<--PREV Doc #298  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #300 Document #299; July 6, 1953 To Sidney Williams Richardson Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal 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 5: "So much to do in the world"   Dear Sid: Thanks for your note. You give me a lift.1 In the next few days, a lot will happen on Capitol Hill or this current Session is going to be unduly prolonged. Legislation is slow business. Legislatures rightfully and properly take a lot of time to examine all sides of every question. But the trouble is that government has gotten so complicated and reaches into so many affairs that more and more time is required in working out suitable programs.2 So far as this phase of our development is concerned, we do not have the advantage of the Parliamentary system of government. As you know, in that system, the "administration" is part of the legislative body itself. It merely secures from the entire body of Parliament or Congress authority for pursuing certain general programs and expending certain amounts of money for them. Within those authorizations, the government works out details as it goes along. Thus the legislative process is less complicated and cumbersome than in our own country.3 However, I repeat that, in our country and under our system, the legislature simply must handle a lot of things that, in the Parliamentary system, it could afford to ignore. This means either some voluntary reorganization of our Congressional methods (specifically with more respect for party discipline) or it will mean that our Congress will have to remain in Session practically continuously. Whenever I write to you, I seem to get into some broad subject of philosophy or speculation that leads to nowhere in particular. Still, the assurance that you are always interested in every phase of our governmental-economic relationship gives me the comfortable feeling that I don't have to "plan" a letter to you. With all the best, As ever 1 Richardson had been a weekend guest of the Eisenhowers at the presidential retreat, Camp David, in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains (June 27-28). Writing on July 6, he thanked Eisenhower for his hospitality and added, "When I see you still have your sense of humor and your giggle it makes me have a lot of confidence in your being able to do the job ahead of you over the next four years" (AWF/N). 2 High on Eisenhower's list of measures for final action by the first session of the Eighty-third Congress were his request for the admission of 240,000 war refugees to the United States, statehood for Hawaii, extension of Social Security coverage, an increase in postal rates, authority to send American crop surpluses abroad, extension of the reciprocal trade program, establishment of a Small Business Administration, extension of the farm credit law, and an increase in the national debt limit. When Congress adjourned on August 3, Eisenhower could claim modest success for his agenda. Congress had approved the admission of 214,000 refugees in a three-year period. The national debt limit of $275 billion was not changed, but the foreign-aid bill passed in the closing hours of the session. The President was authorized to distribute $100 billion in surplus commodities for relief to friendly countries and to provide one billion tons of wheat for Pakistan. Congress also approved measures to increase farmer ownership and control of the federal farm credit system, renewed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act for one year, and created a Small Business Administration to manage lending functions of the abolished Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Set aside until the next session were Eisenhower's requests for statehood for Hawaii, extension of Social Security coverage, home rule for the District of Columbia, and an increase in postal rates. On balance, Eisenhower could be pleased with what had been accomplished by a Congress with a slim Republican majority in both chambers and a proclivity for in-fighting. Troublesome Senators McCarthy and Bricker notwithstanding, Eisenhower had seen through the confirmation of Charles E. Bohlen as Ambassador to Russia, the extension of the excess profits tax, an extension of authority to reorganize departments and agencies of the executive branch of government, a grant to coastal states of title to submerged lands, simplification of customs procedures, appropriation of $34.4 billion for Defense Department operations ($1.4 billion less than the President's original request), and restriction of funds for federal development of hydroelectric power. For further background on Eisenhower's record during this congressional session see his memoir, Mandate for Change, pp. 192-222; Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 11, no. 32, Aug. 7, 1953, pp. 1039-72; and New York Times, July 21, Aug. 4, 1953. 3 For additional background on the two political systems see Inter-Parliamentary Union, Parliaments (New York, 1963), pp. 4-10, 129-39, 143-45. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Sidney Williams Richardson, 6 July 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 299. 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/299.cfm <--PREV Doc #298  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #300

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