Prime Minister Perry Christie will be in attendance on Friday, December 21, 2012, at the re-installation of a monument plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of United States President John F. Kennedy’s visit to The Bahamas.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration the Hon. Fred Mitchell and US Embassy officials including John Dinkleman, Charge D’Affaires will also be in attendance.
The Bahamas is remembered for being the place on December 22, 1962, where the Nassau Agreement was concluded. United States President John F. Kennedy and British Minister Harold Macmillan negotiated the treaty over three days.
After the talks, the leaders of the two countries announced the formation of a multilateral North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nuclear force.
The agreement meant that the U.S. would sell Polaris missiles to the United Kingdom. Polaris was a two-stage solid-fuelled rocket system, designed to be fired underwater from a submarine. It carried a one half megaton nuclear warhead with a speed reaching as much as 17,500 mph (28,160 kph).
The British Government would construct the submarines and develop warheads for Polaris with technical support from the U.S. and the United Kingdom was to lease the Americans a nuclear submarine base in the Holy Loch, near Glasgow.
At the end of the summit, the two leaders issued a joint statement.
In it, Prime Minister Macmillan made it clear that Polaris missiles would be used for the international defence of NATO countries, except where Britain’s “supreme national interests are at stake”.
The installation is being organised by The Bahamas’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Embassy. The original site of the monument, Blake Road and West Bay Street along with the monument were refurbished where this ceremony will be re-enacted.
By Bahamas Information Services
