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The Immediacy. Nearly two hours later, the meeting broke up. Tentatively, the President had made a twofold decision: the U.S. would 1) send an armed vanguard to Lebanon, and 2) lay the problem before an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council. The President himself said he would notify Canada's Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Britain's Macmillan of the decision by telephone. Dulles agreed to have U.S. embassies pass the word to other NATO and Western powers (with some concern that the sievelike leaks among France's civil servants might somehow telegraph the U.S. punch too early). Ike turned to his legislative aide, Major General Wilton "Jerry" Persons, and said: "Jerry, how soon do you think you can get the legislative leaders here?"
Persons rounded up 22 high-ranking Republicans and Democrats from Congress by 2:30. The President greeted them individually as they filed into his office and took chairs in a semicircle around his desk. "Gentlemen," said Ike, "I have asked you to come down here as I do on all matters of great urgency involving international developments." Then, in general terms, he outlined the Lebanon and Iraq situations. "I have discussed this with my people here and in the National Security Council," he added, "but I must emphasize that no decision has been made. I want to give you the pros and cons. But I must also emphasize that a decision must be made in the immediate future—within the next hour or two." Then he said: "You see you are not being called in here after a decision has been reached."
The Implication. Again, CIA's Allen Dulles and State's Foster Dulles briefed the meeting. If the U.S. does not act on Chamoun's request now, said the Secretary of State, "our prestige is gone; nobody will take our word again—ever. If we get there first, there might not be Communist intervention." If the U.S. refused to take a stand now, he added, the free world would stand to lose not only the Middle East and nearly three-fourths of the free world's oil reserve, but Africa and even non-Communist Asia.
The Republicans agreed, but California's Bill Knowland and New Hampshire's Styles Bridges noted wryly that the U.S. would probably not be in this predicament had it let Britain, France and Israel finish off Nasser at the time of Suez. Montana's Mike Mansfield, acting Senate Democratic leader, and Arkansas' Bill Fulbright wanted the U.S. to act through the U.N. in some sort of joint effort. Finally, House Speaker Sam Rayburn spoke up: "Mr. President, what I want to know is, do you realize the implications of the step you are taking? I want to ask, if you go this far, are you prepared to go all the way?"
"Of course I realize the potentialities," the President replied. "I believe if we take early action we are much less liable to be involved in a major way than if we hesitate now and become involved later. I realize the potentialities, and naturally, when I go into this thing I am prepared to go through with it." General Twining, speaking for the Joint Chiefs, supplied the clincher: The Pentagon leaders, he said, "are unanimous in their opinion that this is the only sound course of action."