<--PREV Doc #204  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #206 Document #205; May 22, 1953 To Herbert Brownell, Jr. Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953 Chapter 3: "A time for continued vigilance"   Memorandum for the Attorney General: Herewith a file of papers left with me by Mrs. Amen, daughter of President Cleveland.1 Among the papers are two decisions--one rendered by a Judge in the State of New York, the other by a Federal Judge. It appears that both of these decisions recognize the rights of Mrs. von Opel to certain holdings now in possession of the Alien Property Custodian. Mrs. Amen says that the Alien Property Custodian has now appealed the case and that the plaintiff is in desperate circumstances.2 I promised only that the proper legal department would begin a review of the case instantly, and that Mrs. Amen (or her husband, who has been acting as attorney without remuneration) would be notified of the identity of the individual who would be making the review. I assume that, in this way, the facts could be soonest arrived at. In any event, if you will merely have Mrs. Amen notified that everything is going ahead expeditiously, you need not communicate with me any further. P.S. I have not read any of the papers. 1 Marion Cleveland, the daughter of U.S. President S. Grover Cleveland (1885-89, 1893-97), was the wife of John Harlan Amen, former Assistant Attorney General of New York State. 2 At issue was the claim of Margot von Opel, a citizen of the Principality of Liechtenstein, that she was sole owner of 36,940 shares of stock that she said had been given to her in 1940 by her husband, Fritz von Opel. The stock had been seized by the U.S. government under the Trading with the Enemy Act (Von Opel v. McGrath, Attorney General of the United States, U.S. District Court, S.D., New York, June 10, 1952, Federal Rules Decisions, vol. 13, 1953, pp. 458-60). For developments see Margot von Opel, Judgment Creditor v. Fritz von Opel, Judgment Debtor, Supreme Court, New York County, Aug. 1, 1956, New York Supplement, 2d ser., vol. 154, pp. 616-21. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Herbert Brownell, Jr., 22 May 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 205. 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/205.cfm <--PREV Doc #204  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #206

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