382. Memorandum of Conference With President Eisenhower0
OTHERS PRESENT
At 9 AM, after the President and Prime Minister Macmillan had had breakfast alone, the others joined for an hour’s discussion. As we came in, the President was telling the Prime Minister that he has had in his mind the possibility of making a quick visit late in November to Great Britain for three or four days. He would plan to pay his respects to the Queen but would hope to have no social program. He would like for Mrs. Eisenhower to accompany him, although the state of health of her mother may prevent this. [3 lines of source text not declassified] This would be two or three weeks after the election, and the President thought he could usefully consult with the others on the prospects for continued collaboration under the new administration.
Regarding our questions with the French, Mr. Herter said that his tripartite talks with Lord Home and Couve de Murville3 had gone quite well. [1 line of source text not declassified] Particularly on specific matters such as Laos, Berlin and similar problems their discussions had been useful.
The Prime Minister told the President that the British and ourselves have now reached agreement on the text of a public statement the Prime Minister might make concerning the basing of Polaris submarines in the United Kingdom. The President agreed with the statement, but suggested that it be modified to say that this is a continuation and extension of existing procedures for consultation.4
The Prime Minister next raised the question of reconnaissance flights [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] of the periphery of the Soviet Union [31 lines of source text not declassified] (The President commented that the only regret he had regarding the U–2 is that the cover statement which was used did not fit the facts as they developed—on [Page 875] the assumption that the plane would be destroyed and the pilot probably lost.)5 The Prime Minister said he does not plan to make a public statement regarding the reconnaissance flights. If he is asked a question in Parliament—and he hopes he will be asked a question, preferably by some Communist-leaning member—he will simply say that he talked to the President about this matter, as he told the House he would, and what has been agreed upon has been satisfactory from a British standpoint.
[Here follows discussion of other topics. For a portion of the text, see Document 200.]
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Staff Secretary Records, International Series. Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster on September 28.↩
- Macmillan was in the United States September 25–October 5 to attend the U.N. General Assembly session. For his account of this visit, see Pointing the Way, pp. 269–281.↩
- Philip de Zulueta, Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.↩
- See Document 199.↩
- In a statement to the House of Commons on November 1, Prime Minister Macmillan announced that the United Kingdom would provide facilities for U.S. Polaris submarines at Holy Loch on the Clyde River in Scotland. For text of a White House press release on this subject, November 1, see Department of State Bulletin, November 21, 1960, p. 778.↩
- In a statement to journalists on May 5, Department of State spokesman Lincoln White indicated that the U–2 airplane shot down over the Soviet Union was a weather research craft piloted by a civilian. White stated in part: “It is entirely possible that having failure in the oxygen equipment, which could result in the pilot losing consciousness, the plane continued on automatic pilot for a considerable distance and accidentally violated Soviet airspace.” For texts of a series of official statements on this subject, see ibid., May 23, 1960, pp. 816–819.↩