Presidential Papers, Doc#1679 Draft of letter to be read on phone To Aksel Nielsen, 9 January 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #1679; January 9, 1956
To Aksel Nielsen
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Draft of letter to be read on phone
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVI - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part IX: "Concerning my political intentions"; December 1955 to April 1956
Chapter 18: On "an almost normal schedule"

 

Dear Aksel: I know that you intend to come to Washington later this month, but I have just heard something that makes me feel that I should possibly write to you at once. Some one has just told me that he had seen Senator Millikin and that, if there is any validity whatsoever to judgment based on a casual meeting, the Senator is indeed a very sick man. This morning I learned that he is again in the hospital. Apparently his condition is actually--as well as by appearance--far from good.1

If anything should ever happen to Senator Millikin, his successor would necessarily be appointed by a Democrat Governor. Governor Johnson seems to be far from an extremist and I would doubt that he would appoint to the Senate anyone of that type of character.2 Nevertheless, I wonder whether some of your more conservative Democrat friends could not be ready, in the event of a tragic emergency in the case of Senator Millikin, to urge the Governor to appoint some reasonable type--possibly a businessman or noted lawyer.

I realize that none of my friends could try to dictate the individual, but I would think it possible to get some help in preventing the appointment of an ADA individual.3

1 On January 5 sixty-four-year-old Republican Senator Eugene D. Millikin of Colorado had been admitted to Emergency Hospital in Washington, D.C., for treatment of an intestinal ailment. Elected to Congress in 1950, Millikin had exercised strong leadership among the conservative Republicans. On this same day Eisenhower would send him a note of concern (AWF/D).

2 Colorado Democrat Edwin Carl Johnson had served as governor from 1933 until 1937; he had then been elected U.S. Senator from Colorado, a post he held until January 1955. In November 1954 Johnson had been elected governor again for a term ending January 1957. On January 6 Nielsen had met with Johnson to discuss the question of naming a successor to the ailing senator. In a January 9 memo to the President Ann Whitman would note, "Mr. Nielsen was ahead of us . . ." and said that he "will `push along' in the matter and keep in touch" (AWF/N, Nielsen Corr.).

3 On Eisenhower's opinion of the Americans for Democratic Action, an organization he associated with left wing members of the Democratic Party, see no. 1164.

Millikin's health would not improve, and by summer he would decide not to seek reelection (New York Times, July 26, 1956). In November 1956 Millikin's seat would go to former congressman John Albert Carroll, Democrat of Denver--a development that surely disappointed Eisenhower, who had earlier discussed Carroll's liberal political philosophy (see nos. 1164 and 1192).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Draft of letter to be read on phone To Aksel Nielsen, 9 January 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1679. 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/1679.cfm

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