Eisenhower understood better than his British and French counterparts that Nasser “embodies the demands of the people of the area for independence and slapping the white man down.” Any use of force against Nasser now would “array the [Muslim] world from Dakar to the Philippines against us.” When Eisenhower learned from his special envoy Robert Murphy that the British cabinet had already decided to “drive Nasser out of Egypt,” he responded by writing immediately to Eden, whom he had known well since the Second World War. But that old friendship did not soften Eisenhower’s tone now. The
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