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Document
#1933; July 31, 1956
To Guy Mollet
Series:
EM, AWF, International Series: Mollet
; Category:
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"
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Dear Mr. President: I have received your letter of July thirty-first regarding the Suez Canal situation which at this moment is being studied and discussed by representatives of our Governments in London.1 I am glad to have this frank expression of your thoughts on a matter which we all view with grave concern. As you are already aware, I have today asked Secretary Dulles to fly to London to confer with the French and British representatives there.2
While I recognize that events may ultimately make forceful action necessary, I feel that the present situation demands that we act moderately, but firmly, to bring about a dependable administration of the Canal. I feel that the utmost calm is required in charting the course of the Western nations at this time and it is for this reason that we propose that a meeting of interested states be held promptly. I believe that our efforts now should be directed toward the holding of such an international conference which would have an educational effect on public opinion throughout the world. If the Egyptian Government defies such a conference, or rejects reasonable proposals, then there should result a broader basis than now exists for other affirmative action.
I am convinced that the Western nations must show the world that every effective peaceful means to resolve this difficulty has been exhausted and I sincerely hope that precipitate action can be avoided.3
With assurances of my highest esteem, Sincerely
Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Secret To Guy Mollet,
31 July 1956.
In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1933.
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/1933.cfm
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