<--PREV Doc #1068  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1070 Document #1069; September 21, 1954 To Robert Cutler Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series, Smith Corr. ; Category: Teletype The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part VI: Crises Abroad, Party Problems at Home; September 1954 to December 1954 Chapter 132: Asia: A "boiling kettle of possible trouble"   Dear Bobby: I am truly distressed that I cannot be with you and other friends of Bedell Smith's at the dinner you will give him on the SEQUOIA this evening.1 I doubt that there is among you any other individual who has leaned on him as long and as definitely as I have. I would indeed be hard pressed if I were forced to answer the question as to whether my admiration for his skill and talents is as great as my affection for him as a friend. A very great soldier of France once assured me that my place in military history was secure since the only requisite for an enduring spot in the history of battles was wisdom in selecting a Chief of Staff. He went on to say that no one in World War II was quite as wise, or at least as fortunate, as I in this regard. And of this circumstance I would of course be forever the beneficiary.2 Bedell has already assured me that your party this evening does not signify a farewell, but only a change in our particular kind of association. I am sure that he already understands that through some means, however devious, we will find ways of profiting from his wisdom, his dedication, and his sense of humor. Please convey to him and to all present this evening my very best wishes and affectionate regard.3 1 On September 14 (AWF/A, Smith Corr.) Cutler had written Eisenhower in Denver to request a message to be read at a farewell dinner honoring Walter Bedell Smith, who had resigned in August as Under Secretary of State (see also Cutler's verse to Smith, Sept. 22, 1954, ibid.). The dinner, scheduled on September 22, would be held aboard the Secretary of the Navy's official yacht, the U.S.S. Sequoia. On Smith's resignation see no. 1028. On the Eisenhowers' vacation see no. 888. 2 See no. 1426. 3 On October 5 (AWF/D-H) the President would send a similar letter to Foster Dulles to be read at Smith's birthday dinner (a draft of the message in is AWF/Drafts; see also Dulles to Eisenhower, Oct. 6, 1954, AWF/D-H). Smith's October 7 thank you letter to Eisenhower is in AWF/A. Smith would attend the President's October 27 stag dinner. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Teletype To Robert Cutler, 21 September 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1069. 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/1069.cfm <--PREV Doc #1068  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1070

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