The Suez-Hungary Crisis:This Year in History:50 years ago(United Nations)

10/4/06 | Self

[Nextrush]

On October 5th, 1956 the top songs in the country included both sides of Elvis Presley's RCA 45rpm record ("Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel") as well as Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera."

The Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the New York Yankees for Game 2 of the World Series at Ebbets Field.

And a jury in Boston convicted the Brinks robbery suspects.

This same day the United Nations Security Council met in New York to consider the Suez Canal matter.

The long list of diplomats included Selwyn Lloyd, British Foreign Secretary, the French Foreign Minister Christian Pineau and America's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles.

Also on hand the U.N.'s Swedish Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold.

Talks were underway behind the scenes with Lloyd appearing to weaken the British demands of the Egyptians.

Pineau appeared firm on the principle of international control of the canal.

By October 12th, six principles for negotiation were presented by Hammarskjold:

1.That there should be free and open transit through the canal without discrimination, overt or covert

2.The soverignty of Egypt should be respected

3.The operation of the canal should be insulated from the politics of any one country

4.The manner of fixing tolls should be decided by agreement between Egypt and the users

5.A fair proportion of the dues should be alloted to development

6.In case of disputes, unresolved questions between the Suez Canal Company and the Egyptian government should be settled by arbitration, with suitable terms of reference and provisions for the payment of sums found to be due

The formal Security Council session ended October 14th with the Soviet Union vetoing an Anglo-French resolution calling for international control of the canal and approval of the six principles.

It appeared to the United Nations and the United States that the crisis would end with negotiations.

President Eisenhower announced "The crisis is behind us."

But the gap between the two sides was wide.

Nasser told the Indian Ambassador to Egypt "I have no intention of removing the canal from Egyptian politics. We have used a conciliatory tactic in New York, that's all."

While U.N. diplomats expected talks to begin at the end of the month to resolve differences, in fact Britain and France now moved to final planning for military action..................

[Nextrush]

A continuing series of posts on the events of 50 years ago all under the keyword "1956."

Next will be a look at two summits that set the stage for war.