Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-02-22
PORTRAIT OF Mr.. MACMILLAN
The VESTS Visitor to Moscow.

AHT
all costs the grand alliance must
be restored. He did much 70
achieve that restoration by his
early consultations and level talk
ing with Mr.. Eisenhower, at the
same time he did nothing to dis.
avow Eden or his colleagues. and
indeed by keeping Selwyn Lloyd in
ONCE showed what he thought OF
disloyalty.
Since then. he has proved HIM
self one of the most remarkable
domestic leaders In modern Brit
ish politics. uniting and strength
ening his party beyond the hopes
OF many Tories, Always a good
House Of Commons man. his
speeches (most Of which he writes
himself) and his conversations
have become more persuasive, more
inspiring of confidence, Whether
talking on television with Edward
r. Murrow, chatting over a pint
of mild and bitter in the local"
or answering a labor critic, he
makes sense, never gets ratified,
never raises his voice, He wears
calmness like a coronet.
AS Minister of Housing in q
Conservative government from
1858 to 1854 he organized the
building of over $4,000 houses, q
record task which his Socialist
predecessor, Mr.. Aneurin Bevan.
had found hard. Mr.. Bevan acidly
commented that under the cir
cumstances at the time ANY fool
could have done that Mr.. Mac
millan's ripoSte: Il know one who
didn't"
Like Mr.. Dulles. Mr.. Macmillan
likes seeing for himself. He is an
inveterate traveller, and has made
more trips than most Prime Min
listers in Office, including a thor
ough tour of the British Common
wealth, which he understands and
believes imperative to Western Sc.
curity. Even last Christmas he vol.
unteered to give up his vacation,
to share the hardships and listen
to the troubles of British troops
in Cyprus who were complaining
of their accommodation.
Is He Tough Enough?
But is he tough enough to deal
with Nikita Khrushchev? When
one meets Mr.. Macmillan, one
may be lulled into a false feeling
that here is a dear old woody dog
of the EdwarMan kennels; gen.
tleman one likes because of his
fashioned waiStcoats, club
ability, and courtliness; someone
to split a bottle OF port with at
Pratt'S Club, or find next to one on
the moorS during a country house,
weekend shoot. Behind that coun-
try squire affability turks a very
keen and political mind. The brairi
above the rather arch moustache
and arched eyelids does not miss
a trick, say his friends and foes
Revisiting Russia after 80 years
he says my principal purpose
will be to try to dispel miscof1A'
ceptions and to establish some
basis for better understandings 7
This may be a gooo example OF
British underStatement. At all
events, Mr.. Macmillan will only
acC for the grand alliance as he
sees it. Mr.. Dulles once quoted
remark on Anglo-American
habits after a conversation with
Mr.. Macmillan: With others We
negotiate. but among ourselves we
talk as partners. Perhaps it was
right that Mr.. Dulles should have
quoted it after talking with Mr..
Macmillan. 9
The Prime Minister is fond OF
cigars; but he went out the other
day aid bought a new pipe sfof
his Moscow trip. He can always
bite on it if the gong gets rough!
1t will be interesting to see what
a man who learned his philosophy
in the quadiangles of Oxford's
Balliol, on the battlefields OF
France and Flanders, and on
Britain's hustings, has to report.
Lying wounded in No Mans
Land in the first war, he was
eventually rescued calmly reading
AeschyluS in the original Greek.
Today he is still more apt to read
Macaulay than Vaughan. Mr..
Macmillan the politician believes
in the study of the past for its
application to the future. ''
But Khrushchev is meeting no
academic. The Prime Minister
won the name 'Mac-the- Bookie",
when, as Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, he introduced govern
ment-rum lottery to increase
national savings. He is also known
as Mac the-Knife" OF
his political astuteness. s3