U.S. Policy Towards Middle East Countries Outlined by Eisenhower

President Eisenhower, in his State of the Union message delivered to the new session of Congress, today declared that the United States "will show sympathetic and impartial friendship" towards the countries of the Middle East "where tensions and serious problems exist."

His statement was similar to the note struck by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles soon after his return last spring from a visit to Israel and the Arab states. The President also indicated that economic aid may be reduced for certain countries which he did not specify, emphasizing at the same time that "technical assistance must be maintained."

Circles in Washington concerned with economic support for Israel paid particular attention to the portion of the President’s address which read: "The forthcoming budget message will propose maintenance of the Presidential power of transferability of all assistance funds and will ask authority to merge these funds with the regular defense funds. It will also propose that the Secretary of Defense have primary responsibility for the administration on of foreign military assistance in accordance with the policy guidance of the Secretary of State.

Israel at present receives no American military assistance and only a minor amount of technical assistance compared with the considerable economic aid it has been enjoying.

PRESIDENT OMITS REFERENCE TO IMMIGRATION ISSUE

Following the President’s address in Congress, Sen. Herbert H. Lehman issued a statement pointing out that President Eisenhower made significant omissions in his State of the Union message, citing particularly the President’s failure to urge revision of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act.

The Senator regretted "very much that the President saw fit to omit any reference to the need for drastic amendment of the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Naturalization Act."

Sen. Lehman pointed out that "while the President vaguely referred to progress made in the field of civil rights, there is no reference in the message to the need for fair employment legislation and other Federal civil rights measures. Indeed, his report and recommendations in the civil rights field are bare and discouraging."

The Senator stressed that Mr. Eisenhower made "no reference whatever to the need for recovering ground already lost in the field of civil liberties and in broadening the horizons of individual rights and freedoms."