Harold Macmillan

Macmillan (Sir Maurice Harold), First Count de Stockton (February 10th 1894 - December 29th 1986). Order of Merit ( OM ). Scot. Politician, member of the Conservative party. Called " Supermac ".

Biography

Studies with Eton College then in Balliol College of the university of Oxford. Second lieutenant of the Pomegranate Guards in 1914, it fights on the Western face during the First World War. He takes part in particular in the battle of the Sum. Wounded three times, it is named honorary captain after the war.

Political life

Preserving deputy of Stockton-one-Tees of 1924 with 1945 (with an interruption of 1929 with 1931), it opposes the policy of appeasing of Chamberlain. He enters, in 1940, with the ministry for the Supply, and becomes, of 1942 to 1945, minister resident attached to the general headquarter in North Africa, in Algiers. In the cabinets Churchill and Eden, he is successively Minister for Housing (1951), Minister for Defense (1954-1955), secretary with the Foreign affairs (May-December 1955) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (name of the Minister for Finance) starting from December 22nd, 1955. January 14th, 1957, it succeeds Anthony Eden like Prime Minister. Like its predecessor, it is obsessed by the inversion of Nasser, considered as the sworn enemy of Great Britain, especially after creation, in February 1958, of United Arab Republic of Syria and Egypt opposed to the modes Hachémites pro-English of Jordan and Iraq. July 14th, 1958, the Kassem general reverses king Fayçal of Iraq. July 20th, within the framework of the " Macmillan" doctrines; , Great Britain sends parachutists in Jordan to prevent an coup attempt of state against king Hussein, while the Navy American unloads in Lebanon, where Camille Chamoun, the Christian leader Maronite must face a violent opposition supported by Egypt.

The British armed intervention in Oman in 1958-59 also fits in this policy of damming up. From July in October 1961, British soldiers station in Kuwait, threatened by the new Iraqi capacity which regards this country as a province of Iraq. It is Macmillan which transforms the wearing of Aden, under British protectorate, in a powerful base naval and air and in 1960 the general headquarter of the Command of the Middle East ( Middle East Command ) installs there. In 1962, it charges its minister with the Air and son-in-law Julian Amery to organize an operation of military aid to Yemeni royalist resistance in fight against the Egyptian troops of occupation. Under its mandate the British decolonization continues with the accession with the independence of Ghana and Malaysia in 1957, Nigeria in 1960 and Kenya in 1963. Mined by the veto of Charles de Gaulle at the entry of Great Britain in the Common Market, and weakened by scandals, in particular the “business Profumo”. He resigns of the post of Prime Minister on October 19th, 1963. He is decorated about Merit (OM) on April 2nd, 1976. February 24th, 1984, it is made Vicomte Macmillan de Ovenden and Count de Stockton. He dies on December 29th, 1986.

Macmillan is known for two of its political interventions. First of all, at the time of the electoral campaign of 1959, it declared " The majority of our fellow-citizens never lived as well as aujourd'hui". Mentioned in the newspapers like " You never lived as well ". (" You' ve never had it so good") this slogan became the leitmotiv of the countryside, gained by Macmillan. Indeed, in spite of continuity, for a minority, of a great poverty, the years 1950 and 1960 allowed a standard of living for the mass of ordinary people of which their parents had not dared to dream.

Secondly, the February 3rd 1960, Macmillan will make a speech in front of the white deputies of the South Africa. It will explain why a " wind of changement" (wind off changes) breath on the Africa. Without saying it explicitly, this speech suggests that the decolonization is inevitable, and that it is to better accept this irrefutable fact. Indeed, the leading class of the the United Kingdom succeeded in leaving colonization without a war of size such as the war of Algérie. Moreover, during the same speech, Macmillan will criticize severely the policy of Apartheid carried out by the South Africa since 1948 and this, contrary to its predecessors who tolerated it. These criticisms will result in to durably contract the relations between the two States.

External bonds

Biography on the site of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
{in} Wikipédia

Simple: Harold Macmillan

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