--- title: Donald Trump Islam Speech: History Behind a Relationship description: President Trump referred to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's meeting with Saudi King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. Here's a brief history of that visit. canonical: https://time.com/4788653/trump-saudi-arabia-fdr/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-22T20:04:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:03:19.308Z article:section: History og:title: Donald Trump Islam Speech: History Behind a Relationship og:description: It established a relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States og:url: https://time.com/4788653/trump-saudi-arabia-fdr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt932f73af258c38d4/6988ce54bc6cfc4c6f3e1768/gettyimages-104420210.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3508 og:image:height: 1973 og:image:alt: Meeting Between Roosevelt And Ibn Seoud In 1945 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Islam Speech: History Behind a Relationship twitter:description: It established a relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt932f73af258c38d4/6988ce54bc6cfc4c6f3e1768/gettyimages-104420210.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Inside the Historic Meeting Mentioned in President Trump's Saudi Arabia Speech > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 22, 2017 8:04 PM UTC  FDR meets with Saudi King Abdulaziz ibn Saud aboard the USS Quincy in Feb. 1945 FDR meets with Saudi King Abdulaziz ibn Saud aboard the USS Quincy in Feb. 1945 Keystone-France—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 22, 2017 8:04 PM UTC On Sunday, while[ addressing the Arab Islamic American Summit](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/21/president-trumps-speech-arab-islamic-american-summit) in Saudi Arabia, President Trump [looked ahead](http://time.com/4787548/donald-trump-islam-speech-saudi-arabia-moderate/) to the future relationship between that nation and the United States. He also looked back, however, to the start of that relationship: “Working alongside another beloved leader — American President Franklin Roosevelt — King Abdulaziz began the enduring partnership between our two countries,” he said. It was Valentine’s Day 1945 when, en route from the Yalta Conference earlier that month, FDR met the man whom TIME described in a [Mar 5, 1945, cover story](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-03-05/page/23/) as a “robed, resplendent” King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, “one of the few living rulers who looks the part,” aboard the USS _Quincy_ cruiser in the Suez Canal. William Eddy, a Marine Colonel who helped organize the summit, [later described how](http://susris.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/100222-fdr-abdulaziz-eddy.pdf) the two connected about not only professional, but also personal matters. Roosevelt gave the King a DC-3 passenger airplane “that even included a rotating throne so the king could always face Mecca when flying,” as well as one of two wheelchairs brought along for the trip after the King said he was having knee problems that made it hard for him to get around, [according to](https://www.army.mil/article/124038/US%5FArmy%5FCorps%5Fof%5FEngineers%5Fin%5FSaudi%5FArabia%5F%5F%5FLaying%5Fthe%5FFoundation%5F%5FRoosevelt%5Fmeets%5FKing%5FAbdul%5FAziz) a history of the encounter published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ([It’s said](https://www.army.mil/article/124038/US%5FArmy%5FCorps%5Fof%5FEngineers%5Fin%5FSaudi%5FArabia%5F%5F%5FLaying%5Fthe%5FFoundation%5F%5FRoosevelt%5Fmeets%5FKing%5FAbdul%5FAziz) that the one concession Roosevelt didn’t make was handing over the cook who made the apple pie to the King, instead letting the ship’s cook train the King’s cook to make it.) It was the King’s first journey outside his realm. But such gifts were not the most important exchange that day. What really mattered, long-term, was the establishment of U.S. military support for the Saudis and U.S. access to oil. The meeting was part of a series towards the end of the war, when the world powers were thinking about shifting around the borders of Middle East. The U.S. had its eye on Saudi Arabia, given the nation’s rich oil stores (and an eye on Syria,[ setting the stage](http://time.com/4735438/america-syria-war-coup-history/) for the tug of war between America and Russia that continues to this day). TIME’s cover story [described the stakes:](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-03-05/page/23/) --- > “” --- On April 5, FDR wrote [a follow-up letter](http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th%5Fcentury/decad161.asp) to Ibn Saud vowing to keep him in the loop on issues relating to Palestine. A week later, on April 12, Roosevelt died. Under President Harry S. Truman, the U.S. voted for a [U.N. resolution](https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/nov-29-1947-united-nations-partitions-palestine-allowing-for-creation-of-israel/comment-page-1/) calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews in late 1947\. However, America’s view of Saudi Arabia as a strategic ally — and its view that ensuring safe access to Saudi Arabian oil is a matter of national security — has not changed since that historic first meeting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4788653/trump-saudi-arabia-fdr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4788653/trump-saudi-arabia-fdr/"},"headline":"Inside the Historic Meeting Mentioned in President Trump's Saudi Arabia Speech","datePublished":"2017-05-22T20:04:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:03:19.308Z","description":"It established a relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States","url":"https://time.com/4788653/trump-saudi-arabia-fdr/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt932f73af258c38d4/6988ce54bc6cfc4c6f3e1768/gettyimages-104420210.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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