There was never any intention of barring American Jews from an air base in Saudi Arabia when the United States signed a pact with the Arab state in 1951 for use of the Dhabran base, former President Truman declared yesterday President Truman asserted that the treaty provided, as do all such agreements, that Saudi Arabia might object to any individual entering or remaining in the country, but that no religious or other bar was intended.
Mr. Truman was commenting on Secretary of State Dulles testimony that the U.S. did not assign American Jewish servicemen to Saudi Arabia because of the 1951 pact. Under fire for this statement by Sens. Herbert H. Lehman and Hubert Humphrey, Sec Dulles had pointed out that the pact was signed before the Eisenhower Administration took office. The Pentagon, meanwhile, stated that Saudi Arabia had never formally objected to Jews being sent to Dhabran, but that the Defense Department on its own initiative had never assigned Jews or people with Jewish sounding names to the Saudi Arabian base.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
