296. Letter From Prime Minister Macmillan to President Eisenhower1
My Dear Friend: As you will have seen from the Press, I received an enormous letter from Bulganin at the end of last week. Here is a translation.2 So far I am only sending a more or less formal acknowledgment, and to be quite frank, I am not quite sure what to do next. I would very much value any observations that you might have on what I can do about it. As you know, I am going to Bonn at the end of next week,3 so I will have a chance of talking this over with Chancellor Adenauer before I send a substantive reply.4 I am sending him a copy of Bulganin’s letter, and I am also asking for the views of Monsieur Mollet, the French Prime Minister.
Since it seems that I have been singled out for this honour I feel a considerable responsibility about it all. It is not quite clear yet what hand the Russians are playing and what cards we should play ourselves. We are trying to puzzle it out, but you know me well enough to realise that I would not act without the closest consultation with my friends.5
P.S. You may get a letter of your own from Bulganin; in which case I hope you will let me know.6
- Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. No classification marking.↩
- Attached but not printed. Bulganin’s letter is printed in R.I.I.A., Documents on International Affairs 1957 (London, 1960), pp. 2–11.↩
- Prime Minister Macmillan was in Bonn, May 7–10.↩
- Macmillan’s reply to Bulganin, June 14, is printed in Documents on International Affairs 1957, pp. 11–18.↩
- Printed from an unsigned copy.↩
- President Eisenhower did not receive a letter from Bulganin at this time.↩