Presidential Papers, Doc#10 To Sidney Williams Richardson, 28 January 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower

Document #10; January 28, 1953
To Sidney Williams Richardson
Series: EM, WHCF, President's Personal File 148

The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part I: Charting a New Course; January 1953 to April 1953
Chapter 1: Developing a spirit of teamwork

 

Dear Sid:1 When I came to Washington on the eighteenth, I heard you were about the city and I alerted two or three of my friends to ask you to drop in to see me on Monday, the nineteenth. Apparently they missed connections.2 After the inauguration excitement died down a bit, Jack Porter3 dropped in to see me and he informed me that you had already taken off for Texas.

Just exactly what I have done to cause you to ignore me I am not sure; permit me to suggest, however, that if you don't want to make a public call upon a Republican, you could at least drop in and see your friend Mamie. She has not turned politician.

If you are following your usual routine this year, I assume that you have already left Texas for California or for Florida. Nevertheless this note will catch up with you in time and bring you not only my regret that I failed to see you, but best wishes for a fine vacation season. I wish Mamie and I could take one too.

If by chance you are still in Texas, please give my very best to Amon, Sr.,4 and Amon, Jr., and their wives, and of course to Perry Bass and his nice family.5

With all the best, As ever

1 Richardson, a Fort Worth oil magnate and prominent Democrat, had been Eisenhower's friend and investment adviser for many years (Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 34, 104, and 815).

2 Replying from Los Angeles on February 17 (AWF/N), Richardson confided with a touch of humor that Eisenhower's "Republican friends" on the Inaugural Committee had neither delivered the message nor made Richardson's hotel reservations as Eisenhower had requested. "I used my time laying groundwork for you with my Democratic friends, Sam Rayburn, Lyndon Johnson and others; I thought that more important than bothering you while you were as busy as you were."

3 H. J. "Jack" Porter, another of Eisenhower's longtime Texas friends, had led pro-Eisenhower forces in that state during the Republican primary campaign (Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 659, 833). In 1953 he was a Republican National Committeeman from Texas.

4 For background on Fort Worth publisher Amon Giles Carter, Sr., see ibid., no. 35; on Amon Carter, Jr., see The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, vols. X and XI, Columbia University, ed. Louis Galambos (1984), hereafter cited as Galambos, Columbia University, no. 917.

5 Perry Richardson Bass, Richardson's nephew and office assistant (ibid.).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Sidney Williams Richardson, 28 January 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 10. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/10.cfm

 


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