January 1, 1970

Eventually a ‘Summit’ took place – the only one in Churchill’s time in office – at Bermuda in 1953. Churchill had suffered a severe stroke in June and the meeting, with Eisenhower and French Premier Joseph Laniel, had to be delayed until December.

Churchill’s hopes for the meeting are evident in this telegram.

But Churchill’s longed-for ‘summit’ had little effect. The US and many in his own British government weren’t well disposed to negotiation with the Soviets; the Berlin blockade of 1948–49 and the apparent Soviet instigation of the Korean War in 1950 made them take a much harder line against communism. And the Soviet leaders were resistant to détente (the ‘thawing’ of relationships) anyway. Churchill was fighting a losing battle. His health was failing and he finally had to admit defeat. It was to be one of his lasting regrets – that he had failed to achieve what he had set out to do.

Only a quarter of a century after Churchill’s death did summit meetings and careful diplomacy achieve what he could not; the end of the Cold War.