BBC – Report
Six decades ago, relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia were strained over oil and regional security. Yet a secret trip by President Truman’s personal physician to treat the Saudi monarch helped ease tensions and improve the relationship.
In February 1950, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia sent an unusual request to the State Department. He wrote:
“His Majesty has asked for our assistance in securing the immediate services of a distinguished specialist who can travel to Saudi Arabia to examine and treat his chronic arthritis, which is causing him increasing discomfort and weakness.”
“His Majesty” referred to King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud—known in the West as Ibn Saud.
The request came at a sensitive moment in U.S.–Saudi relations. The United States had leased Dhahran Airfield, but many Saudis—including conservative religious authorities—opposed any American military presence. King Abdulaziz himself remained wary of America’s recognition of Israel. Meanwhile, negotiations were underway over how to divide the profits of ARAMCO, the oil company jointly owned by Saudi Arabia and American firms.
King Abdulaziz, a strong and shrewd leader who unified the Kingdom, was aging. Severe arthritis had caused swelling and pain in his legs, limiting his mobility and confining him to a wheelchair.
A State Department memo noted that the King’s physicians had done good work, and that he “might have been in better condition had he accepted their recommendations and treatment.” However, a successful earlier visit by a U.S. Air Force doctor to treat Crown Prince Saud’s eye problem may have convinced the King to seek outside help.
The Department of Defense sent two specialists—former military doctors—along with technicians and equipment. President Truman added his own personal physician, Brigadier General Wallace Graham, to the team.
In a once‑secret telegram now preserved in the U.S. National Archives, Secretary of State Dean Acheson informed the U.S. Embassy in Jeddah that the President wanted General Graham to “serve his great and good friend” and lead the medical mission.
The team departed Washington on April 15, 1950, in a small and highly confidential operation. As preparations were finalized, the Saudi government sent an urgent cable to its ambassador in Washington instructing him to tell Truman that no journalists were to accompany the medical team. Saudi officials feared that news of the visit would spark rumors that the King was gravely ill or considering abdication.
Truman also had reasons to maintain secrecy. Despite Saudi Arabia’s importance as a potential ally—due to ARAMCO and its strong anti‑communist stance—such an alliance was not popular in the United States at the time.
After a three‑day journey, the team arrived in Saudi Arabia. According to Hayward Hill, an adviser at the U.S. Embassy, the King was “eagerly and enthusiastically awaiting the arrival of the doctors.”
Although Graham was a physician, his presence carried diplomatic weight. In their first meeting, Graham joked that President Truman had sent him as a “gift” to the King. Hill reported that the King laughed and replied, “A very precious gift indeed.”
In a 1989 interview, General Graham recalled that the King’s pain was severe. He recommended that King Abdulaziz travel to the United States for surgery, but the King refused.
The mission also provided the State Department with observations about daily life in Saudi Arabia. A memo noted with interest that many traditional restrictions on music, games, and other non‑religious entertainment had been lifted, crediting Crown Prince Saud with most of these reforms.
During the visit, the Crown Prince organized a baseball game between the visiting doctors and American workers from Bechtel, as well as a football match against a local Saudi team—which the Saudis won 6–0.
Although the King declined surgery, the treatment relieved some of his pain, and he resumed responsibilities that had temporarily shifted to his son. A May telegram reported that the King had abandoned his wheelchair and was moving with much greater ease.
Ambassador Childs wrote to the State Department that the mission had created “a great deal of goodwill.”
In August of the following year, King Abdulaziz again suffered “severe pain and spasms in the lower abdomen.” In a memo to the President, the Secretary of State strongly recommended sending General Graham and another physician back to Saudi Arabia immediately.
He noted that Graham’s earlier visit had been “deeply appreciated” by the King and had also been “a diplomatic achievement that paved the way for the recent signing of a highly important agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia”—a reference to the Mutual Defense Agreement, the foundation of military cooperation between the two nations to this day.
President Truman approved the second mission, telling its leader that he and his colleagues were “on their way to perform an important service for a great man.”
BBC