Harold Macmillan was born on February 20, 1894.
Maurice Harold Macmillan , 1st Earl of Stockton , -LRB- 10 February 1894 -- 29 December 1986 -RRB- was a British Conservative politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 19 October 1963 .. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Conservative. Conservative Party ( UK ). United Kingdom. United Kingdom. statesman. Politician. Nicknamed `` Supermac , '' he was known for his pragmatism , wit and unflappability .. Supermac. Supermac ( cartoon ). pragmatism. pragmatism. Macmillan served in the Grenadier Guards during the First World War .. Grenadier Guards. Grenadier Guards. First World War. First World War. He was wounded three times , most severely in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme .. Battle of the Somme. Battle of the Somme. He spent the rest of the war in a military hospital unable to walk , and suffered pain and partial immobility for the rest of his life .. After the war Macmillan joined his family business , then entered Parliament in the 1924 General Election , for the northern industrial constituency of Stockton-on-Tees .. Stockton-on-Tees. Stockton-on-Tees ( UK Parliament constituency ). 1924 General Election. United Kingdom general election, 1924. After losing his seat in 1929 , he regained it in 1931 , soon after which he spoke out against the high rate of unemployment in Stockton-On-Tees , and against appeasement .. United Kingdom general election, 1929. United Kingdom general election, 1931. appeasement. appeasement. Rising to high office during the Second World War as a protege of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill , Macmillan then served as Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Churchill 's successor Sir Anthony Eden .. Sir Anthony Eden. Anthony Eden. Anthony Eden. Anthony Eden. Chancellor of the Exchequer. Chancellor of the Exchequer. Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill. Second World War. Second World War. Foreign Secretary. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. When Eden resigned in 1957 after the Suez Crisis , Macmillan succeeded him as Prime Minister .. Suez Crisis. Suez Crisis. As a One Nation Tory of the Disraelian tradition , haunted by memories of the Great Depression , he believed in the post-war settlement and the necessity of a mixed economy , championing a Keynesian strategy of public investment to maintain demand and pursuing corporatist policies to develop the domestic market as the engine of growth .. One Nation Tory. One-nation conservatism. Disraelian. Benjamin Disraeli. Great Depression. Great Depression. post-war settlement. Welfare state. mixed economy. mixed economy. Keynesian. Keynesian economics. public investment. public investment. maintain demand. demand management. corporatist. Tory corporatism. Benefiting from favourable international conditions , he presided over an age of affluence , marked by low unemployment and high if uneven growth .. age of affluence. Economic history of Britain. In his Bedford speech in July 1957 he told the nation they had ` never had it so good ' , but warned of the dangers of inflation , summing up the fragile prosperity of the 1950s .. Bedford. Bedford. The Conservatives were re-elected in 1959 with an increased majority on an electioneering budget .. United Kingdom general election, 1959. In international affairs , Macmillan rebuilt the special relationship with the United States from the wreckage of the Suez Crisis -LRB- of which he had been one of the architects -RRB- , and redrew the world map by decolonising sub-Saharan Africa .. Suez Crisis. Suez Crisis. special relationship. Special Relationship ( US-UK ). decolonising. Decolonisation of Africa. sub-Saharan Africa. sub-Saharan Africa. Reconfiguring the nation 's defences to meet the realities of the nuclear age , he ended National Service , strengthened the nuclear forces by acquiring Polaris , and pioneered the Nuclear Test Ban with the United States and the Soviet Union .. National Service. Conscription in the United Kingdom. nuclear forces. Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom. Polaris. UGM-27 Polaris#British Polaris. Nuclear Test Ban. Partial Test Ban Treaty. Soviet Union. Soviet Union. Belatedly recognising the dangers of strategic dependence , he sought a new role for Britain in Europe , but his unwillingness to disclose United States nuclear secrets to France contributed to a French veto of the United Kingdom 's entry into the European Economic Community .. United Kingdom. United Kingdom. United States nuclear secrets. Nuclear weapons and the United States. European Economic Community. European Economic Community. Near the end of his premiership , his government was rocked by the Vassall and Profumo scandals , which seemed to symbolise for the rebellious youth of the 1960s the moral decay of the British establishment .. Vassall. John Vassall. Profumo. Profumo Affair. rebellious youth. Anti-establishment. After his resignation , Macmillan lived out a long retirement as an elder statesman .. statesman. Politician. He was as trenchant a critic of his successors in his old age as he had been of his predecessors in his youth .. Macmillan was the last British prime minister born in the reign of Queen Victoria , the last to have served in the First World War , the last to wear a moustache when in office , and the last to receive an hereditary peerage .. First World War. First World War. Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria