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British Prime Minister Macmillan Hits De Gaulle

Jan. 30, 1963 - Prime Minister Macmillan (pictured with President Kennedy last month) accused President de Gaulle today of “trying to dominate Europe” and of jeopardizing all the achievements of the Western world since World War II. Speaking of the French President and his government, Mr. Macmillan told the nation in a brief, recorded television address: “They seem to think that one nation can dominate Europe and, equally wrong, that Europe can live alone without friends and without allies.” The French “brutally” ended the negotiations for Britain’s entry into the Common Market, Mr. Macmillan said, “not because they were going to fail, curiously enough, but because they were going to succeed.” Britain’s purpose in seeking to go into the Common Market, the Prime Minister said, was to try to prevent the kind of “frightful internecine wars” that twice in his lifetime have torn Europe apart. In France, officials said today that President de Gaulle had expected the storm over the decision and is prepared to ride it out calmly. Aides quoted him as saying: “In a few months, when the present uproar dies down, they will see I was right again.”

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