<--PREV Doc #1927  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1929 Document #1928; July 25, 1956 To Edward John Bermingham Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVII - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part X: Cracks in the Alliance; May 1956 to September 1956 Chapter 20: Confronting "great risks"   Dear Ed: I know that it is difficult for you to realize how little time I have to give to the detailed study and thinking that are required to evaluate properly the kind of ideas that Mr. Makinsky presents.1 I always read his letters, and in nine out of ten cases then forward them to the State Department, usually removing any identification marks. In this way I get his ideas into circulation among people who are working hard on the matters he discusses, with a minimum of my time and energy.2 I think that his writing does do some real good, because while we frequently disagree with him violently, the mere fact of his presentation compels a closer study of the indicated subjects than otherwise might take place. When I knew him in Europe, I liked him. Consequently, should he come through here, I would have no objection to seeing him, but I would want him to know in advance that there would be no use in expecting to give me an hour's lecture or so on Europe and the Mediterranean. On the other hand, I could put him in touch with people in the State Department who would be more than delighted to hear his views--even though, as I say, there would be many of his thoughts with which they would not agree.3 With warm regard, Sincerely 1 Bermingham had sent Eisenhower a long communication he had received from Coca-Cola executive Alexander Makinsky, who was concerned about U.S. policy in the Soviet Union and the Middle East. Makinsky had criticized the U.S. stance regarding Soviet repudiation of the Stalin regime. By supporting the denunciation, he argued, the United States had actually consolidated Communist parties abroad. He also wrote about the "complete lack" of a Middle-Eastern policy "which, if continued, is the surest way to get us involved in a Middle-Eastern war. . ." (Makinsky memorandum, n.d., AWF/D-H; see also Eisenhower to Bermingham, July 12, 1956, ibid.). On July 23 Bermingham had sent an addendum from Makinsky. "He is bursting with news and ideas for the Middle East," Bermingham had written, "and is anxious to unburden his thinking to you" (AWF/N). The addendum is in Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series. 2 See, for example, nos. 1038 and 1039; see also Eisenhower to Dulles and Whitman to Adams, July 12, 1956, AWF/D-H; Eisenhower to Hoover, July 25, AWF/N, Bermingham Corr.; Hoover to Eisenhower, July 26, 1956, AWF/D-H; and Hoover to Dulles, July 27, 1956, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series). 3 Bermingham would not pursue a presidential meeting with Makinsky. "I can at any time ask [him] to fly over, without attaching undue importance to the suggestion, should you ever want him to talk with State," he wrote (Bermingham to Eisenhower, July 28, 1956, AWF/N). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Edward John Bermingham, 25 July 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1928. 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/1928.cfm <--PREV Doc #1927  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1929

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