<--PREV Doc #1758  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1760 Document #1759; February 27, 1956 To Gamal Abdel Nasser Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVI - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part IX: "Concerning my political intentions"; December 1955 to April 1956 Chapter 18: On "an almost normal schedule"   Dear Mr. Prime Minister:1 I wish to express appreciation for your letter of February sixth and for the time and attention which you have generously given Mr. Anderson on his recent trip.2 My Secretary of State and I have had the benefit of a careful and detailed report by Mr. Anderson of your conversations, and we have discussed with him the steps which might be taken in pursuit of a peaceful settlement.3 Since I last wrote to you, I have grown increasingly concerned over the tensions that have arisen in the Near East.4 Until the underlying issues which cause them are resolved, the risk of an outbreak of hostilities is constantly with us. I believe that the present time may offer the best opportunity to work out a settlement which will make it possible for the United States to give increasing assistance in achieving the aspirations of the Arab peoples. I know from your statement of the desirability to eliminate the tensions between the Arab states and Israel that you will want to continue your fruitful conversations. With this in mind, Mr. Anderson is returning to the Near East within a few days.5 I have followed with interest the reports of the negotiations on the construction of a High Dam at Aswan and have been pleased to note the progress which has been made.6 The High Dam represents in finest form the policy of peaceful development for your people of which you wrote. Please permit me to renew my warmest good wishes. Through Mr. Anderson and others with whom you have been good enough to discuss fully and frankly their important problems, I feel that I am becoming better acquainted with you.7 Sincerely 1 State Department officials drafted this letter to Lieutenant Colonel Nasser. Eisenhower would send a similar message to Israel's Prime Minister David Ben Gurion on this same day (AWF/D; see also Hoover to Eisenhower, Feb. 20, 1956; and Barnes to Goodpaster, Feb. 25, 1956, both in AWF/I: Israel; drafts of these letters are in AWF/D-H). 2 Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Anderson had been in the Middle East from January 15 until February 5. For background on the Anderson mission see no. 1684; and State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. XV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, January 1-July 26, 1956, pp. 15-16; for Anderson's messages to Washington during his first visits to Cairo and Jerusalem see ibid., pp. 28-56, 58-70, 80-82, 86-91, 94-96, 122-24, 127-29, 133-35. 3 Anderson had met with Eisenhower on the evening of February 10. He had met with Secretary Dulles on February 23 (see Telephone conversations, Eisenhower and Anderson, Feb. 10, 1956, AWF/D; and Dulles and Hoover, Feb. 23, 1956, Dulles Papers, Telephone Conversations). 4 On January 9, in a letter to Nasser drafted by the State Department, Eisenhower had introduced Anderson, who, he said, "fully understands my personal concern and hopes in this area, which I am sure you and he will want to explore completely." The President sent a similar letter to Ben Gurion (both in AWF/D-H). 5 Nasser had written that although the "establishment of Israel in Palestine was the gravest imaginable challenge to the peaceful preoccupation of the Egyptian and Arab people," he wished to work toward a peaceful solution that respected "the fundamental rights and aspirations of the Arab people" (Nasser to Eisenhower, Feb. 6, 1956, AWF/I: Egypt). Anderson would return to the Middle East on February 29 (Telephone conversation, Eisenhower and Anderson, Feb. 25, 1956, AWF/D; and State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. XV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, January 1-July 26, 1956, pp. 274-75, 293, 295-300; see also Memorandum of Conversation, Feb. 27, 1956, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series). 6 Egypt had long wanted to construct a hydroelectric dam across the Nile River south of the existing one at Aswan. The project would include a transmission line to Cairo, with the necessary interconnections; the conversion of 700,000 acres of land to perennial irrigation; and the reclamation, irrigation, and settlement of an additional 1,300,000 acres, including the provision of necessary roads and other public facilities. The dam would be three miles long across the crest and would provide a storage capacity sufficient to regulate the Nile flow throughout the year. The United States, Great Britain, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The World Bank Group) had been attempting to work out a plan to assist in the dam's construction (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. IX, The Near and Middle East, pt. 2, pp. 2192-97, 2309-11; State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Arab-Israeli Dispute 1955, pp. 798-801, 808-10, 818-20, 837-38, 849-52, 860-65, 868-70, 875; and NSC meeting minutes, Dec. 2, 1955, AWF/NSC; see also no. 1652 and Eisenhower, Waging Peace, pp. 30-31). 7 For developments see no. 1773. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Gamal Abdel Nasser, 27 February 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1759. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1759.cfm <--PREV Doc #1758  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1760

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