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THE BERMUDA SUMMIT: 4-8 December 1953

About this Site

This web page was put together by Churchill Archives Centre to complement the 20th International Churchill Conference, Bermuda, 5th - 8th November 2003.

The documents displayed here are some of the key official telegrams and communications sent by Churchill to President Eisenhower before, during and after the Bermuda Summit of 1953. See below for background information on the summit.

Simply click on the thumbnails to view the documents.

	Letter from Prime Minister Churchill to President Eisenhower, 1 July 1953. [Page 1] [Page 2]
	Telegram of 8 Nov 1953
	Telegram of 12 Nov 1953
	Letter of 6 Dec 1953
	Telegram of 16 Dec 1953. [Page 1] [Page 2]

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About the Summit

The Bermuda Summit was the brainchild of Sir Winston Churchill and a major initiative of his second term as Prime Minister. In the aftermath of Stalin's death and the Russian development of a hydrogen bomb, he hoped to gain President Eisenhower's support for a top-level dialogue with the new Soviet leadership.

Churchill celebrated his 79th birthday on the eve of the Bermuda Conference. The meeting had initially been planned for the summer, but was postponed after Sir Winston suffered a serious stroke.

The French attended the summit at the request of the Americans. The French Premier Laniel attended, but was taken ill on the second day and was thereafter represented by his foreign secretary, Bidault. Interestingly, Churchill's choice of reading en route to the Conference was C S Forester's 'Death to the French'.

The Conference is not generally regarded as having been successful. It did lead to an inconclusive four-power summit meeting with the Russians at Foreign Secretary level in Berlin, but Eisenhower was extremely critical of Churchill's wish to pursue a dialogue with the new Soviet leadership, and was resistant to information sharing in the nuclear sphere.

There can be no doubt that Churchill relished reprising his wartime role on the international stage, but he was also motivated by a desire to break the stalemate of the Cold War and avert a possible nuclear war. Such an achievement would have crowned his career and established him as a great peacemaker as well as war leader. It was not to be, although several scholars have pointed out that the Bermuda Conference did set the precedent for future Cold War summits.

The Conference is being organised by the Churchill Centre, a non-profit organisation based in North America which encourages study of the life and thought of Winston Spencer Churchill. The Churchill Centre was established in 1995 by the International Churchill Societies, founded in 1968 to inspire and educate future generations through the works and example of Winston Churchill. Visit their website at winstonchurchill.org

Churchill Archives Centre preserves the papers of Sir Winston Churchill, purchased for the British Nation using heritage lottery funding, as well as some 600 other collections [see our Full Guide to Collections].