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Washington Prepares for Ben Gurion’s Arrival; Will Lunch with Truman at Blair House

May 2, 1951
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Preparations are being made here for the arrival of Prime Minister David Ben Gurion aboard an Israeli plane at the Military Air Transport Service Terminal on Thursday. His arrival will mark the first flight of an Israeli plane to Washington. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by his wife and an official party.

Assistant Secretary of State George C. McGhee and the Department’s Chief of Protocol will be on hand at the air terminal to welcome the visitors from Israel. The Prime Minister will make a public statement at the Terminal on his arrival. The airfield will be restricted except to those holding Israel embassy invitations and the press. That afternoon Mr. Ben Gurion will attend a luncheon in his honor served at the State Department’s Prospect House and tendered by Mr. McGhee.

Mr. Ben Gurion’s Friday schedule includes a luncheon invitation to Blair House by President Truman. Appointments have also been made for Friday with Gen. George C. Marshall, Secretary of Defense, and W. Averell Harriman, Special Assistant to the President.

On Sunday the Ben Gurion party will leave by air for the Tennessee Valley Authority development project. Arrangements for this trip have been made by the State Department. When the Prime Minister returns to Washington on Monday, a private dinner will be served at the residence of Israel Ambassador and Mrs. Abba Eban. On Tuesday Mr. Ben Gurion will breakfast with leaders of the American labor movement. After breakfast he will meet with Secretary of State Acheson at the State Department. He will address the National Press Club at a luncheon meeting in what will be his first public address in the course of his tour. That afternoon the Prime Minister will broadcast on the Hebrew program of the Voice of America.

The Prime Minister will leave for New York Wednesday morning and will be greeted at 10 A.M. when a motor cavalcade will bear him and his party through New York streets escorted by a police escort and the usual honors bestowed on distinguished visitors. Following a City Hall reception, Ben Gurion will be the guest of Mayor Impelliteri and the city of New York at a luncheon for 1,000 people at the Waldorf Astoria. In the evening he will have dinner with the leaders of the Israel Bond Dries.

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