<--PREV Doc #1570  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1572 Document #1571; September 1, 1955 To Ezra Taft Benson Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVI - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part VIII: Toward "statesmanship of a high order"; June 1955 to November 1955 Chapter 17: "Stern edicts" from the Doctors   Dear Ezra: I know that I am tentatively scheduled to see you in about a month, but I have been discussing casually a subject that I wish you would study and be ready to talk to me about.1 It is one which I know you have been considering for the past two years, so I assume that no special research will be required. The subject I am referring to is that of help to bolster farm income during this period of restricted production by increasing payments for soil conservation practices.2 It is possible we might have to have a law that would make these payments principally applicable where surplus crops are raised and to pay farmers for plowing under soy beans, building small dams, putting the land under cover crops and so on, in lieu of planting corn, wheat, cotton and rice.3 One or two of my friends are rather interested in this matter, and you may be getting some information and ideas on the subject from them.4 One of these is Tom Stephens, who, as you well know, used to be in the White House.5 As ever 1 The President was scheduled to meet with Benson on October 3, but Eisenhower's heart attack on September 24 would delay that meeting until the end of October (see no. 1595). Benson had left for Europe on August 28 and would not return until September 15. In a September 6 reply (AWF/A, Benson Corr.), Acting Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz would assure the President that department officials had been "giving serious consideration" to conservation issues "in an effort to explore desirable new legislative proposals when the Congress reconvenes" (see also Whitman to Morse, Sept. 1, 1955, ibid.). 2 For background on the Administration's interest in soil conservation measures (see no. 96). 3 In response to the persistent problem of crop surpluses and falling farm income, Administration officials began to discuss a new agricultural program in 1955. They developed a land retirement plan designed to foster soil conservation while reducing agricultural production (Schapsmeier, Ezra Taft Benson and the Politics of Agriculture, pp. 125-39). Eisenhower would continue to support soil enrichment programs, looking forward to their implementation by the summer of 1956 (Notes, Oct. 12, 1955, AWF/AWD). On the effort to create a soil bank see no. 1595. 4 See, for example, no. 1591. 5 Thomas Stephens had resigned as the President's appointment secretary on February 19, 1955, in order to resume the practice of law in New York. He would remain an active participant in Republican party politics and would return to his post in the White House in March 1958 (New York Times, Jan. 27, Feb. 19, 1955, Mar. 24, 1958). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Ezra Taft Benson, 1 September 1955. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1571. 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/1571.cfm <--PREV Doc #1570  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1572

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