EISENHOWER PREPARES FOR HISTORIC TRIP

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28983, 26 August 1959, Page 13

EISENHOWER PREPARES FOR HISTORIC TRIP

Talks In Europe Before Khrushchev’s Visit

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, August 25.

(Rec. 10 p.m.)

President Eisenhower will hold an eve • of - departure press conference today as he embarks on a great personal effort to try to find a way of breaking the cold war.

The President is expected to take the opportunity to reassure the Western allies about his forthcoming conferences in Washington with the Soviet Prime Minister, Mr Khrushchev. $X.n hour before dawn tomorrow, Mr Eisenhower will fly to Bonn for talks—the first United States President ever to travel abroad by jet plane.

On Thursday evening he will arrive in London from Bonn and will make history on Friday by flying in a Royal Air Force Comet jet to Aberdeen to spend the night at Balmoral Castle as the guest of the Queen. The President will travel to Britain in a Boeing 707. Mr Eisenhower will return on Saturday for a week-end of private talks with the British Prime , Minister (Mr Macmillan) at : Chequers, the Prime Minister’s < country residence. On Wednes- i day, September 2, Mr Eisenhower i will fly to Paris for talks with President Charles de Gaulle. 1 The President’s historic visit to 1 Europe will be the prelude to his | talks with Mr Khrushchev, who is due in Washington on September i 15. ( President Eisenhower will be s revisiting Germany and Britain f for the first time since he took 1 office in 1953. 1 Of major concern to the Presi- j dent as he makes final prepara- 1 tions for his trip to Europe is the problem of Berlin and the related 1 question of the reunification of i Germany. Opinion in Washington today i was that the President would s have to use all his diplomatic < skill in Europe to overcome the j reported bickerings among the I three other major allies. Reported rifts among London, j Paris and Bonn have received i more and more attention in the ] United States press in the last 1 few days. One source pictured President Eisenhower as a kind ] of umpire, one of whose missions 1 would be to inquire into the 1 source of unrest reflected in the <

British, French and German press Informed officials do not take as sombre a view of the atmosphere in Europe as unofficial observers do. They say that the President faces few, if any, difficulties in Bonn and London and that the most difficult of his tasks will be in Paris. The President has long sought a personal meeting with General de Gaulle in the belief that, as former comrades-in-arms, they can deal successfully with present irritations in American-French relations. President de Gaulle is expected to ask President Eisenhower for United States support for French policy in Algeria. Yesterday, the State Department took notice of French concern on this point to issue a statement saying that the United States Government attached the highest importance to the need for a peaceful, democratic and just solution to the Algerian conflict. It also expressed the hope that France itself would be able to work out that kind of solution. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defence and France’s desire to become an atomic Power are other matters which are expected to be dealt with by the two leaders in Paris. In Bonn, the President and Dr. Adenauer are expected to review not only the Berlin and German problems, but also the deadlocked issue of disarmament. The President will be accompanied on his European trip by Mr Christian Herter, the Secretary of State, and other top officials.