<--PREV Doc #27  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #29 Document #28; February 10, 1953 To Alfred Maximilian Gruenther Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Personal and confidential 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 Al:1 This is not an answer to your Gruenther-gram.2 I am merely seizing a bit of time I have between appointments to satisfy a desire to write to you that I have been nursing for quite a while. I sent Secretary Dulles and Governor Stassen to Europe to further the same causes for which you and I have been struggling for the last couple of years.3 I wanted the European governments to be assured on an official basis that I had neither changed my personal views nor did I have any intention of denying the basic truth that only in collective security was there any real future in the free world. Along with this, I wanted them to know that I still felt there was much progress they could make in the political, economic and spiritual field--progress that in the long run would raise their standards of living even as it raised their defensive power. In other words, I felt it necessary for them to be reminded that the cooperative effort was bound to be weakened unless they moved definitely in the direction of greater unification.4 All this I wanted done in the most courteous and sympathetic way possible--consequently I asked my two associates to go over there and do it personally. At the same time I thought this would dramatize the government's continuing interest in the region. This seemed necessary after the publicized fears, inspired by my trip to Korea, that I would suddenly become obsessed with Asia's problems to the exclusion of Europe. Incidentally, I am constantly amazed at the way people, even mature, experienced individuals, allow themselves to be stampeded by commentators and irresponsible writers of editorials. If anyone of my European friends has ever found in anything I have ever said or done any reason to believe that my interest in Europe was not continuous, intense and sympathetic, and inspired by the realization that America's enlightened self-interest demands the closest cooperation in that region--then I should like to see such an individual point out to me the instance on which he bases his conclusion. Yet at the first appearance of a contrary statement written by some lazy individual who simply has to get out a few hundred words for the day, even old and good friends get uneasy and upset. I find that people in the State Department grow very long-faced and worried-looking when I mention any intention of writing to one of my friends in another country. They become fearful that I will be misunderstood or that my words will be quoted or that some person to whom I do not write may draw false inference by my indulgence of the personal desire to remain in touch with friends. However, I think I can without consulting the preachers of protocol ask you to remember me kindly and on a personal basis to such of my old friends as you may encounter. I do not mean merely those in SHAPE--but likewise in the several governments of NATO. There seem to be many changes going on in SHAPE, and I imagine that with every change your work becomes more difficult. I notice that Schuyler has left you--and a number of others.5 For the life of me I can't understand why you permitted Jimmie Gault to leave, but possibly Ridgway did not find him as useful as I did.6 The new civilian heads of the Defense Department will take some little time to get their feet on the ground and make up their minds concerning their future programs and the individuals they will select to be their close associates. I doubt that, except for Vandenberg's replacement in May,7 any other major personnel changes will take place before August, when both Bradley and Collins will retire.8 Of course the Defense officials can make changes any time they see fit, yet it will take them some little time to make their own decisions so I would not expect anthing much before that time. If you and Grace ever expect to take a leave and come over here for a visit, please give me as much advance notice as possible.9 We shall want you to stop over night with us, and of course I want to have a long talk with you. Give my love to Grace, and as always, all the best to you. As ever 1 Lieutenant General Gruenther, one of the President's oldest and closest friends, had served as SHAPE Chief of Staff during Eisenhower's tenure as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. Eisenhower had mentioned him as a possible successor, but Gruenther remained in this same post under General Matthew B. Ridgway (for background see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 3, 785, 855, and passim). 2 Eisenhower referred to a handwritten message on SHAPE notepaper, dated February 8 (AWF/A; see below). 3 In mid-January (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 1052) Eisenhower had notified Gruenther that he planned to send Secretary of State Dulles and Mutual Security Agency Director Harold Stassen to Europe to press the case for a European Defense Community. For background on the EDC, a plan to rearm the Federal Republic of Germany and integrate West German troops into a European army, see ibid., nos. 186, 304, and passim; on the stalled progress toward ratification of the EDC treaty that European ministers had initialed in May 1952 see ibid., no. 1016, and no. 5 in this volume; see also Brian R. Duchin, "The `Agonizing Reappraisal': Eisenhower, Dulles, and the EDC," Diplomatic History 16, no. 2 (1992), 201-7. Gruenther pronounced the appearance of Dulles and Stassen, who had left the United States on January 31 and departed from Europe on February 8, "all to the good"; he remained optimistic that the EDC treaty would obtain French ratification. "France is still a problem," he wrote, "but by no means hopeless." On the Dulles-Stassen trip see State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. V, Western European Security, 2 pts. (1983), pt. 1, pp. 706-17, and pt. 2, pp. 1548-78. The day after writing this letter, Eisenhower met with Dulles for a report on the trip, which also was the subject of discussion at the February 11 meeting of the National Security Council (ibid., pt. 2, pp. 1579-81). 4 European unification was a subject of serious interest to Eisenhower (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 252, 264, 710). 5 Major General Cortlandt van Rensselaer Schuyler, Gruenther's special assistant at SHAPE since 1951 (see ibid., no. 2), had assumed command of the 28th Infantry Division in Germany. 6 For background on British Brigadier General James Frederick Gault and his departure from SHAPE see ibid., nos. 53, 962. 7 General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg's four-year term as Air Force Chief of Staff had expired in April 1952; at that time, President Truman had extended his tour of duty until the end of June 1953. For developments see nos. 103 and 166. 8 General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General J. Lawton Collins, Chief of Staff of the Army, were due to retire on August 16 (see above). 9 Gruenther's wife, the former Grace Elizabeth Crum. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, 10 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 28. 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/28.cfm <--PREV Doc #27  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #29

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