Word: chehab
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...summit meeting that was shaping up could no longer be justified by such hoarse cries. The flames of violence that had flared in the Middle East had been dampened. Iraq's new regime had diplomatic recognition from just about everybody. In Lebanon the election of General Fuad Chehab as President (see below) raised hopes for an end to civil war and withdrawal in due season of U.S. troops...
Elected President of Lebanon last week was the little republic's No. 1 soldier: Major General Fuad Chehab...
...leaders to tea, kept their supply lines open, consulted them regularly by telephone. But he would not order army troops to attack rebels, despite heaviest pressure from the palace and Western embassies, presumably because he wanted to preserve his army's scrupulous political neutrality. When the Marines landed, Chehab felt Chamoun had betrayed him by inviting them without consulting him. He opposed the landing, and at first refused to cooperate with the Marines in Beirut. His ambiguous order of the day to his men: "Do as your military honor commands...
Assessment: Chehab, says a top diplomat, "is an able, conscientious fence-sitter who sat there twelve years and kept the army together, and now believes he can sit there six years more and keep Lebanon together." Once in office, he will probably ask that U.S. forces be withdrawn. Anti-Communist and essentially pro-Western, he believes Lebanon cannot survive unless it works out a lasting relationship with Nasser. Chehab is likely to withdraw Chamoun's commitment to the Eisenhower Doctrine and reaffirm Lebanese neutrality among Arab lands. Nonetheless, Washington calls him the "best hope" for peace in Lebanon...