Jape: Thanks. As for the next update, here it is.
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Visiting Europe
On September 30th, Stevenson arrived in Rome, Italy for his first European visit as President. It had been ten years since the United States invaded Fascist Italy and overthrew the Mussolini regime. Since the end of World War Two, the Italian political scene had been unstable. The Communists at one point came close to winning power in national elections. Prime Minister Giuseppe Pella warned Stevenson of the lassitude of the Democratic center, the potential resurgence of the Fascist Right, and the
“unbelievable” bitterness of the Communists who had been imprisoned by the Fascists. The President reassured him that the United States would continue to support the Italian effort to stabilize their internal politics. While in Rome, Stevenson also had a private audience with Pope Pius XII – who urged his American visitor to stand firm against the Communists.
From Rome, the President next traveled to Vienna, Austria to make a Voice of America radio broadcast aimed at the citizens of the Soviet satellite countries:
“I want particularly to tell my listeners in Eastern Europe of the warm admiration with which Americans learned of the recent brave conduct of the workers in many cities of those Republics. In my own home state of Illinois, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans of Slovak, Polish, and Hungarian origin who have a very intimate interest in the fate of their relatives in their former homeland. Beyond this, we Americans – we all have a direct interest in the cause of freedom everywhere.”
After Austria came the Federal Republic of Germany. A major stop here was Berlin. Once the capital of the powerful Third Reich, Berlin in late 1953 was a forward-looking city that wanted to forget about its' Nazi past. With the German capital now in Cologne, almost no government business was being conducted in Berlin. The Reichstag, once the seat of the German Parliament until a mysterious fire in February 1933 gutted the place, had been transformed into an office building and art gallery. Stevenson visited the Reichstag (accompanied by an American army officer who in early July 1944 was one of the soldiers who helped raise the Stars and Stripes over the building), along with the Brandenburg Gate (built in the late 18th Century as a Prussian sign of peace). Motoring eastward, the Commander-in-Chief was shown the Oder River. A natural barrier between Democratic Germany and Communist Poland, the Oder River had been transformed into a visual symbol of the Iron Curtain. On the other side of the river, Red Army troops stood poised to shoot anyone who tried to escape across the river to freedom.
While in Germany, a reporter asked Stevenson about Eden’s recent proposal for a four-power conference with Molotov that would be conducted without a fixed agenda. The President responded that he always believed in keeping the door open to negotiation but thought a four-power conference at this time might be unproductive since
“General Secretary Molotov has so far shown no desire to back away from Stalinist policies.”
Leaving Germany, he flew across the border to Paris, France. While in the French capital, he met with Prime Minister Laniel and discussed – among other things – Vietnam. At the time, Navarre was busy reorganizing his forces and the Prime Minister expressed his confidence that the General could get the job done. He thanked Stevenson for providing France with aid and vowed to subdue the Viet Minh despite the growing public weariness towards the First Indochina War. In turn, Stevenson promised to continue
“doing my part to keep the Russians out of Southeast Asia.”
While in Paris, the President found himself mobbed by intellectuals who saw him as being the most intellectual Chief Executive the United States ever had. Every notable French intellectual wanted to meet him. Schlesinger – who was part of the American entourage for the European trip – later remarked that
“no American since Benjamin Franklin had been besieged by that many admirers.”
A quick flight over the English Channel brought the President to the country he most looked forward to visiting: the United Kingdom. He loved England, and enjoyed himself here more than anywhere else. He attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace held by Queen Elizabeth II in his honor. Her Majesty even invited Stevenson to sit with her in her private box at the races; of course he snatched the invitation right up. After attending the races, the President dined with Sir Winston Churchill and his wife at their Chartwell estate in Kent. At age seventy-eight, the former Prime Minister was old and ill (he was recovering from a severe stroke he suffered a few months earlier)…but still possessed his legendary vigor and lucidness. When asked for an assessment of Churchill later on, Stevenson quipped,
“he was only half the man he was but he was four times a man.”
After being voted out of office in the 1948 General Election, Churchill retired from politics and focused instead on his twin pleasures: painting and writing. However, he still had his opinions which he shared with his American visitor:
-The best hope for peace lay with America’s hydrogen bomb
-He would have preferred a regional grouping of states rather than universalism
-McCarthyism – a pressing problem for Stevenson back home – would be undone by Democracy’s power to correct wrongs
-France would be almost useless in the postwar world and that they couldn’t hold onto Indochina no matter what
-The solution to all problems lay at the center – in Moscow
-The way to keep the British onboard as a close ally would be through trade
After listening to Churchill, Stevenson returned to London for the most important meeting of the entire European trip: Anthony Eden. The Prime Minister greeted his American counterpart outside his official residence/office at 10 Downing Street. After shaking hands and posing for the cameras outside the main door, the two leaders stepped inside for their long-awaited meeting.
From all accounts, Stevenson and Eden got along. They spoke at length about foreign policy (domestic policy was largely ignored because the economically-inexperienced Prime Minister left such matters to lieutenants like Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler). Eden was having a rough time as Prime Minister and freely admitted so. The British Empire – once the dominating force in the world – was collapsing and there seemed little he could do to reverse it:
-Libya had just broken away from British control and was now an independent nation.
-In the African colony of Kenya, Eden had been forced to send thousands of British troops there to try to put down an anti-colonial rebellion being conducted by a Kikuyu (a Kenyan ethnic group)-dominated group called the Mau-Mau. So far, the British found themselves unable to stem the tide of the insurgency.
-Then there was the emergency in Malaya. When Eden took office in May 1952, he inherited from Clement Attlee a guerilla war waging between the Commonwealth and the Malayan Communist Party over control of the Asian colony. To combat the Communist guerillas, the British were waging a counter-insurgency focused on winning over the civilian population’s hearts and minds. They were also driving the enemy into the jungles and cutting off their resources. Compared to Kenya, the British were doing rather well in Malaya – but Eden nonetheless preferred not to have the emergency.
When the discussion turned to the Middle East, Eden politely but firmly warned Stevenson to – to use a modern phrase – “butt out”. The Middle East was the British sphere of influence, and they would behave in that region as they saw fit.
“You Americans,” the Prime Minister reminded the President,
“Have the Monroe Doctrine, in which Central and South America falls under your jurisdiction. We have our own Monroe Doctrine, which applies to the Middle East. We have been operating in that region for a long time, and we therefore have a better understanding of how to deal with the Arabs than you do – with all due respect, of course.”
Eden dismissed the idea that his country had overstayed their welcome, arguing that his country’s very presence was making a strong contribution to the modernization of the region. While listening to the pro-British arguments, Stevenson could hear Acheson’s words in the back of his mind:
“For the British, influence is everything. This is especially true now, with their global power waning. London no longer leads the world and they know it. That is why the British will cling onto whatever influence they can exert.”
Just as Acheson predicted, Eden flat-out rejected the idea of handing the Suez Canal over to Egypt.
“Suez is strategically important to us,” he emphatically proclaimed,
“It’s a major component of our military and economic lifeblood. The Egyptians can agitate all they want, but we are not walking away from the Suez Canal under any circumstances.”
At the same time he was being firm, Eden also indicated that he was willing to leave the door open to
“reasonable” negotiations with the Naguib government over Suez. He was also willing to help fund the construction of the Aswan Dam if the Americans really were serious about going through with it.
“We are fully committed to the project,” the President assured him. On the topic of Cyprus, Stevenson was told that the British stood by their decision to give the island to Greece and would oppose Turkish efforts to take the island for themselves.
“If you are wise,” Eden warned,
“You will respect our decision and stay out of this matter.”
The meeting ended with Eden’s proposal for a four-power conference with the Soviets. Having worked alongside Molotov in the past, the Prime Minister believed he understood the General Secretary better than the President did. Even if nothing constructive came out of this meeting, Eden believed it would at least open the door to further talks. Stevenson cast his doubts:
“There is no reliable evidence that Russia is willing to consider abandoning her goal of world domination. The non-Communist world, I should point out, is by no means a harmonious household and includes every variety of attitudes. With all due respect, I don’t share your sentiment to meet the Russians ‘half-way’ because we don’t exactly know what this ‘half-way’ is.”
After speaking at the University of Oxford about Anglo-American relations, the President’s first European trip was over. As his Lockheed VC-121E Constellation (flying with the new call sign “Air Force One”) made its’ way across the Atlantic, Stevenson made an assessment of his foreign policy options for 1954. Frankly, Eden had locked him into a tight box. Trying to get the British to reduce their influence in the Middle East would be fruitless, since the Prime Minister made it crystal-clear that his country was there to stay. That would disappoint the Arabs, who wanted the Americans to lean on their Anglo ally. Fortunately, there would be some wiggle room with regards to Egypt. Eden pledged his support in funding the Aswan High Dam project and was willing to talk to Cairo about Suez (simply handing control of the Canal over to them would be off the table, of course). Israel would have to be prodded into going along with repatriating the Arab refugees and fixing boundaries – and accepting the fact that American aid would no longer go solely to her. As for Cyprus, Stevenson would have to reject Acheson’s advice and recognize Greek control over the island; butting heads with the British by supporting rival Turkish claims was not something he was prepared to do.
The Presidential airplane touched down at Idlewild Airport in New York City (the Chief Executive planned to continue on to Libertyville to rest before heading back to D.C.). When Stevenson stepped off the plane, he found CIA Director William Preston Lane waiting for him on the tarmac. As they made their way to the Presidential car, Lane informed his boss that
“I came here because something serious has happened that I need to brief you on.”
Once they climbed into the car, Stevenson was handed an intelligence report. Putting on his reading glasses, the President read the report. His mood instantly grew grim.
“This is indeed serious,” he agreed.