Enter the King

To U.S. shores last week came a strapping, bearded man in white kaffiyeh and flowing robes who stirred up as much fascination and comment as though he had fluttered to earth on the magic carpet with which most cartoonists endowed him. Saud ibn Abdul Aziz al Faisal al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, leader of uncounted millions of people, counter of untold millions of dollars, prodigious master of a prolific harem, had come to call on the President of the U.S. He arrived on the U.S. liner Constitution, said his farewell to the ship's hands with gifts of money and gold watches, stepped ashore into a green-and-white tent to be greeted by Presidential Representative Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and sundry officials.

No welcome could have been more royal, despite the fact that Saud's arrival was prefaced by a storm of controversy started by New York City's Mayor Robert Wagner Jr., who refused to offer the customary official city welcome. "He's a fellow," cried Bob Wagner, "who says slavery is legal, and that in his country our Air Force cannot use Jewish men and cannot permit any Roman Catholic Chaplain to say Mass. [Saud is not] the kind of person we want to recognize in New York City." This Wagnerian fortissimo did not dampen the Navy's 21-gun salute for the monarch in New York harbor. But it did win Wagner the back of the hand from President Eisenhower at his press conference (see below).*

Ceremonial Sefs. The eye-popping fact was that Saudi Arabia's King Saud acted every inch the fabled and inscrutable potentate. His retinue--some 70 advisers and princes, ballasted by 300 pieces of luggage--was a brilliant pageant of flowing robes and fancy headdresses. There seemed to be a retainer on hand to perform every minute function: the royal chief steward came along to oversee the seasoning of the King's food; a compass-bearer kept track of the direction of Mecca for the five daily prayer rituals of the King; there was a royal barber, a coffee-brewer, a keeper of the royal jewels. One man, Abdullah Balkhair, handled the press for the King as a sort of Jim Hagerty in sheik's clothing.

In evidence everywhere were the King's bodyguards, four swarthy, husky men in short, blue, lace-trimmed jackets, each carrying a sef (sword), khanjar (dagger) and pistol, all of which, Abdullah Balkhair explained, were merely ceremonial. They stood in sharp contrast to a few others in the party, beneath whose traditional robes reporters spotted signs of a more modern dress; one Saudi's robe flapped open to reveal a powder-blue ensemble--silk sports shirt buttoned at the neck, double-breasted blue zoot suit. The best and saddest scene-stealer of the group was sloe-eyed Prince Mashhur, the crippled, brown-faced, 3 1/2-year-old favorite son of the King, who had brought the boy to seek expert American medical attention at Washington's Walter Reed Hospital (see MEDICINE).

"One More, King." Once settled in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria, the King began his New York rounds. There were a visit and a speech at the United Nations, a meeting with the U.N.'s Dag Hammarskjold, a luncheon, reception, and dinner, all in the King's honor--and attended most of the time, to his dismay, by newsmen and photographers ("Come on. King, look this way; one more picture. King").

Next day Saud flew off to Washington in President Eisenhower's Constellation, Columbine III. When he touched ground, Saud found Ike himself waiting at the airport--an honor that the President had never before bestowed on a state visitor. "Welcome to the United States," said the President. Replied Saud, who speaks only a few English words: "How do you do. Thank you very much."

It was then that Saud began his visit in earnest. Ike and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles escorted him to the guest quarters at Blair House and took their leave. After a private luncheon, the King paid his first state visit to the White House.

Lofty Pomp. Thus began a long series of official functions with Ike, Dulles, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Charles Wilson, and official talks with the President and the Secretary of State. Highlight of the week was Ike's high-level, white-tie stag dinner at the White House for some 60 guests, including a dozen or so oilmen and bankers--and not including newsmen. There followed a heavy, split-second schedule for Saud; every moment away from business he spent in side trips, e.g., a wreath for the Unknown Soldier, a tour of the U.S. Naval Academy, a basketball game.

Yet the blowing brass bands, the lofty pomp and the great sweep of social events never succeeded in drowning out. nor even interrupting, the central purpose of Saud's visit: high-stakes diplomacy.

At week's end a cheerful Foster Dulles reported that the talks were going "extremely well." He was elated to learn that Saud had come to the U.S. to speak not merely for himself but as a representative of Egypt, Syria and Jordan as well. And since, as Secretary Dulles assured newsmen, the King "very definitely" had got a much clearer understanding of the Eisenhower doctrine and the new role that the U.S. aims to play in the Middle East, Saud's trip may well foretell a more stable climate in that area.

*The mayor's action so infuriated the State Department that it promptly said that henceforth the U.S. Government will handle all welcoming arrangements for VIP arrivals in New York.

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