John Foster Dulles Biography and Timeline — Page 2

Washington Supports Conditional Dam Assistance Offer

John Foster Dulles's government considered American assistance as part of a package requiring Egyptian economic commitments and allied participation.

Role range: 1955-1958

Preliminary American Financing Offer

Dulles supports a conditional American contribution toward the first construction phase.

Role range: 1953-1959

Government

Chief architect of the Baghdad Pact

Role range: 1953-1961 – 1953-1959

American Conditional Aid Package Considered

The United States considered conditional assistance for an initial construction phase of Egypt's High Dam.

US Aid Calculations Reflect Cold War Diplomacy

The United States assessed Egypt's relations with the Soviet bloc while considering whether to finalize support for the Aswan project.

Role range: 1955-1958

Washington Debates Conditions of Dam Support

American officials considered financial and political conditions tied to major assistance for the planned Egyptian project.

Role range: 1955-1958

American Egyptian Relations Complicate Dam Agreement

Washington's concerns about Egypt's international alignment weighed on decisions over the increasingly uncertain financing offer.

Role range: 1955-1958

Withdrawal of Financing Offer

Dulles informs Egypt that the United States will not proceed with the financing offer.

Role range: 1953-1959

United States Cancels Aid Offer

The American government withdrew its offer to finance the Aswan High Dam in July 1956.

United States Withdraws Aswan Financing Offer

John Foster Dulles announced that the United States would not proceed with its proposed financial contribution to the High Dam.

Role range: 1955-1958

Aid Withdrawal Deepens Diplomatic Rift with Cairo

The American financing decision increased tension with Egypt and helped set the political context for Nasser's next dramatic move.

Role range: 1955-1958

American Lawyers Examine Canal Concession Status

John Foster Dulles's department considered the legal distinction between Egyptian nationalization of a company and international rights of passage through the canal.

Role range: 1956-1956

American Diplomacy Seeks Negotiated Canal Guarantees

John Foster Dulles pursued a negotiated settlement designed to protect navigation without treating immediate armed intervention as the preferred solution.

Role range: 1956-1956

Force Opposed in Initial Western Talks

Dulles urges Britain and France to pursue negotiation rather than immediate military action.

Role range: 1956-1956 – 1953-1959

Dulles Discusses Suez Settlement With Eden

John Foster Dulles consulted Anthony Eden and British officials about a diplomatic response to nationalization rather than immediate military action.

Role range: 1956-1956

Washington Separates Canal Negotiations from Dam Aid

American diplomacy sought a settlement on navigation while the withdrawal of High Dam aid remained an unresolved grievance for Egypt.

Role range: 1955-1958

United States Separates Passage Rights From Ownership

John Foster Dulles distinguished the future of unrestricted shipping from the question of who legally owned the nationalized operating company.

Role range: 1956-1956

International Canal Talks Gain American Support

John Foster Dulles supported assembling canal users in London to examine a framework for reliable international passage after nationalization.

Role range: 1956-1956

London Conference

Supports a maritime conference in London to seek international arrangements for operation of the Suez Canal.

Role range: 1956-1956 – 1953-1959

United States Urges Peaceful Canal Settlement

John Foster Dulles argued that the participants should seek internationally agreed arrangements for operating the canal after its nationalization.

Role range: 1956-1956

Dulles Develops International Canal Board Proposal

John Foster Dulles promoted a plan for a canal board involving Egypt and other states, intended to guarantee navigation under a new international arrangement.

Role range: 1956-1956

Negotiators Refine Majority Eighteen Power Plan

John Foster Dulles helped shape the majority proposal for an internationally responsible canal administration to be negotiated with Egypt.

Role range: 1956-1956

Eighteen Nations Coalesce Around American Proposal

John Foster Dulles gained support from eighteen participating countries for an international canal arrangement, while other delegations withheld support.

Role range: 1956-1956

Majority Proposal Submitted for Egyptian Discussion

John Foster Dulles's framework was adopted by eighteen governments as a basis for negotiations with Egypt, not as a binding decision of all participants.

Role range: 1956-1956

United States Delegation Named to Cairo Committee

John Foster Dulles was the American member of the five-nation committee, with Loy Henderson designated to represent him during the Cairo talks.

Role range: 1956-1956

Canal Users Association Proposal Developed

Dulles develops the Suez Canal Users Association proposal as a non-military alternative to confrontation.

Role range: 1956-1956 – 1953-1959

Dulles Announces Canal Users Association Initiative

John Foster Dulles proposed an association through which shipping nations could cooperate over canal operations without immediately resorting to military force.

Role range: 1956-1956

Dulles Explains Pilot Recruitment Plan

John Foster Dulles said the proposed association could organize qualified pilots for member shipping, an important practical issue after the withdrawal of foreign pilots.

Role range: 1956-1956

Dulles Clarifies Shipping Traffic Coordination

John Foster Dulles described the association as a body that could help organize the movement of vessels belonging to participating countries.

Role range: 1956-1956

United States Emphasizes Egyptian Cooperation

John Foster Dulles argued that the users association should seek practical cooperation with Egypt rather than assert sovereignty over Egyptian territory.

Role range: 1956-1956

Proposed Association Explains Compensation Mechanism

John Foster Dulles envisioned a system in which canal dues helped meet association costs and provided compensation for services supplied by Egypt.

Role range: 1956-1956

Second London Conference Strategy

Dulles presses for the users association while trying to restrain British and French moves toward force.

Role range: 1956-1956 – 1953-1959

American Delegation Presents Cooperative Users Strategy

John Foster Dulles urged a nonmilitary association approach as governments reconsidered their options following Egypt's rejection of the earlier proposals.

Role range: 1956-1956

User States Debate Funding of Canal Services

John Foster Dulles promoted arrangements under which participating shipping states could finance common services while making appropriate payments to Egypt.

Role range: 1956-1956

Voluntary Membership Central to Association Debate

John Foster Dulles advocated an organization of willing canal users rather than an authority imposed directly on Egyptian territory.

Role range: 1956-1956

Dulles Advocates Users Association at London

John Foster Dulles supported a voluntary canal users association during the second London meeting as a possible alternative to coercion.

Role range: 1956-1956

Suez Canal Users Association

Promotes the Suez Canal Users Association as an alternative to immediate military action over the canal dispute.

Role range: 1956-1956 – 1953-1959

Canal Users Proposal Remains Diplomatic Alternative

John Foster Dulles continued to promote organized user cooperation as an alternative to the military action favored by some British and French policymakers.

Role range: 1956-1956

Association Lacks Egyptian Operating Agreement

John Foster Dulles's proposed organization faced the fundamental difficulty that Egypt had not consented to transfer control of the canal to a users body.

Role range: 1956-1956

American Policy Retains Negotiation Over Compulsion

John Foster Dulles's approach continued to favor negotiated cooperation rather than forcibly replacing Egyptian control with the proposed association.

Role range: 1956-1956