Documents / FOIA release
This is the Central Intelligence Agency's Current Intelligence Weekly Summary of 23 March 1962, a secret digest from the Office of Current Intelligence covering world events. It reviews Soviet foreign policy on Berlin, the Berlin air corridors, disarmament and a nuclear test ban. It also covers Algeria, Argentina's elections, the Congo, Laos, South Vietnam, Guatemala, food rationing in Cuba and Middle East tensions. Special articles assess Brazil under Goulart and Turkey's economic prospects. It contains no UFO material.
“Cooper”2 pages
Approved for Release: 2026/03/06 C03176167 a-\ ,sEc<R*ET CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY THE MACMILLAN GOVERNHENT'S POLITICAL PROBLEMS Gains by Britain's small Liberal party in recent by- elections point up the,public's disappointment with the lac- millan government's performance on a wide range of issues dur- ing the past six months. In four by-elections between 8 and 14 March, the Liberals cap- tured by nearly 8,000 votes a seat the Conservatives had carried by over 14,000 in 1959, nearly won another equally "safe" seat, and relegated the Conservative candidate to third place in one of the two seats the Labor party retained. The Macmillan government has been suffering less from any single issue than from a failure to radiate self-confi- dence and vitality. The American Embassy in London notes an appearance of "reticence, muddle, and inadequacy": reticence on the case for Britain's entry into the Common Market and on its policy re- garding the Rhodesian Federa- tion; muddle in fighting infla- tion and stimulating the near- stagnant economy; and inadequacy of top cabinet members, in- cluding Macmillan, to cope with pressing domestic and overseas problems. With Labor candidates barely holding their own, the by-elections provide further evidence that even with Hugh Gaitskell's moderates again in control of defense and foreign policy issues, the Labor party is failing to ex- ploit the government's short- comings. A party official recently admitted privately that Labor had not found a winning issue. On the momentous question of Britain's entry into the Common Market, the Labor party remains noncommité tal. The Liberals, however, benefited only from the protest vote against the government—— much as they did in 1958--and party officials recognize the vast organizational and finan- cial improvement needed before they can threaten the major parties when control of the government is at stake in a national election. While the government can take heart that the Liberals rather than Labor- ites have been gaining and that it need not hold a general election for another two and a half years, in the coming weeks it will be examining its stand on all issues partly with a view to reversing the voting trend in the five more by-elections due this spring, and it will be especially sensitive to popular (pressures during this timT. ( COHHON MARKET RELATIONS WITH AFRICA The six Common Market (EEC) countries are agreed that the 1957 convention which associates 16 African states with the EEC should be renewed when it ex- pires at the end of this year, but they still differ on the exact terms to be offered the Africans. This issue is ex- pected to come to a head in the next few weeks. Discussion of the vention has been under more than a year, with area of contention the advisa- bility of continuing the present arrangement for an EEC—African free trade area. France, sup- ported by the Africans, has taken the lead in insisting that exporters in the associated states continue to enjoy tariff new con- way for the major gem‘? 23 Mar 62 WEEKLY REVIEW Page 21 Of 22 b)(3 Approved for Release: 2026/03/06 C03176167
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 42 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.