Atlantic future: record of a conference held at ditchley park from 6 to 8 may 1963

In May 1963 there was held at Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, under the joint auspices of the Ditchley Foundation and the United States Information Agency, a conference on the Atlantic Future, of which this book constitutes the record.

General de Gaulle's 'No' to Britain's entry into the Common Market, combined with his attitude towards NATO and nuclear arms, had thrown the Atlantic partner ship into disarray. President Kennedy's policy had been based on the assumption of an increasingly united Europe which would form part of the Grand Design in an increasingly united Western world. The Ditchley conference therefore called for an urgent reappraisal of the prospects. It was addressed by four eminent Americans on different aspects of Atlantic relations, which were then discussed in confidence with complete frankness.

The Atlantic Future has been edited by H. V. Hodson, Provost of Ditchley. It contains the text of the four opening addresses, by Mr Edward R. Murrow, Professor John Hope Franklin, Dr A. L. Goodhart and Professor Walt Rostow; of responses by Sir John Cockcroft, Sir John Wolfenden, Mr Alastair Buchan and Sir William Hayter; and a full summary and analysis of the subsequent debates.

It is a provocative and stimulating contribution to thought on a sector of world affairs of crucial importance for people on both sides of the Atlantic.