368. Editorial Note
In a telephone call to Prime Minister Macmillan on March 21, 1960, President Eisenhower discussed developments at the Geneva talks on disarmament, including a new Soviet proposal for a treaty banning nuclear tests. According to a memorandum of that conversation, March 21, Macmillan suggested that he fly to Washington for a visit that weekend. The President replied that he wished to talk to Secretary Herter about the subject before agreeing to the idea. At 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, Eisenhower again called Macmillan. According to the memorandum of conversation, the President stated, “He had talked to Herter about this business—that we have not got the official translation of the Russian document and we have a number of questions—things were a little fuzzy. We have sent off asking for clarification, and reply should be in by tomorrow or Wednesday. The President thinks that it would not be wise to make announcement that Prime Minister was coming over here ‘sort of clawing in air’ until answers have been received. The President promised to call him again Wednesday. He said needless to say he would like to see the Prime Minister. The President asked if he would bring Selwyn Lloyd, the Prime Minister said No—he would like to keep it quiet. Could say they were talking Summitry. The Prime Minister seemed to lean toward Camp David as a place.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File) No record of a subsequent telephone conversation between the two leaders has been found in Department of State files.
Macmillan arrived at Andrews Air Force Base on Saturday, March 26, accompanied by Secretary of the Cabinet Sir Norman Brook; Sir William Penney, a member of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority; and other advisers. Macmillan and Eisenhower helicoptered to Camp David, Maryland, on Monday, March 28, at noon. Following an afternoon meeting at which they discussed South Africa, nuclear test negotiations, and the summit, the two men drove to the President’s farm at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, returning to Camp David for the evening. On Tuesday, March 29, the President and the Prime Minister again met with their advisers. For the text of a declaration on nuclear testing issued by the two leaders at the conclusion of their talks on March 29, see Department of State Bulletin, April 18, 1960, pages 587–588. Copies of the memoranda of conversation for the 2-day conference at Camp David are in Department of State, Presidential Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 66 D 149, and in the Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Miscellaneous Series. Briefing papers, memoranda of conversation, and public statements prepared for Macmillan’s visit are in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1617, 1619, and 1620. For the Prime Minister’s account of this trip, see Pointing the Way, pages 188–193 and 252–258.