501.BC/9–347
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Joseph C. Satterthwaite, Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Henderson)
| Participants: | Acting Secretary of State (Mr. Lovett) |
| Nokrashy Pasha, Egyptian Prime Minister | |
| Hassan Pasha, Egyptian Ambassador | |
| C. Tyler Wood, A–T1 | |
| J. C. Satterthwaite, NEA |
At the close of the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Acting Secretary, arranged by the Egyptian Embassy with the voluntary information that political subjects would not be discussed, the Prime Minister nevertheless remarked that he would like to mention the status of the Egyptian case in the Security Council before taking his leave. He said that he was most grateful for Mr. Herschel Johnson’s statement that the clause in the Colombian resolution relating to the conclusion of a mutual assistance agreement between the British and the Egyptians for the defense of the Suez Canal did not properly belong in the resolution. It was pointed out at this point that Mr. Johnson did not mean that the U.S. is opposed to the conclusion of such an agreement, but rather that it did not belong in the resolution. Nokrashy Pasha said that he had discussed the question with Mr. Johnson and understood our position.
The Prime Minister went on to say that he felt that everybody including the British were in essential agreement that British forces should be withdrawn from the Suez Canal. The British, however, desired to exact a mutual defense agreement with Egypt as the price of this concession. It would, he said, be impossible for Egypt to accept this arrangement or to renew negotiations on such a basis. Furthermore, an arrangement of this kind made under compulsion would not be of nearly as much value as an agreement reached voluntarily.
The Prime Minister expressed the hope that the United States could break the impasse by persuading the British to announce the withdrawal of British forces from Egypt unconditionally. He also expressed the opinion that the influence and power of the United States was such that it could accomplish anything it desired in the Security Council.
[Page 806]Mr. Lovett told Nokrashy Pasha that he had been under very heavy pressure during the Secretary’s absence and had not been able to keep up to date on this particular question. He expected, however, to go into the matter more thoroughly in the not distant future.2
- Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Thorp).↩
- According to a memorandum of September 2 by Mr. Satterthwaite to
Mr. Lovett, President Truman and the Secretary of State received the
Egyptian Prime Minister on September 1 (883.003/9–247). However, no
record of their discussions has been found in Department of State
files.
In a memorandum of September 5 to the Secretary of State, Mr. Satterthwaite stated that the Prime Minister called on Mr. Lovett at 12:30 p. m. and on Secretary of War Royall at 4 p. m. on September 3 “to present a request on behalf of the Egyptian Government for military advisers for the Egyptian army and air force and for assistance in developing a small arms and munitions industry.
“Mr. Lovett explained that he could not go into the merits of the case for lack of legislative authority. You will recall that the so-called Military and Naval Missions bill is still pending in Congress.” (883.20/9–547) For further information on this subject, see p. 521.
↩