Word: edens
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...April 1955, an enfeebled Winston Churchill stepped aside. Eden had been waiting for this moment. But he was Prime Minister for only 21 months; ironically, a foreign adventure brought him down...
...threat of war involving all Europe mounted, Eden's dissatisfaction with the way Chamberlain was dealing with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy prompted him to quit the Foreign Ministry, thus jeopardizing a promising political career. "The essence of our actions at home and abroad must be firmness and courage," he said at the time. "All must be ready to defend it." After replacing Chamberlain in 1940, Churchill returned Eden to his old post as Foreign Secretary. At the fateful conferences of Yalta and Potsdam, which set the frontiers of postwar Europe, Eden was always at Churchill's elbow...
During the Labor government of 1945-51, Eden was the Tory opposition's foreign affairs spokesman. He emphasized the importance of the Anglo-American partnership and a militarily strong Western Europe, including a rearmed West Germany. Eden, though, was cool to West European economic or political integration. In one 1949 speech he declared, "If the U.S. and the British Commonwealth and Empire stand together and work together, there is no world problem they cannot solve. If they fall apart, there is no world problem that can be solved...
After Churchill returned to 10 Downing Street in 1951, Eden was again named head of the Foreign Ministry. It was one of the most successful periods of his long career. His role as co-chairman of the 1954 Geneva Conference, which ended the French involvement in Indochina, is described by Historian A.J.P. Taylor as "a beautiful diplomatic operation." That year Eden also found a formula for rearming West Germany that was acceptable to Paris. Labor's present Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey, lauds Eden for "an inspired piece of first aid, which held Europe militarily together...
When Egyptian Strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the Suez Canal in July 1956, Eden concluded that strong action was necessary to keep open what he regarded as the life line linking Britain to its Asian and East African colonies. He thus backed a joint British, French and Israeli invasion of Egypt in October. World opinion was outraged, as were many Britons; Washington was furious that it had not been consulted, while the Soviets threatened to send "volunteers" to help the Egyptians. Because of international pressure, the invading forces pulled out 21 days later. To escape blistering criticism, Eden...