Jack & Mac

Throughout the week, in the White House and aboard the yacht Honey Fitz, the President of the U.S. and the Prime Minister of Great Britain talked earnestly. Their styles differed: John Kennedy spoke briskly, changing the subject whenever the conversation began to lag, while Harold Macmillan preferred a chattier, more leisurely pace. Their aims differed too: Kennedy was anxious to impress Macmillan with his ability to lead not only the U.S. but the free world; Macmillan was eager to convince Kennedy of Britain's value as an honest broker in the cold war. From time to time, aides issued dutiful announcements: Kennedy and Macmillan had become "very friendly" and were "on the same wave length." By the time Macmillan left Washington, the President and the Prime Minister had ranged over most of the problems that confront their nations and the world.

Among them:

THE NATO ALLIANCE. Kennedy and Macmillan agreed that NATO's military, political and economic joints are creaking badly. Kennedy summoned former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, who had just completed a study of NATO, to present tentative U.S. views. In the conversations that followed, the President urged that NATO's European members place a high priority on building up NATO's conventional military forces. The U.S., he said, is willing to provide NATO with nuclear capability, probably in the form of Polaris submarines and medium-range ballistic missiles--but nuclear fire control must remain in U.S. hands. Macmillan was generally agreeable, although he pointed out that a conventional-forces boost would cause Britain considerable money and manpower problems.

SOUTHEAST ASIA. A fortnight ago at Key West, Kennedy and Macmillan had agreed to push for -a cease-fire in Laos that would be followed by a 14-nation conference and, presumably, an eventual coalition government including members of the Communist-led Pathet Lao. The Lao tian crisis therefore came in for only brief discussion last week. But Kennedy and Macmillan agreed that the deteriorating situation in South Viet Nam is just as dangerous as Laos, decided to step up arms shipments to the friendly Diem government.

ECONOMICS. One of the first subjects Macmillan brought up was that of international trade. He reminded the President that the British have long been seeking "greater liquidity"--meaning large amounts of international reserves that could be borrowed by such big trading nations as Britain to avoid periodic crises of the pound. Such an international reserve system, said Macmillan, would enable the whole Atlantic community to increase trade and to ride out slack periods. Both Macmillan and Kennedy agreed that much of the U.S.'s recent gold drainage was due to an imbalance in interest rates between the U.S. and Britain, which caused U.S. dollars to flow to Britain in search of higher interest. Their conclusion: such problems should be better coordinated. On one touchy subject, the Common Market, Kennedy and Macmillan sidestepped detailed discussion.

RED CHINA. Kennedy and Macmillan agreed to disagree about the admission of Communist China to the United Nations.

Macmillan noted that the issue will al most certainly come to a U.N. vote this year--and when it does, Britain will cast an aye ballot.

ATOMIC TESTING. The President and the Prime Minister each expressed disappointment at the total lack of progress in the Geneva test ban talks. They agreed that a Russian proposal for a three-member test ban directorate was "entirely unacceptable," since it would give Moscow a veto on inspection. U.S. experts ominously noted that there is recent evidence of large-scale explosions in Russia that might have been nuclear.

At week's end. Macmillan and Kennedy concluded their conversations with a joint communique that was deliberately and blandly nonspecific about proposed actions of the two nations. "We are in complete agreement," said the communique, "as to the gravity and depth of the danger in the present world situation for those nations who wish to retain their independence and the priceless right of choice." Afterward, in an informal farewell in the White House Rose Garden, President Kennedy summed up the essence of the meetings with Yankee crispness: "It has been the greatest possible pleasure to have had this opportunity to establish close and, I think, highly satisfactory personal and public relations with the Prime Minister." In their talks, President Kennedy and Prime Minister Macmillan had arrived at few real decisions.

But they had achieved a measure of the personal understanding vital to the troubled months ahead.

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