Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, President Harry S. Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Sir Roger Makins, and Others

1056 348 CONFIDENTIAL 349 390 January 8, 1953 411 This afternoon at 4:00 o'clock the President received Prime Minister Churchill, who was accompanied by the British Ambassador, Sir Roger Makins. The President had with him the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Mutual Security, Mr. Averell Harriman. The meeting was a social and most friendly one. Matters of international importance were touched on only in passing. The President and the Prime Minister recalled their meeting in Potsdam and the next meeting, which was the trip to Fulton, Missouri for Mr. Churchill's speech. The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the Presi dent for making the Independence available for his flight from New York to Washington and to Jamaica. He expressed his great appreciation of all the courtesies which the President had extended to him over the years and hoped that in the not too distant future the President and Mrs. Truman would visit England, where the Prime Minister assured the President of a very warm welcome. The President said that he hoped that he might make such a visit, but he would not wish to take any step now which might be misconstrued. The Prime Minister observed that he himself had been misconstrued for over fifty years and that no one had really found him out yet. The Prime Minister hoped that his visit to the United States on his way to Jamaica had not been inappropriate. The President assured him that it was entirely appropriate and hoped that his conversations with General Eisenhower had been useful, expressed his high regard for the General and hoped that the Prime Minister and the incoming President would maintain the closest relations in the years to come. The Prime Minister again expressed his great admiration for the President's decision in regard to Korea and the subsequent armament DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and S(D) or (E) Dept. of State letter, By NLT-HC , NARS Detal/30.76 GONFIDENTIAL