741.11/12–1051
No. 320
Prime Minister Churchill to President Truman1
Anthony and I are looking forward to our visit to Washington.
We shall arrive by the “Queen Mary” on January 3 and would like to dine quietly at the Embassy that night. If convenient I could call upon you on the 4th. Although I am bringing two of my colleagues besides the Foreign Secretary, namely Lord Ismay and Lord Cherwell, and two out of the three Chiefs of Staff, namely the Chief of the Imperial General Staff and the First Sea Lord, I have not contemplated a pre-arranged series of conferences. We are drawing up a list of general topics for your consideration. I thought we would stay a week or so in Washington and make such contacts as were agreeable to you and to your officers. My wish and object is [Page 705] that we should reach a good understanding of each other’s point of view over the whole field, so that we can work together easily and intimately at the different levels as we used to do. Anthony has already had many good talks with Dean Acheson. I have not yet met Mr. Lovett nor have I seen Mr. Snyder for several years. (I hope it may be possible to arrange a few informal meetings or meals some of which I should be glad to have at the Embassy if you think well.) Before leaving England I shall, on December 22, make a broadcast about “the state of the Nation”, and in this I shall discount beforehand any exaggerated hopes which may be attached to our meetings and put it in its right position as the renewal of close confidential ties between those who are resolved to serve the same great causes.
After leaving Washington I shall stay a couple of days in New York with Bernie.2 The only public engagement I have in mind is perhaps to address the Order of Cincinnati, of whom I am a member, at Rochester, New York, where my grandfather lived and began his career, but I have made no promises or fixtures. After New York I go to Ottawa and shall probably fly home from there.
I thought you would like me to let you know the way I was looking at my visit and I should be grateful if you would give me your reactions. Above all, I do not want to add to your burdens, knowing well what they must be.
- The source text bears the typewritten notation “Private and Personal Message from Prime Minister to President Truman, dated 10th December 1951.” A handwritten note on the source text indicates that a copy of this message was transmitted to the White House on Dec. 12.↩
- Bernard M. Baruch, American economist and former government official.↩