Presidential Papers, Doc#221 To John Jay McCloy, 29 May 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
<--PREV
Doc #220		  |  Memorial Commission
Home Page		  |  First Term
Table of Contents		  |  Presidential Papers
Home Page 		 | 
Doc#
 |  NEXT-->
Doc #222

Document #221; May 29, 1953
To John Jay McCloy
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953
Chapter 3: "A time for continued vigilance"

 

Dear Jack: Many thanks for your promptness in sending me the memorandum of our recent conversation.1 I am studying it carefully.

I am delighted to have the copy of Sidney Smith's letter--and sad to realize the world hasn't changed a bit since 1823.2 Nor, apparently, have its inhabitants.

With warm regard, As ever

1 On the reasons for McCloy's May 26 White House visit see no. 216. The following day McCloy had sent a three-page memorandum (AWF/M: PF, Quotations) outlining points the President might wish to make to the press on the success of American cultural and informational programs in West Germany and West Berlin. "The notion that this program has been Communist-inspired or infiltrated," McCloy had concluded, "is sheer poppycock." Another two pages contained background material on German public opinion, quotations from Leopold Figl's April 15 letter supporting Theodore Kaghan as a "Democrat and anti-Communist," and an excerpt from a Bavarian radio commentator who had said, "McCarthy makes it so easy for the world to become anti-American that, for the sake of reason, gratefulness, and a just measure, it is time to raise one's own voice in America's defense and in the defense of those who trust its leadership."

2 At Eisenhower's request, McCloy had enclosed a copy of a letter the British economist Sidney Smith had written to the wife of the British prime minister in early 1823. "For God's sake don't drag me into another war. I am worn down and worn out with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind," Smith told Lady Liverpool. "The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am I to be the champion of the Decalogue and be eternally raising fleets and armies to make all men good and happy?"

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To John Jay McCloy, 29 May 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 221. 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/221.cfm

<--PREV
Doc #220		  |  Memorial Commission
Home Page		  |  First Term
Table of Contents		  |  Presidential Papers
Home Page 		 | 
Doc#
 |  NEXT-->
Doc #222
 


Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
1629 K Street, NW Suite 801
Washington DC 20006
Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464