Presidential Papers, Doc#1862 Telegram. <EM>Top secret To Robert Anthony Eden, 2 May 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #1862; May 2, 1956
To Robert Anthony Eden
Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series ; Category: Telegram. Top secret
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVII - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part X: Cracks in the Alliance; May 1956 to September 1956
Chapter 20: Confronting "great risks"

 

Dear Anthony: Thank you very much for your interesting report on your recent visitors.1 Comparison of their conduct in Britain with the deportment of these same two individuals in Yugoslavia a couple of years ago does at least show that these men are capable of learning from experience.2

I am delighted that you made your views so utterly plain to them. At least in some areas we should be able to avoid emergencies that could arise out of misunderstanding or miscalculation on their part.

Foster left for Europe last evening, but I believe that on this trip he is not counting on stopping in London, so he will not get to see you.3

With warm regard, As ever

1 Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev had completed a nine-day visit to London on April 27 (see no. 1828). Eden had described the discussions as "tough" but "useful and instructive." Khrushchev had told Eden that although Soviet influence in the Eastern European bloc was considerable, the countries "could be touchy and the Russians could not just order them about." During discussions regarding the Middle East, Eden said, he had made plain to the Soviet officials that Great Britain had to have oil and was "prepared to fight for it." "They accepted this and though they continued to inveigh against the Baghdad Pact (or the Eden Pact, as Bulganin told me they call it in Moscow) I think that they may have begun to understand that it is a protective pad for our vital interests and not a dagger pointing at their guts" (Eden to Eisenhower, n.d., AWF/I: Eden; see also State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. XXVII, Western Europe and Canada, pp. 657-58).

2 Eisenhower may have been referring to a verbal confrontation between Khrushchev and the U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia during the visit of Soviet officials to that country in May 1955 (see State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. XXVI, Central and Southeastern Europe, pp. 650-58; see also no. 1593). The words "a couple of years ago" were changed to "about a year" by State Department officials in the final draft of this letter (TEDUL 5).

3 Secretary Dulles was in Paris for the North Atlantic Council meeting, held on May 4 and 5.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Telegram. Top secret To Robert Anthony Eden, 2 May 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1862. 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/1862.cfm

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