Correspondence between [David] Ben-Gurion (Prime Minister of Israel) and WSC, and between WSC and Harold Macmillan (Prime Minister) regarding the letter from Ben-Gurion, 3-28 Sep 1959

Item

Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAQ/2/2/32/5-13

Scope and Contents

Comprising a long letter from Ben-Gurion (Jerusalem) to WSC, WSC's reply and correspondence with Macmillan about the letter (including sending the letter for Macmillan to read).

Ben-Gurion's letter is on subjects including WSC's invitation to meet in the South of France and Ben-Gurion's regret that they were not able to meet as he had already left; upcoming meetings [between United States President Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Khrushchev during Krushchev's visit to the United States] and between Foreign Ministers in Geneva [Switzerland] and Ben-Gurion's pessimism about the result of the meetings; the nature of Russian Communism; Krushchev's leadership of [the Soviet Union] and differences and similarities with Stalin; the danger of expansionism of the Soviet Union; Ben-Gurion's belief that mutual understanding with Krushchev and the Soviet Union would be impossible; the technological progress and expansionist ambitions of China; relations between the Soviet Union and China; and improved relations between the United Kingdom and Israel following the Iraqi revolution in Jul 1958.

Dates

Creation: 3-28 Sep 1959

Conditions Governing Access

From the Fonds:

The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.

This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.

Extent

4 item(s)

Additional Description

Custodial History

On cataloguing these items were attached to a piece of paper annotated "2/128" [CHUR 2/128 but more likely from CHUR 2/520].

Related Materials

Related to the Churchill Papers [from CHUR 2/520].

Bibliography

The letters between WSC and Ben-Gurion are quoted in 'Churchill and the Jews' by Martin Gilbert (2007) p.302.

Bibliography

Extracts of all the letters are published in 'Winston S. Churchill' volume VIII 'Never Despair' by Martin Gilbert, pp.1299-1301, and full copies of two of the letters (WSC to Ben-Gurion 11 Sep, and Macmillan to WSC 28 Sep) are published in 'The Churchill Documents' volume 23 'Never Flinch, Never Weary, November 1951 to February 1965' by Martin Gilbert and Larry P Arnn, pp.2259-2260.