<--PREV Doc #1083  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1085 Document #1084; March 2, 1959 To Harold Macmillan Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Macmillan ; Category: Cable. Secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part VII: Berlin and the Chance for a Summit; March 1959 to August 1959 Chapter 16: A "staunch bulwark" resigns   Dear Harold: Following your return to London, I hasten to felicitate you on the firmness of your presentation respecting Western rights in the Berlin situation.1 At the very least you demonstrated to the world that strength does not depend upon discourtesy, a great contrast to the provocative attitude and statements of Khrushchev during your visit there. Thank you very much for the care you took to inform us on a day by day basis of your Russian experience. I assume that you are now going to visit both Bonn and Paris. I assure you once again that you will be most welcome if you find it desirable to come to Washington. We could have a most informal meeting, without any social engagements, and should have a day or two of good talks while you are here. I am quite sure that nothing is so important as to have our ideas and plans concerted among the four of us and, so far as possible, with the complete NATO group. Certain elements of the situation constantly change so it is extremely important that our agreements and our plans are in accord therewith.2 Do let me know as soon as convenient whether you can come and approximate timing. With warm regard, As ever P.S. Just as I was finished dictating this note, I had yours that was written apparently the first thing Monday morning. I was delighted to note the change in Khrushchev’s tone and assure you that I will pay very great attention to the final paragraph of your message.3 1 For background on Macmillan's trip and Khrushchev's provocative statements see nos. 1074 and 1076; see also Macmillan, Riding the Storm, pp. 594 - 634. 2 Macmillan would leave for France on March 9 and for Germany on March 12. He would arrive in the United States on March 19 (see ibid., pp. 636 - 50; and no. 1091). 3 In his March 2 message Macmillan had told Eisenhower that the Russians had been showing "a fairer face" since Khrushchev's inflammatory speech and were trying "to restore a cordial atmosphere." He had received a reply from Soviet officials to the February 16 call for a foreign ministers’ meeting (see no. 1074), and the response he said, indicated a change in the Soviet attitude. In his final paragraph Macmillan suggested that Eisenhower’s advisers should study the reply "carefully" and that the President should "ensure that they refrain from any hasty or too hostile reaction" (Macmillan to Eisenhower, Mar. 2, 1959, State Department Files, Presidential Correspondence, and PREM 11/2690; see also Telephone conversations, Eisenhower and Herter, Mar. 2, 1959, Herter Papers, Telephone Conversations). On the Soviet note see no. 1116; for developments on the Berlin situation see no. 1106. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Cable. Secret To Harold Macmillan, 2 March 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1084. 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/second-term/documents/1084.cfm <--PREV Doc #1083  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1085

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