Churchill’s Visit May Improve Relations

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 15

Churchill’s Visit May Improve Relations

Specially written for the N.Z.P.A. [By FRANK OLIVER]

WASHINGTON, May 6. It’s like old times in Washington today, with Sir Winston Churchill in town. It is 20 years since his first tisit as Prime Minister, when he startled Washington by dropping out of the clouds while the thunder of Japanese bombs oh Pearl Harbour was still reverberating.

No man from any country is more welcome here, for no American, not even Franklin D. Roosevelt or Dwight Eisenhower, has captured the American imagination as Sir Winston Churchill has. Each visit seems to have settled him ever more firmly in American affections. He comes, as always, at a very useful time. For some weeks American correspondents have been writing from Europe about vexations, economic as well as political, that have been weakening AngloAmerican links. Though London despatches emphasise the visit is strictly personal, the “Washington Post” says: “His presence is a powerful reminder of the inheritance that his generation has passed on to the age now coming into being. So even if he has little or nothing to say in public, his visit will be a sort of challenge to the West to rise once more to its finest hour.”

It is no secret that Churchill’s doctors advised him against flying here because the trip would be too exhausting for a man of his years. ? One newspaper says it likes to

think he disregarded that advice, because of his affection for the United States, where his mother was born.

No Personal Journey It is recognised that no journey he could make here, or ever has made here, has been strictly a personal one.

As one commentator says, his name is so intertwined with the history of the free world that mankind will not allow him to lapse into a strictly personal role.

“So long as he lives, he will be the statesman who saved Britain from being crushed by the Nazis, and thus made it possible for the free world to gather its strength and survive the totalitarian tides.’’ There can be no doubt that London - Washington relations have been deteriorating for some weeks. One noted American correspondent in London says the alliance is in trouble more acute than -anyone in an official position on either side of the Atlantic is willing to admit It is reported from London, too, that the feeling exists there that the negotiating position Mr Macmillan evolved after his visit to Moscow has been eroded by combined American, French and West German pressures. Thus Churchill, with his hold on the American imagination and affection, could hardly have arrived at a more opportune moment, and many suspect that what helped persuade him to disregard his medical advice was the present state of AngloAmerican relations, and the divi-

sions over the forthcoming Geneva talks and the ensuing summit meeting. As the press is saying, much of his time may be given over to war-time reminiscences with Eisenhower rather than discussion on current problems, but his visit will not be without political significance. Already a kindlier atmosphere seems to have been spread over Anglo-American relations outside the White House, and the probability is that the same thing has happened inside that building.

No-one in his wildest dreams can imagine Churchill talking to Eisenhower about his heavy reduction of British woollen imports that has so exasperated London, or the refusal of the United States to permit 8.0.A.C. to fly across America on a round-the-world service, which also has irked London considerably. But none can imagine him departing without leaving behind an atmosphere of warmth and friendliness that makes the solution of any and all problems seem possible and desirable.

It is one remarkable thing about this remarkable man that no mission he undertakes seems to fail. Any suggestion of failure never even gets aired.