<--PREV Doc #655  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #657 Document #656; April 21, 1958 To John Foster Dulles Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series ; Category: Secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part IV: Recession and Reform; February 1958 to May 1958 Chapter 9: "The problems inherent in this job"   Dear Foster: I have your memorandum of April seventeenth, containing a proposal looking toward the settlement of the India-Pakistan differences.1 I am all for the approach you indicate, to be undertaken in the utmost secrecy. In fact, if there should ever be realized sufficient progress in negotiations to warrant the hope that a personal gesture might help assure success, there is no inconvenience at which I would balk. For example, I’d be ready to welcome and entertain the Prime Ministers simultaneously--I would even go out there.2 As ever 1 With the exception of this introductory sentence, Eisenhower had handwritten this message at the top of Dulles's memorandum. For background on the conflicts between India and Pakistan see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, no. 2139, and nos. 113 and 443 in these volumes. 2 Dulles had told Eisenhower that two issues continued to plague relations between the two countries--the dispute over Kashmir and the division of the waters of the Indus River. Mutual distrust had led to the buildup of military arms by both countries, thus creating a third subject of dispute. Dulles had suggested a new approach that would closely relate the three problems and might lead to a compromise. He suggested that Eisenhower offer to assist the leaders of both countries in resolving their differences and included the draft of a letter along these lines to both Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Pakistani President Mirza. If the President approved, Dulles said he would ask the United Kingdom to participate in a good offices mission (Dulles to Eisenhower, Apr. 17, 1958, AWF/D-H). For developments see no. 696. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Secret To John Foster Dulles, 21 April 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 656. 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/656.cfm <--PREV Doc #655  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #657

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464