<--PREV Doc #4  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #6 Document #5; January 22, 1953 To William Henry Draper, Jr. Series: EM, AWF, Administration 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 Bill:1 Thank you very much for your letter of the 15th.2 I note that you have sent copies to the officials concerned. This insures that if any one should believe it necessary to make any changes in the present terms of reference, they would first come to see me. I assure you that nothing will be done without full cooperation with you. So far as I am concerned, I see no reason for any change whatsoever at this moment.3 The Inauguration is now behind us and I assume that you will have seen the text of the talk I made. I do hope that it will be satisfactory to those Europeans who are wise enough to see that they must begin to produce if America is to retain her enthusiasm in aiding them.4 With warm regard, As ever 1 Truman had appointed Draper U.S. Special Representative in Europe in January 1952 (Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 588). He and Eisenhower had spoken on January 11, before Draper returned by air to Paris. 2 After attending a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Paris on January 14, Draper had reported that the President's formal greetings to NATO Secretary General Lord Ismay and members of the council had met a warm reception. In transmitting that message, Draper said, "I stressed your continuing and deep interest in the success of NATO and the unity of Europe, including prompt ratification of a European Defense Community." The French ambassador to the council believed that the proposed protocols for the European Defense Community treaty "could be instituted shortly and completed without long delay." He also said, according to Draper, "that his Government believed ratification could be accomplished `within the letter and spirit of the Treaty.'" Draper's January 15 letter is in AWF/A; on longstanding plans for a European Defense Community, or EDC, see no. 28. 3 "I very much appreciate your being in accord that my terms of reference and the status of our organization here would remain as they are for the present," Draper had written further, "particularly during the period between now and the course of the NATO Ministerial meeting in April." In March of the preceding year Eisenhower had argued the need for a U.S. military representative in Europe whose role would parallel Draper's (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 719). 4 Eisenhower's inaugural address, stressing the "continuing challenge" that free nations faced, had placed emphasis on their mutual dependence: "So manifest in the commerce of peace," he said, interdependence "applies with thousand-fold intensity in the event of war." He further noted, "Only as free Europe unitedly marshals its strength can it effectively safeguard, even with our help, its spiritual and cultural heritage" (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 20 to December 31, 1953 [Washington, D.C., 1960], pp. 4, 6; see also New York Times, Jan. 22, 1953, and Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, pp. 100-102). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To William Henry Draper, Jr., 22 January 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 5. 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/5.cfm <--PREV Doc #4  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #6

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