<--PREV Doc #219  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #221 Document #220; June 27, 1957 To John Foster Dulles Series: Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part II: Civil Rights; June 1957 to September 1957 Chapter 3: "I am astonished and chagrined"   Dear Foster: I am truly getting a bit uneasy about the increasing stiffness of King Saud's attitude with respect to the Gulf of Aqaba.1 It begins to look as if it would be easier to get unlimited use of the Canal for Israeli shipping than to make good on our efforts to have the Gulf of Aqaba considered as an international waterway. The seriousness of the matter in my mind arises from the fact that he seems to have been making so much progress to lead most of the Arab world toward the Western camp. I think we better do some very hard thinking on this matter.2 As ever 1 For background on the correspondence between Eisenhower and King Saud on the issue of free passage through the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba see no. 156. On June 25 the Saudi Arabian ambassador had delivered a note to the Department of State, protesting a June 5 circular that referred to the October 1955 "Notice to Mariners No. 44," with regulations for U.S. ships bound for the Gulf of Aqaba. Reminding ship owners and masters that the United States considered the gulf an international waterway, the memorandum stated that a denial of "free and innocent passage" through the waters to any ship of U.S. registry should be reported to the nearest available U.S. diplomatic or consular officer (AWF/I: Saudi Arabia; U.S. Department of State Bulletin 37, no. 942 [July 15, 1957], 112 - 13; and State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. XVII, Arab-Israeli Dispute 1957, pp. 659 - 60, 682). In an accompanying message to Eisenhower, King Saud repeated his contention that the gulf and the straits were closed Arabian waterways and asked that the President personally intervene "in consonance with the principles of justice and equity, and in cognizance of our legitimate rights" (Saud to Eisenhower, June 25, 1957, AWF/I: Saudi Arabia). 2 After receiving this letter, Secretary Dulles would tell Eisenhower that he thought they were "in a bad way. . . . Saud is acting as the head of the Moslem religion and not as head of state," Dulles said. "The route through the Gulf of Aqaba does not go through Saudi water. It is Egyptian and they are not kicking." Eisenhower suggested to Dulles that he tell King Saud that this was "one place where we don't see eye-to-eye and this is with great regret but we have looked at the thing and the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba seems to be on the Egyptian side." The President also told Dulles that he would like to get on a plane and see Saud "if it would not create a storm" (Telephone conversation, Eisenhower and Dulles, June 27, 1957, Dulles Papers, Telephone Conversations; see also ibid., pp. 660 - 61). For developments see no. 232. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To John Foster Dulles, 27 June 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 220. 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/second-term/documents/220.cfm <--PREV Doc #219  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #221

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