<--PREV Doc #1317  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1319 Document #1318; February 28, 1955 To John Foster Dulles Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series ; Category: Memorandum. Eyes only. Secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVI - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part VII: "Nothing could be worse than global war"; January 1955 to May 1955 Chapter 14: "We must show no lack of firmness"   I would be very grateful for your comment on my draft of message for Governor Stassen which follows, before I send it to him.1 "You are aware of my conviction that some individual, on behalf of the President and the State Department, must develop within the Administration2 a firm and single basic policy toward the great question of disarmament.3 I feel that such an individual must not only be a coordinator and a spokesman within the Administration, but must also spearhead efforts to inform and instruct the American people in the basic factors affecting this vital subject. "Assuming that the FOA as such is to disappear from our governmental structure, how would you feel toward undertaking this complicated job--serving as my special assistant for the purpose?4 I have come to the conclusion that I should make some reasonably early announcement along this line, and I send you this cable because I want to approach no one else until I learn of your feelings in the matter."5 1 Eisenhower would send this message to Secretary Dulles in Saigon, where he was en route to the Bangkok meeting of the Council of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. For background on the termination of the Foreign Operations Administration and on this effort to appoint FOA Director Harold Stassen to a new position see no. 1271. Dulles would "thoroughly approve" of the message and suggest several "editorial changes" (Dulles to Eisenhower, Mar. 1, 1955, AWF/A; for the message as sent see Eisenhower to Stassen, Mar. 1, 1955, ibid.). 2 At this point Eisenhower would add the words "and the nation and also before the world," as Dulles had suggested. 3 Dulles had recommended that the word "great" be eliminated from this sentence and that a new sentence, "This is the problem which the peoples of all the world demand we should solve and the U.S. must assume leadership," should follow. These changes would be made. 4 At Dulles's suggestion, Eisenhower would remove the word "complicated" and add a new sentence: "The magnitude and complexity of the task are such that I think we should make it the primary responsibility of someone of Cabinet rank." 5 Stassen would reply from Karachi, Pakistan, where he was on an annual inspection tour of foreign operations. "As you are aware my basic inclination is to accept any responsibility which you decide you wish me to carry and then to endeavor to fulfill it in the manner you desire to have it conducted," Stassen would reply. "This personal guideline flows both from my deep devotion to you and your objectives and from my understanding of the full measure of the responsibility which you, as President, shoulder for our country and for mankind. This concept of mine certainly applies to the development of policy on the question of disarmament which you describe and which I have studied for many years." Stassen would ask to defer his decision, however, until after meeting with Eisenhower (Stassen to Eisenhower, Mar. 3, 1955, ibid.; see also Eisenhower to Stassen, Mar. 3, 1955, ibid; and Stassen, Eisenhower: Turning the World Toward Peace, pp. 275-82). For developments see no. 1348. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Memorandum. Eyes only. Secret To John Foster Dulles, 28 February 1955. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1318. 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/1318.cfm <--PREV Doc #1317  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1319

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