<--PREV Doc #328  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #330 Document #329; July 20, 1953 To Clark Wallace Thompson Series: EM, AWF, International 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 5: "So much to do in the world"   Dear Clark:1 Thank you for your memorandum on the subject of Panama Canal reorganization.2 Because of your prominent part in the adoption of legislation under which the Panama Canal was reorganized during the 81st Congress, you undoubtedly are familiar with the fact that existing organizational arrangements for the Panama Canal Company and Canal Zone Government have been in effect only a relatively brief time.3 Nevertheless, the problems to which you refer, both organizational and jurisdictional, have been matters of continuing study in the Executive Branch. The operations of the Panama Canal Company and Canal Zone Government, as well as a survey of the activities of the armed services in the Canal Zone, are currently undergoing personal on-the-scene examination by the Under Secretary of the Army.4 The Canal is regarded as part of our system of national defense and apart from our current survey of Canal Zone activities and certain forthcoming negotiations with the Government of Panama, no other actions are currently contemplated in the Executive Branch.5 I appreciate your continuing interest in Panama Canal problems and your offer to be of help. With warm personal regard, Sincerely 1 Congressman Thompson, Democrat of Texas, had served in the Seventy-third, and Eightieth to Eighty-fifth congresses. 2 In a memorandum of June 17 Thompson had suggested (1) that the operation of the Panama Canal be transferred from the Office of the Secretary of the Army to the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce, as recommended by the Hoover Commission, and (2) that an impartial commission be appointed to settle some of the questions that had "plagued the Panama Canal project since its inception" (AWF/I). 3 In 1950 Thompson had been a member of the House Subcommittee on Panama Canal Affairs, which sponsored a measure designed to reorganize the administration of the Panama Canal and its system of tolls by separating business operations and civil-government functions. The bill, signed by President Truman on September 27, 1950, became effective on July 1, 1951 (see Executive Order 10263, June 30, 1951, 16 Federal Register 6333, 3 Code of Federal Regulations, 1949-1953 Compilation, p. 764). 4 On June 17, Eisenhower had asked Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson for an analysis of Thompson's proposals (AWF/I). In a memorandum of July 15 Wilson rejected Thompson's suggestion that Panama Canal operations be transferred from the Secretary of the Army to the Department of Commerce. "Analysis of the [Hoover] Commission's report," Wilson wrote, "discloses that the Panama Canal Company-Government is not a transportation agency within the meaning of that term as it is used in the report" (Public Papers of the Presidents: Harry S. Truman, 1950, p. 140). Regarding Thompson's recommendation that an impartial commission be established to study U.S.-Panamanian problems, Wilson reported that ongoing, intensive study of the activities of the Panama Canal Company, the Canal Zone government, and the armed services in the Canal Zone had been conducted since July 1951 and that that fact, coupled with the preparations for September negotiations with the Republic of Panama, would make an "airing of the whole question of the Panama Canal . . . undesirable" (AWF/I). Wilson had included a draft reply to Thompson along with his report on the matter. For developments see no. 437. 5 Thompson had argued that the transfer to the Department of Commerce should be considered "unless it is intended that the canal shall be a part of the system of national defense." Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Clark Wallace Thompson, 20 July 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 329. 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/329.cfm <--PREV Doc #328  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #330

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