<--PREV Doc #418  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #420 Document #419; September 17, 1953 To Alfred Maximilian Gruenther Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series 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 Al: That fellow that spoke at the 1952 Al Smith Dinner couldn't possibly have stolen your thunder. As I remember it, his talk was not on the sound and fury side at all. Be that as it may, the 1953 [speaker] needs no ideas from me--that I well know.1 Incidentally, great pressure is being put on me to make an appearance at the Dinner to "honor Cardinal Spellman and General Gruenther." I don't see how I possibly can do it, but after I return to Washington I shall examine my schedule again.2 Thanks for sending me the jingle. It is highly amusing.3 Love to Grace, and, as always, the best to yourself, As ever 1 In a handwritten note from SHAPE, Gruenther had written of his forthcoming address before the Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner (Sept. 12, 1953, AWF/A). The preceding year's speaker had given a "super duper" talk, he said, but the "fellow stole about 90% of my thunder." "It would be very very fine," Gruenther went on, "if he--during his fishing reveries--would map out a new theme for me." That "fellow," of course, was Eisenhower, who had addressed the Smith Foundation in 1952 as the Republican presidential nominee (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 245). For background on Gruenther's invitation to speak in 1953 see no. 350. Gruenther would spend the weekend following his address to the Smith Foundation at the White House (see Gruenther to Eisenhower, Sept. 6, 1953, and Eisenhower to Gruenther, Sept. 10, 1953, AWF/A; see also President's daily appointments). For developments see no. 468. 2 See, for example, no. 413. The President was currently vacationing in Denver, Colorado (see nos. 383 and 386). 3 Gruenther had enclosed an article from the September 11 New York Times giving an account of an episode between Gruenther and a Scottish intelligence officer. Having read an advertisement in the London Times for a tutor to teach Scottish to an "intelligent parrot," Gruenther sent the ad and a letter of recommendation to the Scot, who replied in doggerel. The verse concluded with: I used to believe that intelligence Meant life under spurious names, With a certain admixture of smelly gents And a wealth of adorable dames. Alas, that illusion has vanished I see it was wholly absurd; But I'm damned if I want to be banished From SHAPE to teach Scotch to a bird. And I now go on record that never Do I want to abandon Bob Schow For a parrot, which, if it were clever, Would be talking Scotch anyway now. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, 17 September 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 419. 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/419.cfm <--PREV Doc #418  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #420

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