<--PREV Doc #75  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #77 Document #76; March 12, 1953 To John N. Robinson Series: EM, AWF, Name Series: Biographies ; 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 2: "A number of misunderstandings": Party and International Struggles   Dear John:1 I have pursued one invariable rule with respect to any individual who chooses to write about me, my life, or those with whom I have been connected. This rule is that the individual is entitled to write about a public figure and that my consent is unnecessary--just as any objection would be invalid. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the courtesy you have shown me in making the request you do.2 However, in line with the policy I have outlined above, you may do exactly as you please. I think you will find the Department of the Army, Columbia University, and the many individuals with whom I have been associated during my life all ready to cooperate with you in producing the information and even the documents that you may desire. So far as I know, the only serious attempt at writing a biography of me was by Kenneth Davis.3 His book was entitled "Soldier of Democracy." In spite of the fact that he has a reputation as a pretty good writer, there are many things in his book with which I violently disagree. I just mention this because I share your opinion that most modern biographies are simply a compilation of tales and theories--normally they are not the result of honest research and evaluation. There is, of course, no need to think about such a word as censorship in connection with anything you write about me.4 In some instances my staff might be able to help you in determining the accuracy of various statements. No one closely associated with me would be authorized to act as a censor, even by indirection. I wish you every success, but knowing the subject of your project fairly well, I have great doubts! As ever 1 A Michigan native and one of Eisenhower's West Point classmates, Robinson had served in Europe during World War II and had retired from the Army as a brigadier general in 1949. He lived in Washington, D.C. 2 On March 10 (AWF/N) Robinson had written to say that he had seen a magazine sketch of Eisenhower's years at the U.S. Military Academy and concluded "that there was no really studied or adequate" Eisenhower biography. He planned to collaborate with a history and political science professor in writing "a much better work than any produced to date." He sought the President's permission to proceed. 3 At the outset of the presidential campaign (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 234), Eisenhower's friend and speechwriter Kevin C. McCann had published Man from Abilene (Garden City, N.Y., 1952). For further comments on Kenneth S. Davis's Soldier of Democracy: A Biography of Dwight Eisenhower (Garden City, N.Y., 1945) see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 601, and, in this volume, no. 105. 4 Robinson had promised that the authors would grant Eisenhower "all censorship opportunity before any publication." Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To John N. Robinson, 12 March 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 76. 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/76.cfm <--PREV Doc #75  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #77

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