318. Memorandum of a Conversation Between Secretary of State Dulles and Prime Minister Macmillan, Washington, October 24, 19571

We spoke of the proposed communiqué.2 Mr. Macmillan said he had a few verbal suggestions but in the main thought it excellent. He would, however, prefer that the paragraph about China be put in a separate and private memorandum either from him to the President or from him or Selwyn Lloyd to me. He gave as a reason that if it was in the memorandum it would give at home the impression that he had done some “horse trading”. I said I had no doubt this would be acceptable to the President. In this connection, I asked the Prime Minister to read the text of my San Francisco speech,3 of which I then gave him a copy. He said he would read it.

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The Prime Minister said that one particular reason he wanted to speak to me alone was to say that he liked to feel that he was personally in touch with me. He knew that I saw copies of his letters to the President and he used this correspondence as a vehicle not only for keeping in personal touch with the President, but also for keeping in personal touch with me. He could not write me directly while Lloyd was in London without seeming to disparage Lloyd’s position. He said he felt that Lloyd was growing into his job, that Eden had always frightened him and kept him repressed but that he hoped that he would develop into a satisfactory vis-à-vis to me. I said that I would contribute to bringing this about but that I doubted that there would ever be the same sense of personal reliance and trust between us as existed between Macmillan and me.

We discussed the Turkish-Syrian matter and agreed that it should have serious consideration with the President before Macmillan left.4

[2 paragraphs (13 lines of source text) not declassified]

JFD
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Memoranda of Conversation. Top Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Dulles. This conversation took place at the Secretary’s residence and as he and Prime Minister Macmillan rode together to the White House for a meeting at 10:30 a.m.
  2. For text of the final communiqué, the Declaration of Common Purpose, issued at Washington on October 25, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1957, pp. 643–646. Preliminary drafts are in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 927, and the Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda.
  3. For text of the Secretary’s address on foreign affairs at San Francisco, California, June 28, see Department of State Bulletin, July 15, 1957, pp. 91–95.
  4. Syria’s complaint about Turkish threats to its security was discussed by Lloyd and Dulles on October 25; see Document 328.