JFK SPEAKS IN ROSE GARDEN AFTER MEETING WITH PM MACMILLAN
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 8, 1961, President John F. Kennedy spoke to a group of reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House here in the Nation's Capital following discussions with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan*.
The President, reading from the text of a joint statement, described the talks as "candid and friendly," and said they had talked about the "world situation in general, and in particular the major issues of international relations which affect our two countries."
The two world leaders agreed that the North Atlantic Alliance represented "the core of Western security against armed aggression," and both desired "to ensure the...effectiveness and adaptability of the Atlantic community in a changing world."
The Prime Minister also made a brief statement thanking President Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk "for the kindness and courtesy" which had been accorded Mr. Macmillan and his staff.
*Maurice Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) was born in London, his father the son of the founder of Macmillan Publishing Company & mother an American socialite from Indiana. MHM was educated at Eton & Balliol Colleges.
He served in the British army on the front lines of WWI where he was severely wounded. MHM was a Member of Parliament during the 1920s & 1930s and served in a variety of government positions in the 1940s & 1950s until becoming PM in 1957.
SOURCE
"Remarks at the Reading of the Joint Statement Following Discussions With Prime Minister Macmillan, April 8, 1961," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, John F. Kennedy, 1961, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1962.
JFK & MAC
Hamilton, Bermuda
December 21 1961
Photo by Cecil W. Stoughton
JFK Library Image
