305. Letter From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Macmillan1
Dear Harold: I hasten to send this immediate reply to your challenging letter,2 pending the time we can give you a further answer as a result of pondering the many important questions you raise.
As you know, I have long been an earnest advocate of closer ties between our two countries. I believe that the nations of the free world cannot possibly carry the burdens and sacrifices necessary in the preservation of free systems of government unless they can have the confidence that those to whom they look for world leadership are bound together by common convictions, purposes and principles. I [Page 787] believe that all countries that fear themselves threatened by Communism or any other form of dictatorship look primarily to your country and to ours for the leadership they need. I think, therefore, that it is necessary not only that the highest officials of our two countries are close together in these matters, but that this understanding and agreement should, to the greatest possible measure, extend to our two people and indeed to as many more as we can reach.
In one of the suggestions you make, we have already done very considerable work. I refer to the Russian activities in pre-emptive buying. I hope that before very long our staffs here will have some very clear opinions on this matter, and certainly we will be more than happy to try to coordinate with your people these and other tentative conclusions.
With warm personal regard.
As ever,