Presidential Correspondence, lot 66 D 204, “Churchill Correspondence with Eisenhower”
No. 394
Prime Minister Churchill
to President Eisenhower
personal and
private
[London, April 6, 1953.]
- 1.
- Anthony and I have been thinking a good deal, as we know you have also, about the apparent change for the better in the Soviet mood. I am sure we shall be in agreement with you that we must remain vigilantly on our guard and maintain all that process of defensive rearmament from which any real improvement must have resulted. We think, as I am sure you do also, that we ought to lose no chance of finding out how far the Malenkov regime are prepared to go in easing things up all round. There seem certainly to be great possibilities in Korea and we are very glad of the steps you have taken to resume truce negotiations.
- 2.
- For our part we are sending our Ambassador back to Moscow with instructions to try to settle with Molotov a number of minor points which concern Britain and Russia alone and have caused us trouble in the last few years. None of these are of major importance: they include such matters as the recent Soviet notice of intention to terminate the temporary Anglo–Soviet Fisheries Agreement of 1930, the cases of certain individual British subjects in Russia, exchange rates and restrictions on movements. Talks on them may give us some further indication of the depth of the Soviet purpose. We shall of course gladly keep your people informed of how we progress.
- 3.
- It may be that presently the Soviets will make overtures for some form of direct discussion of world problems, whether on a Four Power basis or in some other manner. I assume of course that we shall deal in the closest collaboration with any such overtures if they are made.
- 4.
- I am sending you today a reply to your letter of the 19th about Egypt.1
Winston
- For text of Eisenhower’s letter of Mar. 19 and Churchill’s response dated Apr. 5, see vol. ix, Part 2, pp. 2027 and 2042.↩