American-British Relations

Report Outline
Need to buttress anglo-american alliance
Hard Facts of the Postwar Partnership
Divergent Approaches to World Problems
Proposals for Reweaving Anglo-American Ties

Need to buttress anglo-american alliance

Aim of Esenhower-Macmillan Talks in Bermuda

Repair of the Anglo-American alliance, seriously damaged by the Mideast policy split which was climaxed last autumn by the British invasion of Egypt, will be the main task facing President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Macinillan when they meet in Bermuda, Mar. 21, for a three-day conference. Leaders of both nations recognize that restoration of intimate and trustful relations between the two countries is vital to the free world's defense against the many-sided threat of Soviet imperialism.

The willingness of the President to confer with the new Prime Minister (and on British soil), after his reported refusal to meet with former Prime Minister Eden during the Suez crisis, testifies to his strong desire to open a new chapter in American-British relations. Macmillan's statement on Jan. 11—the day after he had been named to head the government—that restoration of the alliance was his first objective gave evidence of the importance attached to that task in Great Britain. The personal friendship between the two men, which is of long standing, should facilitate their negotiations at the Bermuda conference.

Aside from the general problem of closing the rift in the alliance, the President, the Prime Minister, and their advisers will have to deal with such specific problems as formulation of a joint Middle East policy, alleviation of Britain's current economic difficulties, impending cuts in British military forces on the continent of Europe, reunification of Germany, and a host of other unsettled questions growing out of the cold war.