Presidential Papers, Doc#34 Personal and confidential To Edward John Bermingham, 17 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #34; February 17, 1953
To Edward John Bermingham
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal and confidential
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part I: Charting a New Course; January 1953 to April 1953
Chapter 1: Developing a spirit of teamwork

 

Dear Ed:1 Thanks very much for your letter about the American Assembly.2 Frankly, I simply haven't time to consider the problem at the moment. However, I have such faith in Phil Young that I have always been sure that he would find some real solution.3

Now you alarm me with the statement that Phil Young may soon be leaving the University. This is news--bad news. He has been doing an outstandingly brillant job and I think it would be tragic for him to leave there at the moment. For quite a while I considered the possibility of offering him a position in government; circumstances, however, did not so develop as to enable me to tender him a position that I considered worthy of his talents and his standing. Certainly I would not want to offer him anything less challenging than the position he now has.4

I cannot for one moment accept the contention that there is no one, except me, who can provide the inspiration and drive necessary to keep the American Assembly moving along at a useful--not to say rapid--rate.5 President Kirk, for example, could, if so minded, give the support to Phil Young that will be needed.6 Particularly, he could do so if any one of several trustees would help him. I think of Doug Black,7 Bill Paley,8 Arthur Sulzberger,9 and any one of the other younger trustees. Tex Moore would be excellent.10 Once these men clearly understood that people like your good self, McCollum,11 Mr. Dillon,12 and others took a real and growing interest in the project, then I am certain it would be a continuing success.

Of course, the whole study of the consequences of war, and particularly the avoidable consequences of lack of organizational preparation against war, is a subject of such complexity and importance that it could engage and absorb the attention and abilities of able men for a long time. There are a number of details that possibly should be changed, or at least perfected in the Assembly's program.13 But, all in all, I am certain that a material link should be provided and supported to bring together the academic world as represented in a great university and affiliated faculties from other universities, with the business community and industrial leaders of our nation. Fundamentally, this is what the American Assembly is supposed to do, normally focussing its work around some challenging problem of the moment. I am sometimes astonished that so many brillant and able men do not see how necessary it is in these troubled times to study these matters from all sides--the theoretical and the practical.

With warm personal regard, As ever

1 Eisenhower's old friend from Columbia days and a retired investment banker, Bermingham wrote often with political and other advice (Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 23, 783, 984, 992).

2 From his Alabama cattle farm, which Eisenhower had visited, Bermingham on February 12 (AWF/N) had spoken bleakly of the American Assembly's future at Columbia University. The Assembly, a yearly gathering of academics, government officials, business and industrial executives, and labor leaders to discuss a particular national problem, had $400,000 on hand and pledged. Bermingham said this was "an amount insufficient to operate as contemplated." Bermingham wrote that his talks with other key sponsors of the Assembly had elicited comments "all on the negative side--from `It's a dead duck' to `It must be kept a living institution, but how?'" For background on the American Assembly and Eisenhower's enduring interest in it see Galambos, Columbia University; and Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, esp. nos. 25, 47, 87, 202, 398, 721.

3 Philip Young, longtime dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, was executive director of the American Assembly (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 8 and nos. cited in n. 2 above).

4 "Likewise, Phil Young is likely to leave the University," Bermingham had written. "If that occurs the Assembly will wither, and that must not happen." The following month Young would leave Columbia for federal service (see no. 80).

5 "In my opinion additional funds cannot be raised as initially done," Bermingham had argued, "because without you the Assembly has lost its great inspirational factor."

6 Grayson Louis Kirk, vice-president and provost of Columbia University and acting president while Eisenhower served as NATO Commander, had succeeded him as president of Columbia in December 1952 (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 31, 155, 1005).

7 Douglas McCrae Black, president of Doubleday & Company and a Columbia University trustee, had actively supported Eisenhower for President (ibid., nos. 168, 470, and passim).

8 William Samuel Paley was chairman of the board of the Columbia Broadcasting System; for his interest in the American Assembly see ibid., no. 517.

9 New York Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger chaired the Columbia University board of trustees (ibid., nos. 114 and 184).

10 Maurice Thompson "Tex" Moore, lawyer and Time magazine board chairman, had urged Eisenhower in late 1951 to run for President (ibid., nos. 486 and 494).

11 Leonard Franklin McCollom, of Texas, president of Continental Oil Company and an ardent Eisenhower supporter, had contributed to the American Assembly and attended meetings of its National Policy Board (ibid., nos. 519 and 624).

12 A founder of the New York banking firm of Dillon, Read & Company, Clarence Dillon had counseled Eisenhower on financial issues during the presidential campaign and earlier had helped with fund-raising for the American Assembly (Galambos, Columbia University, nos. 1093 and 1142; Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 1032 and 1042).

13 Bermingham had suggested turning over the American Assembly "and its cash to the Ford Foundation or some similar philanthropic enterprise, and instead of trying to cover the waterfront in its studies to rename it the Eisenhower Institute for the Study of the Causes, Conduct and Impact of War." Bermingham had taken this title, he explained, from Eisenhower's own idea as expressed several years before. During Eisenhower's Columbia presidency he had laid groundwork for the university's Institute of War and Peace Studies, which had opened in 1952 (Galambos, Columbia University, no. 1056).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Edward John Bermingham, 17 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 34. 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/34.cfm

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