No. 595
Editorial Note
Prime Minister Churchill delivered a major foreign policy address to the House of Commons on May 11. The Embassy in the United Kingdom characterized the address as comparable in significance to President Eisenhower’s address on April 16. (Telegram 6003 from London, May 8; 741.00/5–853) Churchill discussed the situation in Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe; recalled his relations with the Soviet Union during the war; and proposed a meeting at the highest level of the leading world powers. For full text of his speech, see H.C. Debs., 5th series, volume 515, columns 883–898; for the Embassy’s comments on the address, see telegram 6041, volume VI, Part 1, page 985.
On May 20, President Eisenhower transmitted to the Acting Secretary of State a memorandum suggesting exploration of the possibility of his meeting with Churchill and French Prime Minister Rene Mayer in the near future in order to demonstrate the essential friendship among their three countries regardless of appearances in the press. (711.11 EI/5–2053) Exchanges of communications at the end of May finally led to a proposed meeting of the Heads of State at Bermuda in June. For further documentation on the Bermuda Conference, see volume V, Part 2, pages 1710 ff.