<--PREV Doc #40  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #42 Document #41; February 18, 1953 To Charles M. Cooke, Jr. Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series: NSC ; Category: Personal 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 Savvy:1 Thanks for your good letter.2 I, too, am sorry that we did not have an opportunity for a little talk on my way back from Korea but, as you know, my stop on the West Coast was a very brief one.3 I am in full and complete agreement with everything you said in your letter about the National Security Council. I look upon the Council as the most important single agency in the Executive Department and, like you, I do not believe it has had the staff and prestige to do its job in the past.4 With this in mind, I gave a good deal of thought to finding a man to head the senior staff who would have the stature, experience and ability to energize the operation and command the respect and cooperation of the Cabinet and the military services. I think we have such a man in Robert Cutler, who is presently assigned as my personal assistant for National Security Council matters.5 I am in close daily touch with Cutler and, despite our newness here and the complexities of the security field, I feel that he is getting hold of the situation quickly and well. Again, my thanks for making your views available to me. I certainly hope you can come in to see me next time you are in Washington. With personal regard and good wishes. Sincerely 1 During World War II Admiral Cooke had served as the Navy's Chief Planning Officer and thus played a part in assembling U.S. naval gunfire support for the D-day landings (see nos. 1547 and 1592 in The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower [Baltimore, 1970-], vols. I-V, The War Years, ed. Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. [1970], hereafter cited as Chandler, War Years). He was now retired and living in Sonoma, California. 2 Americans "demand at this time that the United States wrest the initiative from the Communists," Cooke had written February 10. For his other suggestions see n. 4 below. 3 Eisenhower had paid a fact-finding visit to the Korean front the preceding December (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 1001 and 1003). The night of December 13, on the return leg of the trip, his aircraft had refueled at Travis Air Force Base, near Oakland, California. 4 "I feel that the National Security Council has not since its establishment provided the service to the country that was expected of it by its sponsors," Cooke wrote. "This is a fault partly of organization, but mostly of the selection of staff personnel." 5 On Cutler see nos. 8 and 23. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Charles M. Cooke, Jr., 18 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 41. 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/41.cfm <--PREV Doc #40  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #42

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