Eisenhower Library, James C. Hagerty papers

No. 474
Hagerty Diary, Saturday, June 26, 1954 1

In at 8:15.

The President was in his office at 8:30 and I had a half hour talk with him on the progress of the conference. He said that it was awfully difficult to talk with Churchill, that he refused to wear a hearing aid and consequently the President had to shout at him all the time in conversation.

My own personal observations are that Churchill is considerably physically weaker than he was when I saw him in Bermuda which of course is due to the fact that since Bermuda he has had two strokes. He is almost in the dotage period and gives the appearance at least of losing connection with the conversation that is going on in the room. However, when he speaks he still retains the forcefulness of delivery, the beautiful, ordered and intelligent command of the English language although he doesn’t seem to be able to stay on a point very long. He seems to get on one subject and repeat it many times. An example of this is the several talks that he has already given on the complexities of a central form of government, [Page 1100] the advantages we have here with our 48 states taking much of the local load off our government and his thoughts on the restoration of the heptarchy. He said this to the staff in the President’s office on Friday; he repeated it at the Congressional luncheon today; and he stopped me in the hall on the second floor of the White House to give me a private speech on the subject.…

In the afternoon while I was waiting on the second floor for the meeting of the Big Four to break up in the President’s study, the President came out to go to his room to get a copy of his “declaration release.”2 He asked me if I was waiting to see him and when I said no that I was waiting to see the Secretary of State after the meeting broke up, he invited me to come in to the meeting. Once again I was able to personally observe Prime Minister’s reactions. The President brought in the declaration and said that he and the Prime Minister had talked it over earlier in the morning,3 but the President addressed all his remarks to Eden and the British Ambassador.…

. . . . . . .

One thing that we were very successful on the very first day (although we had made no announcement of it) was on Guatemala. The President and Dulles talked cold turkey to the Prime Minister and Eden and told them that we would use the veto against them if they insisted on putting the Guatemalan question in the Security Council. Eden had a long talk with the President on this subject and later called the British representative of the UN. The result was that the American proposition to keep the Guatemalan situation in the American States organization was approved by the Security Council with England and France not voting.4

Another subject discussed at the conference which has not been given any publicity is the question of the Suez Canal.5 Churchill wants us to agree to move in and use the Suez as a military base in the event of war and we will probably have to do so for our own protection, but he wants to be able to tell Egypt that we have so agreed before he takes his troops out of that territory. Settlement of Suez would give Churchill a reserve arms strength of 80,000 men, 40,000 of which are combat fit and could be sent to Malaya to strengthen to British position there.

[Page 1101]

Attended the Congressional luncheon in time to hear Churchill make his speech and made notes, which are attached hereto.

[Here follow Hagerty’s notes on the publication of a message from French President Coty and the impact of Australia and Pakistan on the British position with respect to Southeast Asia.]

[Attachment]

Notes by the Press Secretary to the President (Hagerty) on a Congressional Luncheon at the White House, June 26, 1954

The President in introducing the Prime Minister said that he was sure that no other citizen in the world could command so much admiration and respect as did the Prime Minister. He also said that it is something more than mere coincidence that the Prime Minister’s mother was an American and that that gave him a common interest in both of our two great countries. The President said that the Prime Minister would like to have personally met each individual at the luncheon but that that was impossible. Instead, the President had prevailed upon the Prime Minister to say a few words to the gathering about the great memories that he has of the great work he has been and is doing. The President reminded the guests that the Prime Minister presided over a combined Chiefs of Staff meeting here in this very room during time of war and said that he was now asking the Prime Minister to again take the gavel and preside over a meeting in this room.

Churchill

The Prime Minister assured the President and the Members of Congress that they were doing him a great honor in meeting with him at the luncheon and that it was a great pleasure to talk for a little while to this distinguished and powerful gathering of men who exercise a great measure of control over the leading country in the world. He said that he was also pleased to have Members of the Cabinet present because the Cabinet idea of government was growing stronger every day. He said the Members of Congress who were here were members of the important committees that exercise the power of the Legislative over the Executive Branch of the government and jokingly said that they did not have such a system in his country. He said that in England the power of the Legislature came during the question time in the House of Commons which kept everybody very much up on their toes, but he added in Britain there was nothing similar to the Legislative Committees of the Congress who can constantly call executive officers before them for [Page 1102] cross examination. He also jokingly remarked that he had a majority of eighteen to work with in the Parliament and that he was amazed when the Speaker told him that his majority was only a majority of two.

The Prime Minister said he was also impressed by the generous payment made to the Members of Congress and added that in his country there was some difference of view on this subject within his own party. He said that in the long run he was sure that legislative bodies would have a wiser, broader and more tolerant viewpoint if their members were not pressed or hampered by personal affairs and if their pay were more.

The Prime Minister then said that it was more than forty years ago when he first sat in a British Cabinet and that during that time he had seen the problems of government increase in complication and topics to be studied and discussed, increased until they were now almost indescribable. He said that he envied one thing in the American Constitution and that was the great strength under the American form of government which lay in the 48 states of the union. These states carry out much of the work of government. He said that he had always had the view that his country ought to adopt something like that and that he always felt that the restoration of the heptarchy would be a very wise step. He said that he hoped Anthony Eden would think of that in the days that are to come. He said it was also fortunate that at this time when America was called upon to face the greatest responsibility in the world it had a richness of men who could fulfill duties that were not expected and some which had not ever been experienced. It was lucky that that was so because the problems of the day are very grave indeed and the future of mankind seems to be so awful.

The Prime Minister said that he was sure, however, that a way could be found through the difficulties by the use of two important factors: One—Time—Do not throw away time. There are lots of things that seem impossible but it can be worked out given time; and two—Vigilance—Eternal vigilance that is needed to guard the freedom of the world against the intolerable philosophy of Communism. Communism uses any motive, sordid or violently belligerent to gain its end. Actually, it is only another form of aristocracy or bureaucracy seeking control of millions of people and digging itself in. Communism is a tyranny which will be difficult to overthrow, but let us of the free world make sure that we meet every sacrifice to keep it from ourselves and to keep it from being foisted, by force or ignorance, upon the human race.

The Prime Minister then said that the gathering would probably like to hear his viewpoint on some detailed matters. He said that conferences of this kind were vitally important, that meeting jaw [Page 1103] to jaw is better than war. He realized how complicated the problems were and said that each problem could not be thrashed out to the last inch. But it was important to have consenting minds at the summit to back up the conference table. Otherwise, the conferences may go on forever.

He said that Anthony Eden had demonstrated infallible patience in dealing with the problems at Geneva and that he was glad that Eden and my friend, Foster Dulles, look at problems from different angles. That is good because when we meet in conference we bring joint points of view together.

The Prime Minister then said it was true perhaps that America could stand alone in the world, particularly with its advantage in thermonuclear matters. Such a stand, however, would be very unwise. He added that the United States, even at the height of its present power, has not attempted to acquire territory and that made him very proud of his blood connections.

As to the China question, he said he would not talk about that very much except to say that there was a great deal in the words that Eden used—“peaceful co-existence”. He said that the free world could live in peaceful co-existence and that the views, opinions and scientific powers we possess would enable us to permit time to take its peaceful course.

The Prime Minister then said he wanted to talk about Germany. He said he had always been a great admirer of the French and had worked with them during their troubles in two world wars. However, he was extremely vexed at the way the French had dilly-dallied over EDC. He said he had always wanted a European army, that maybe EDC was not exactly the way to get it, maybe a Grand Alliance or a NATO type organization was the best way, but that EDC after all was a French invention. He said that he could not help be annoyed that the French had taken nearly three years in doing absolutely nothing about EDC and had dissipated the driving force that had led them originally to propose it. He said he believed that the French were very much open to reproach for permitting such a situation to develop, adding that it was partly due of course to the peculiar character of their Legislative Assembly. He said he was distressed that EDC had not been put into force and that some way should be found, if EDC failed, of procuring under NATO reasonable measures of security. We must not let ourselves imagine that if EDC does fail, it is impossible to build up European security under NATO. We can’t wait forever on this, however, and the French should know that the United States and the United Kingdom regret their failure to bring about EDC.

He said that in creating lines of defense for freedom there is NATO, there could be METO and SEATO. These could be welded [Page 1104] into effective defense units and is a task which both the United States and the United Kingdom must work at steadily. There is no doubt that you must be strong if you care about peace. Peace through strength is necessary.

The Prime Minister said that he was very glad to come over here; that he had thought about it two months ago and had comtemplated coming over to stay at the Embassy for a discussion of exchange of information on thermonuclear matters but that it had been [put] off from week to week. Finally the President had invited him to come to the White House and stay there as a guest and he wanted to say he had never had a visit to Washington so agreeable and pleasant as this one.

We could not have met at a better time. There is a great underlying friendship between us, and the agreement and unity expressed to the world by just being here and talking frankly about our difficulties is vitally important. It will add to our combined strength and will help maintain the peace of the world.

The Prime Minister said that he and the President had been talking for twelve years now about the problems of the day, that they had got to know each other and that as far as he was concerned, the President was one of the few people from whom the Prime Minister derived pleasure in talking to him. Thank God you have him at the head of your country and that your country is at the head of the world. There is more need for forceful and valued service to show the way to peace with honor.

  1. For the full text, see Robert Farrell, Hagerty Diaries, pp. 77–78.
  2. The Presidential draft has not been found; for the final text of the Declaration by President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Churchill, see Document 488.
  3. For a record of President Eisenhower’s discussion with Prime Minister Churchill at 11 a.m., see the memorandum, supra.
  4. Regarding the discussions on Guatemala, see Documents 464 and 467.
  5. For a record of the discussion on Egypt, see Document 468.