<--PREV Doc #1599  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1601 Document #1600; August 4, 1960 To Harold Macmillan Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Macmillan ; Category: Cable. Top secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XXI - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part X: Ending an Era; August 1960 to January 1961 Chapter 23: "To keep the Free World free"   Dear Harold:1 Many thanks for your helpful message of July 30 with further regard to POLARIS.2 I am delighted that you have been able to reconsider the matter of facilities in Scottish waters and that your people feel they can work out some suitable position in the Clyde area. I fully understand your problem in presenting this project in such a way as to get the fullest public support for it in your country. I therefore agree with your suggestion that our people should proceed immediately to discuss the matter here in Washington, and I am asking that either Chris Herter or Under Secretary Merchant get together with Harold Caccia at an early date for further detailed conversations on this important subject.3 With warm regard, As ever 1 State Department officials cabled this message to the American embassy in London for delivery to Prime Minister Macmillan. 2 For background see no. 1584. Macmillan had told Eisenhower that his Cabinet had discussed the Polaris issue further and that they had agreed to reconsider the U.S. request for berthing facilities in the Clyde River. "They fully realize the importance of this project to the strength of the West, and for the peace and security of the world." In order to gain the fullest possible public support, Macmillan said, the question of operational control of the missile submarines had to be addressed. He understood Eisenhower’s difficulties with his original proposal regarding dual control (see no. 1584) but hoped they could work out a suitable plan that could relieve the anxieties of the British people (Macmillan to Eisenhower, July 30, 1960, PREM 11/2940). 3 For developments see no. 1686. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Cable. Top secret To Harold Macmillan, 4 August 1960. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1600. 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/1600.cfm <--PREV Doc #1599  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1601

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464