<--PREV Doc #197  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #199 Document #198; May 20, 1953 To Walter Bedell Smith Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series ; Category: Secret and personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953 Chapter 3: "A time for continued vigilance"   Memorandum for the Under Secretary of State: I think you had better begin to explore fairly seriously the possible desirability of my inviting the two Prime Ministers of Britain and France to meet with me.1 To get away from too much protocol, we might consider asking them to meet me at the American Base at Stephenville, or even at the major air force base in Maine (assuming that the idea has any merit whatsoever).2 My own feeling on the matter is that we ought to make some gesture that shows the essential friendship between our three countries, regardless of the appearance in the public press of items that give a contrary impression. If we do this, I should like to do it very soon. P.S. Could you talk to me about it by Friday morning?3 1 French Premier Mayer had requested such a meeting in a message sent to the President this same date. Eisenhower discussed the matter with State Department officers (Secretary of State Dulles was then in New Delhi) in the evening and telephoned Churchill before deciding to proceed with plans for a tripartite summit meeting (see the following document; Memorandum for Record in AWF/I: Churchill; and State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. V, Western European Security, pt. 2, pp. 1710-11). 2 These were probably the landing fields at Stephenville, Newfoundland, and Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine. 3 Smith would miss the Friday, May 22, Cabinet meeting. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Secret and personal To Walter Bedell Smith, 20 May 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 198. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/198.cfm <--PREV Doc #197  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #199

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