Presidential Papers, Doc#403 Personal and confidential To Dwight Palmer Griswold, 5 September 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #404

Document #403; September 5, 1953
To Dwight Palmer Griswold
Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series: Brownell Corr. ; Category: Personal and confidential
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part III: The Space Age Begins; October 1957 to January 1958
Chapter 6: Building strength when there is "no perfect answer"

 

Dear Dwight:1 Thank you very much for your telegram concerning the prospective appointment of Charles Thone as Assistant United States District Attorney. I have just had a long talk with the Attorney General concerning the incident you describe and of which he had not previously been informed.2

You are, of course, completely correct in your statement that any attempt to keep books on past political history is silly.3 Ever since last January I have insisted that the personal pre-convention loyalties and convictions of individuals should be completely and wholly disregarded in the selection of capable personnel for public office. Some of the most important men in the Cabinet, as well as in sub-Cabinet posts, were enthusiastic supporters of Senator Taft, and they not only have my respect and admiration but my warm friendship. These views have from the beginning been shared by Herbert Brownell. In fact, he tells me that Donald Ross, whom he appointed as District Attorney in Nebraska, was a Taft supporter, but that this fact was given no consideration whatsoever.4

I cite all this in order to give some substance to my feeling that there is something behind the present incident other than what has apparently appeared on the surface. From all that you say I agree that Mr. Thone would perform brilliantly as an Assistant United States District Attorney, and I assure you that if the only reason that his appointment has been held up is because of his pre-convention convictions, that the Attorney General will take whatever action is necessary to straighten the matter out.5

Mr. Brownell is now on his way to Indianapolis to address the AMVET convention, but he will investigate the whole thing and be in touch with you as quickly as possible.

Again my thanks for calling this matter to my attention.

With warm regard, Sincerely

1 Griswold (A.B. University of Nebraska 1914) had served in the Nebraska State House of Representatives and Senate during the 1920s and had been Governor of Nebraska from 1940 until 1946.

2 In a long telegram of September 4 Griswold had appealed to Eisenhower for a decision on the controversial appointment of Charles Thone as Assistant U.S. District Attorney (AWF/A, Brownell Corr.). According to Griswold, Assistant U.S. Attorney General J. Lee Rankin had blocked Thone's appointment on the grounds that Thone had supported Taft as a delegate at the convention, thus causing a "serious rift" in the Nebraska Republican party. The twenty-nine-year-old Thone (LL.B. University of Nebraska), a veteran of World War II, had been elected delegate-at-large to the national convention, as well as presidential elector during the 1952 campaign. Currently Commander of the Lincoln, Nebraska, American Legion Post No. 3, he was past president of the Young Republicans of Nebraska and had been selected in 1952 as Lincoln's Outstanding Young Man. "To block Thone," Griswold said, would be an "insult to young Republicans and also to Taft friends" (AWF/A, Brownell Corr.).

3 "To me," Griswold said, "all this keeping of books on past history is silly and unwise. We should all be working together and preparing for [the] future."

4 Donald Roe Ross (LL.B. University of Nebraska 1948), newly appointed U.S. District Attorney for Nebraska, had served as Mayor of Lexington, Nebraska, since 1952.

5 Thone would not receive the federal appointment but would continue to serve as Assistant U.S. District Attorney in Lincoln, Nebraska, a post he had held since 1952.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Dwight Palmer Griswold, 5 September 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 403. 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/403.cfm

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