194. Letter From Prime Minister Macmillan to President Eisenhower0
My Dear Friend: I was very glad to hear from Harold Caccia this morning that you thought it might be useful if Merchant, McCone and others came over here early next week to talk about nuclear tests. I am sure this would be a good idea and I hope they will come as soon as possible. Our people are making the arrangements through Harold Caccia.
As Chris Herter suggested to Harold Caccia,1 this will enable Merchant to bring me your latest thoughts on other matters. In particular there is de Gaulle’s suggestion for a tripartite meeting in September.2 I [Page 407] had no idea beforehand that de Gaulle was going to make this proposal which indeed came as a complete surprise to me. However he did send me a copy of his message to you together with a strong appeal that I should urge you to accept his plan.
As you know I am much in favor of these tripartite meetings from time to time, if only because there are so many things in your affairs and ours on which de Gaulle can be difficult, and these meetings can sometimes help to bring him along. You and I know, from old experience, how difficult he can be in one mood and yet how accommodating in another. So from that point of view I am not altogether displeased at de Gaulle’s having made this suggestion and having asked for my support. I think his main anxiety is to set a precedent for these meetings while you are still in office.
But of course there are obvious difficulties about timing and about the public explanation which we could give for the meeting. We have to think of the reactions of our other allies and also on the Russians. So I am glad that you are not sending an answer at once. No doubt Merchant will let us know your thinking about this. Meanwhile I have sent an interim reply to de Gaulle pointing out some of the complications.
Harold Caccia has given Herter an account of our talks in Bonn. On the whole I was very satisfied with them. For whatever reason, Adenauer seems now to be in a mood to explore seriously the possibilities of some accommodation between the economic groups which have formed themselves in Europe. As you know, I have feared that unless such an arrangement could be reached in the near future the economic divisions would deepen and would inevitably bring political consequences. We are a long way from finding any solution, but at least the Germans seem to have developed the political will which is the first essential if any understanding is to be reached. I can only hope that the French will, sooner or later, do the same.
With warm regard,
As ever,
- Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Top Secret. A copy of this letter was also sent to Herter by Thomas Brimelow, Counselor of the British Embassy, under cover of a letter of August 13. (Ibid.)↩
- A copy of a memorandum of Herter’s conversation with Caccia on August 12 concerning tripartitism is ibid., Central Files, 396.1/8–1260.↩
- Tripartite talks were held in New York September 20–22; see Document 199.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩