<--PREV Doc #438  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #440 Document #439; September 29, 1953 To Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. 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 Cabot: Thank you for constantly bringing me up to date on current public opinion.1 There are a number of excellent points in your report from the western states. In at least one area I think progress will soon be shown. I believe an excellent mechanism for disseminating information about the Administration has been worked out under Walter Williams' guidance.2 Much more, of course, needs to be tackled. I welcome your thoughts as to how we should proceed. With warm regard, As ever 1 On September 28 Lodge had sent the President a report that he said had been written by a person who had been doing "grass roots" work for him in the Western states since 1951 (AWF/A). Lodge's attention to public opinion was ongoing (see, e.g., Lodge to Eisenhower, Sept. 23, 1953, and Eisenhower to Lodge, Sept. 25, 1953, ibid.). The report Lodge had sent was titled "`Grass Roots' Report: Highlights of Second Public Opinion Poll in California." It had been compiled from man-in-the-street answers to the question, "How do you think President Eisenhower is getting along?" According to Lodge, some of the criticisms were debatable, but the emphasis on the Administration's poor publicity and public relations program was "worthy of consideration--and action." The report scored Eisenhower for permitting inappropriate publicity regarding his "overwhelming interest" in golf and fishing and for allowing Senator McCarthy's press to overshadow his own. 2 Under Secretary of Commerce W. Walter Williams served on the Advisory Board of Economic Growth and Stability. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., 29 September 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 439. 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/439.cfm <--PREV Doc #438  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #440

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