741.13/1–952

No. 343
Memorandum by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State (Battle) of a Meeting Between President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill, The White House, January 8, 1952, 5 p.m.1
top secret

Following the meeting at the White House yesterday with Mr. Churchill and Mr. Eden, the Secretary spoke briefly to Mr. Matthews and Mr. Bohlen and me about a rather brief restricted meeting which took place at the White House either before or after the larger meeting.2 The President apparently designated those who were to attend this restricted session. He had had discussions with Mr. Acheson and Mr. Lovett prior to doing this but the implication to the British was that the entire session was at the President’s initiative. The Secretary made the following comments about what had taken place in that session. This is not a complete record but may be the best that we will have on this session unless someone else from the Department attended (which I do not believe to be so).

The President opened the session by making remarks as to the need for SACLANT. He said that this Command arrangement had been agreed to and he wanted Mr. Churchill to hear the reasons for it. The reasons for the Command were then developed.

Mr. Churchill then said that the United Kingdom had lost much of its former power. He said that the United States had atomic power, productive power, et cetera. He said that British life depended on the sea. He said that the British had earned equality with British blood. He said that was all the British wanted—equality, not primacy.

General Bradley then said that what the Prime Minister wanted was exactly what they were getting under the SACLANT arrangement.

Admiral Fechteler then said that the Prime Minister did not understand the origin of the problem. He pointed out that 12 nations, including the United Kingdom, had agreed to the Command arrangement. He said that, in fact, the plan had been presented to NATO by the British Chiefs of Staff. He said that if the United [Page 794] Kingdom withdrew its approval, then the 12 nations would have to settle the question.

Mr. Churchill said that the main navies involved were those of the United States and the United Kingdom and that he thought that they should be the ones to settle this matter.

The Prime Minister was then told (I believe by the President) that what we were discussing is the rights of people—not the size of navies. He said that the 12 nations had an interest in trade routes and related matters and that we could not decide without them.

It was left that the Prime Minister would think about this during his trip to Ottawa and see what he could do.

L.D. Battle
  1. Drafted on Jan. 9.
  2. The minutes of the fourth formal meeting of President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill, held immediately following the conversation reported here, are printed infra. According to these minutes the restricted meeting took place at 5 p.m. before the fourth formal session.