On 14 February 1945, a historic meeting was convened onboard an American destroyer in the Suez Canal between King Abdulaziz Al Saud, founder of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR).
It was the first of its kind between a Saudi monarch and a US president, setting the ground for a solid alliance between the two countries that would outlive both King Abdulaziz and FDR.
It re-surfaced recently with all the talk about a proposed US-Saudi defence agreement, which will only see the light after Israel ends its war on Gaza.
King Abdulaziz had never left the Arabian Peninsula before 1945 nor ridden the high tide. FDR was a sick man with not much longer to live, suffering paralysis since the age of 39, which left him permanently confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk or stand without support.
That didn’t break his resolve, however, and he was elected president four times in a row, setting a precedent in US history – due to the raging war in Europe – that has never been met since then.
His fourth and last term had just started in January 1944, and despite his frail health, Roosevelt insisted on meeting the Saudi king despite the threats of German bombers hovering over the skies of Egypt.
Oil was then a new discovery in Saudi Arabia, still inadequate and unable to fulfil the kingdom’s vast needs.
It had been discovered by US oil companies a few years back, and Saudi Arabia had signed a strategic drilling agreement with Standard Oil of California at the historical Khuzam Palace in Jeddah before extraction began in 1938, only to be suspended by the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.
The Axis powers had repeatedly tried to disrupt America’s access to Arabian oil, and FDF feared that his British allies would try to seize it, as they had done with the oilfields in Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait.
King Abdulaziz assured him that nothing of the sort would happen so long as he lived, saying that Saudi Arabia was an independent country – the only independent country in the Arab World – and he intended to keep it that way.
Two years before the historic meeting at Suez, the king had sent his two sons to Washington to meet FDR, Emir Faisal and Emir Khaled (who would become kings in their own rights after their father’s death). And when hearing that the US president was an avid stamp collector, he sent him a gift of Saudi stamps, then a rare commodity in the West.
En route to the Suez Canal
The US ship carrying King Abdulaziz to Egypt, USS Murphy, carried food rations that could last 60 days, but the Saudi king refused to eat them. It was inconceivable to eat frozen meat not prepared in the halal manner of Islam, bringing along sheep to be slaughtered and eaten on the spot.
He set up an Arabian tent on the deck and led prayers of his entourage (no less than 47 members), according to Barry McCarthy — one of the Americans onboard who wrote an article about his encounter with Abdulaziz, published in LIFE Magazine on 19 March 1945.
The Saudi king presented him and all his comrades with 15 pounds sterling as a gift and 10 pounds sterling for every American sailor. In return, the ship’s captain presented him with two submachine guns Abdulaziz had admired on board, with a pair of navy binoculars.
A historic meeting
The USS Murphy crossed 1200 km by sea to reach the cruiser carrying FDR. King Abdulaziz moved to the USS Quincy to find FDR waiting on deck in his trademark wheelchair.
The US president broke the ice, saying: “You are luckier than I because you can still walk on your legs.”
King Abdulaziz replied: “No, my friend, you are the more fortunate. Your wheelchair will take you wherever you want to go, and you know you will get there. My legs are less reliable every day and are getting weaker.”
