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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

HAROLD MACMILLAN

December 21, 1961


JFK MEETS WITH BRITISH PM MACMILLAN


Bermuda (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy met today with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of Great Britain at Government House in Bermuda.  


The meeting, called "The Big Two Summit," concerned East-West relations, nuclear weapons, Berlin & the Congo.

Following the Berlin Crisis in the summer of 1961, JFK & Mr. Macmillan agreed to "maintain the effectiveness of the deterrent" by renewal of testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. 

JFK & Macmillan talked for five hours per session only breaking for "tea". *


*JFK & Macmillan, whose nephew married JFK's sister, developed a special relationship at this meeting.  During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, JFK called the PM every day.


Harold Macmillan died in 1986 at the age of 92.



 JFK & Harold Macmillan in Bermuda
                        December 1961
                    JFK Library Photo