241. Letter From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Macmillan1
Dear Harold: I think now that we have removed the possibility that any more “flaps” can occur in disarmament negotiations, we can look forward to a bit smoother sailing in this particular business.
We have worked very hard to find a position in the disarmament area that is as liberal and broad-gauged as elementary considerations of security would permit. Frankly, many of our people are getting exceedingly weary of carrying the national and international costs of some of the programs in which we are now engaged. Any real progress toward a disarmament plan—one which could be accepted with confidence by the free world—would probably be of greater relative relief to us than to any of our friends. This is because in so many cases we are not only meeting our own costs but trying to help others.
I mention this only to show that we fully agree with your observation that “the real test is disarmament.”2
[Here follow Eisenhower’s thoughts on trade restrictions and West German purchases of tanks.]
[Page 629]I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate your letters.
With warm regard,
As ever
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries. Secret.↩
- In a letter to Eisenhower, June 12, on “general matters,” Macmillan made the following observation on disarmament: “But of course the real test is disarmament. On this I was very grateful to you for your reply to my last letter. Very soon I shall be writing to you again on this for it is time, I think, that we gave it a lot of careful thought. The Russians will try to play us off one against the other and we must not allow this to happen.” (Ibid.)↩