<--PREV Doc #57  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #59 Document #58; February 25, 1953 To Douglas McKay Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Secret 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   Memorandum for the Secretary of the Interior: I am very much concerned about the far-reaching effects of decisions pertaining to our reclamation projects and multiple-purpose dams.1 None that establishes or revises policy should be issued without my notification. There are several ways in which these matters are of the utmost importance to the country--and they are extremely important to the administration because in the public mind these decisions must represent the administration's thinking in this whole field of public endeavor. Each such decision must take into account several very important questions: (a). Is the project a vital need in the region where it is situated? (b). Is its immediate prosecution in accord with the purposes of the administration to achieve a balanced budget by confining expenditures to necessary purposes? (c). How will any decision affect public opinion as a whole? (d). Does the decision reflect the concern of the administration for the preservation and development of our resources, and at the same time the purpose of avoiding any undue governmental interference in matters primarily of local concern?2 Because of the very broad effect and character of these projects, I should like for you to arrange for their review, on a private and confidential basis, by a little group of which you, of course, would be the head. Other members ought to include the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, Mr. Dodge, and Dr. Hauge, of my office. Where serious legal matters are involved, the Attorney General ought also to be brought into it. By no means do I intend to question the competence or integrity of your staff. I simply feel that these matters are so comprehensive that some means must be provided for making an examination of any proposed decision, in order that I may be spared the necessity of doing this in person in each case.3 1 The Eisenhower Administration further refined its policy on those points late in the fall (see nos. 615 and 636). 2 For Eisenhower's position on the Tennessee Valley Authority see nos. 557 and 985. 3 In his reply (Mar. 2, 1953, WHCF/CF: Interior Dept.) McKay would say: "I am in complete accord with your views . . . and will immediately contact the gentlemen mentioned with a view of establishing a policy such as you have outlined." Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Secret To Douglas McKay, 25 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 58. 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/58.cfm <--PREV Doc #57  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #59

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