279. Editorial Note

On April 21, Ambassador Merchant reported that Prime Minister Diefenbaker was considering inviting President Eisenhower to visit Canada in late June. (Telegram 793 from Ottawa; Department of State, Central Files, 711.11–EI/4–2158) Two days later, the President telephoned the Prime Minister and extended an invitation to visit Washington July 8–10, but Diefenbaker insisted and the President agreed to a 3-day trip to Ottawa July 8–11. (Memorandum of conversation, April 23; ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199)

President Eisenhower, accompanied by Secretary of State Dulles, arrived at Ottawa at 11 a.m. on July 8, where they were met by Prime Minister Diefenbaker, Governor General Massey, Ambassador Merchant, and others. At 4 p.m., the first official meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s residence.

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On July 9, the President addressed a joint session of Parliament at 10 a.m. and then met with the Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet. Following a luncheon, Secretary Dulles met from 3 to 5 p.m. with Minister of External Affairs Smith.

On July 10, the President and Secretary Dulles met with the Prime Minister and Secretary for External Affairs at 10:15 a.m. Following a luncheon, Secretary Dulles continued his meeting with Smith.

President Eisenhower and Secretary Dulles left Ottawa at 10:15 a.m. on July 11, stopped briefly at Massena, New York, to see the Eisenhower Lock of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and arrived back in Washington at 2:30 p.m.

Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 63 D123, CF 1037–1048 contain the most extensive collection of documentation on the President’s trip, including position papers, chronologies, daily schedules, orders of the day, memoranda of conversation, press briefings, and telegrams to and from the U.S. Delegation. Less extensive documentation, covering the conversation during the visit and some of the preparations, is ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D199, and the Eisenhower Library, White House Office Files.

For Prime Minister Diefenbaker’s account of the visit, see One Canada, pages 152–156; for his report to the House of Commons on July 11 concerning his conversations with the President, see Canada, Debates, volume 102, pages 2139–2142.