<--PREV Doc #2058  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #2060 Document #2059; November 2, 1956 To Romona Frates Seeligson Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVII - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part XI: The free world's "sad mess"; October 1956 to January 1957 Chapter 22: On Suez "we do not see eye to eye"   Dear Romona: It was fine to have your letter--I was especially intrigued by your observations on the "Woman Power for Eisenhower."1 Whenever I have a moment of fatigue or discouragement on this job, my supply of energy and enthusiasm is always brought back in a hurry by the knowledge that so many fine Americans are working just as hard--though in a different way--for good government in this country. The twenty-four-year-old serviceman who signed himself "Jerry" really let himself go when he wrote his letter. It would be fun to meet him sometime.2 While I have passed some of his ideas on to one or two of my good friends who are making speeches this evening or tomorrow, I have been careful not to quote any part of this letter verbatim because its publication would be very much against existing law and regulations. Consequently, if some Congressman would want to conduct an investigation, the lad's identity would be discovered and he might be embarrassed. We are having our troubles in the Mid East, but I most earnestly hope that Mamie and I can run up to the farm or go down to Augusta (only an hour and a half away) for a period of time after election.3 The job of carrying on the government and a political campaign at the same time has been very wearing. It has been just about as tough on Mamie as on me because her schedule of activities and her volume of mail are both way up.4 My warm greetings to Arthur and the family, and of course best love to yourself, Sincerely 1 Seeligson had written Eisenhower that "If the response to our `Woman Power for Eisenhower' here is indicative of other parts of the country, everything should go right on election day" (Oct. 29, 1956, AWF/N). 2 Seeligson had enclosed a letter from a twenty-four-year-old serviceman, "Jerry," to his mother, an Eisenhower campaign worker. He wrote: "I don't have to ask you what you think of Stevenson's proposal on the H-bomb. He is the perfect symbol of his party--a `Jack-ass.'" "I am neither Democrat nor Republican," "Jerry" continued, "but, by God, I am an American which is more than I can say for that bald-headed snake from Illinois" (n.d., AWF/N, Seeligson Corr.). 3 The President would not go to Augusta until November 26 (President's daily appointments). 4 On Mamie's campaign letters see, for example, no. 1867; see also no. 2063. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Romona Frates Seeligson, 2 November 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 2059. 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/2059.cfm <--PREV Doc #2058  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #2060

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