REACTION IN AMERICA

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28260, 24 April 1957, Page 13

REACTION IN AMERICA

Surprise Caused By Publication

(Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 22. Publication by the British Government of the pre-Suez exchanges with the Soviet Union prompted speculation among Washington diplomatic circles as to when disclosure might be made of the critical correspondence between Sir Anthony Eden and President Eisenhower. 1

The President was generally believed in Washington to have warned the then British Prime Minister in the strongest terms against pressing home the British and French invasion of Egypt, a Reuter correspondent wrote. Mr Eisenhower was understood to have suggested that one consequence could be irreparable damage to the Western alliance. The London decision to publish the Eden-Bulganin exchanges after announcement of the Moscow intention to do so, caught officials in Washington by surprise. The only official comment tonight came from Mr Lincoln White, the State Department spokesman, who said: “It looks as though Britain has beaten the Soviet Union to the punch on this one. Good for them.’’ Mr White said he knew of no immediate plans for publication of the Eisenhower-Eden exchanges. Mr Dulles, the Secretary of State, would probably address himself to the question at his press conference tomorrow, Mr White said.

President Eisenhower has repeatedly declined to divulge details of his correspondence with Sir Anthony Eden during the Suez crisis, although he has acknowledged that there were several such person-to-person messages. President Eisenhower told a press conference recently that he had exchanged messages with Sir Anthony Eden and with Mr Mollet on the proposal that they should come to Washington to announce a cease fire in Egypt and offer to negotiate a peaceful settlement of their quarrel with Egypt over running the Suez Canal. But, said the- President, it was decided to drop the idea and, instead of tripartite talks, to hold bilateral conversations. Mr Mollet came to Washington in February for conversations with the President

Mr Eisenhower in March went to Bermuda for a conference with Mr Macmillan, the British Prime Minister. United States officials said that on the basis of preliminary reading of press reports there seemed to be no spectacular disclosures in the Eden-Mollet-Bulganin correspondence. _