362. Editorial Note
President Eisenhower, Prime Minister Macmillan, and their advisers resumed discussion of the reply to the Soviet note at 9:30 a.m. on March 21. According to a memorandum of this conversation, prepared by Merchant:
“The President said that he would repeat to the Prime Minister his past expression of a willingness to look hard for any progress at all at the Foreign Ministers meeting which would justify thereafter holding a Summit conference but that he absolutely refused to promise unconditionally at this point to go to a Summit meeting ‘come hell or high water.’ The Prime Minister then put forward new compromise language for this passage in the note. The President also gave the language which we had considered overnight. Agreement was finally reached on the form of words which was later in the morning telegraphed to our working group representatives in Paris. The British accepted our formulation of the agenda item. They also confirmed their acceptance of our phraseology for handling participation by the Czechs and the Poles.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File)
The text of the reply was sent to the Embassy in Paris in telegram 3511, March 21. (Department of State, Central Files, 033.4111/3–2159) For texts of the Soviet note of March 2 and the U.S. reply of March 26, see Department of State Bulletin, April 13, 1959, pages 507–511.