MOROCCO COUNRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS A ... - ADST

And what did we know that would qualify us to move in? What did we know about Morocco or
Tunisia? Morocco was one of the first countries to recognize our independence. Actually they
did so two weeks after France. We had a long history -- but virtually no American presence in
Morocco. We had a legation at Tangier, and a few investors. We had some American expatriates,
like Paul Bowles and Truman Capote. But we had almost nothing in the way of real presence. I
don't think we had a significant number of missionaries. The French had virtually dominated the
country. So independence was largely ceremonial. And that's why the State visits were key.
Q: How did the visits go? I assume you got involved very much in them.
NORLAND: It was in October of 1957 that the king of Morocco came. By that time, we'd
divided the office, so that there was a Tunisian Desk officer (Arthur Allen, who I think died). I
was doing Morocco. The king came in October of '57. In those days, the U.S. president went to
the airport, National Airport, to greet high-ranking visitors. As Desk officer I had been preparing
a number of briefing papers. One very lengthy paper (drafted by the Historical Division) focused
on the question of whether Morocco was the first country to recognize American independence. I
was all prepared for a variety of questions as there was a certain amount of press interest.
President Eisenhower did go to the airport as scheduled. And waiting there beside the President,
was John Foster Dulles; the chairman of the joint chiefs; several others from State, plus Bill
Porter. And way down at the end, was I. Wiley Buchanan was in charge of protocol. About ten
minutes before the King's arrival, Wiley Buchanan came walking down this line of people,
accompanied by Bill Porter, to where I was standing, and asked me to "come up here". The
President was asking whether Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States or
not. I walked up, with Bill Porter, and I stood there with the President and Dulles. And the
President turned to me and said, in a very businesslike way, "Was Morocco the first country to
recognize us?"
The answer was: "No sir, on August 15th of 1778, the French recognized us. Two weeks later,
the Moroccans saluted one of our ships."
He asked me another question or two about what the relationship was of this particular king and
the United States, and what we had been doing for Morocco, and so forth. Ike turned to Dulles
and said, "Well, we can't say that they were the first, then."
Dulles agreed, "No, we can't."
I stood in that company for a few minutes before returning to the end of the line.
That was about 12:30. The ceremony was over. Then Eisenhower went back to his quarters and
had a heart attack.
Q: Oh, my God.
NORLAND: To fill in at the first official dinner was Vice President Richard Nixon and I was