election in November.
Although the situation will always be unpredictable, I think this kind of approach will go a long way to focus his interest on his own internal development questions, with less time left for the Voice of the Arabs radio.
With my warmest regards,
Sincerely,
- Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Country Series, United Arab Republic, 3/62–5/62. No classification marking. Notes attached to the source text indicate that Bundy asked that Komer read the letter, talk to Feldman, and advise him on how to respond to Bowles. Komer responded on May 11; see Document 270.↩
- For text, see Department of State Bulletin, May 7, 1962, pp. 765–769.↩