Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Western Europe, Volume VII, Part 2

351. Memorandum by the Counselor of the Department of State (Reinhardt)⁰

September 11, 1958.

Secretary McElroy had three matters he wished to discuss with the Secretary:

1. Implications of British defense policy. The Joint Chiefs had just completed an estimate of the near term over-all military capabilities of the United Kingdom which revealed that the British were reducing their forces to the point where they could no longer be considered a major reliance in dealing with problems around the world.¹

There was a discussion of the consequences of the White Paper² and the demonstrations of dwindling British capability in the Suez and Jordanian affairs.

The Secretary expressed the conviction that we faced a difficult period and that although he was confident we would get over the present crisis in the Far East, there would be others. The Soviets appeared to believe they had intimidated our allies. In the past the British had been our most dependable ally. Now there was the danger of our becoming isolated not through our own desires. The Secretary thought we needed a new stock-taking to determine which of our allies was willing and able to do what.

Secretary McElroy said he was not circulating the Chiefs’ paper, it was so bad, but he wanted the Secretary to have a copy and with the latter’s concurrence proposed to give one to the President.

Mr. Sprague referred to the British proposal to give up development of their Bluestreak missile and purchase 60 Thors,³ in addition to the present agreement. Defense had requested and was awaiting the Department’s political views on the proposal.

[Here follows discussion of unrelated matters.]

0. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Memoranda of Conversation. Top Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Reinhardt.
1. A copy of this study, “Estimate of the current and near term over-all military capabilities of the United Kingdom,” was transmitted to Eisenhower under cover of a note from McElroy, September 11. (Ibid., Staff Secretary Records, Defense Department III)
2. Reference is to a White Paper, “Outline of Future Policy,” April 4, 1957, prepared by Defense Minister Sandys, which proposed to reduce British forces in Europe and to end compulsory service in the armed forces by the early 1960s. A copy of this paper is in Department of State, Central Files, 741.5/4–557. It was also published in The New York Times, April 5, 1957. For Macmillan’s discussion of the White Paper and its public reception, see Riding the Storm, pp. 263–268.
3. Blue Streak was the name for a British intermediate-range ballistic missile on which development was begun in 1954. This project was canceled in 1960. At that time, the British agreed to purchase from the United States the Skybolt missile, an airborne and air-launched ballistic missile system then under development. The Thor project was a system of intermediate-range ballistic missiles developed by the U.S. Air Force which became operational in the fall of 1958.