<--PREV Doc #501  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #503 Document #502; October 30, 1953 To George Magoffin Humphrey 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 George: The President of the American Retail Federation visited my office to leave me some ideas on: a. Sales taxes b. Social Security c. Taft-Hartley On the first of these questions, I recommended that he see you, and he told me that he had a date with your office early next week.1 If you should like to see the memorandum, give my office a ring and we will send it over. Sincerely P.S. The subject of Social Security was brought up to discuss the scheduled increase in contribution rates. You will recall that, in my State of the Union speech last winter, I suggested that this increase be deferred; I believe the Congress did not act on that matter, but I assume that we are still in favor of the postponement.2 Is this correct?3 1 American Retail Federation President Rowland Jones, Jr., had met with the President this same afternoon. He brought with him a long memorandum on these three subjects, which he said represented the "position and attitude" of the American Retail Federation (Jones to Eisenhower, Oct. 30, 1953, WHCF/OF 122). On the subject of sales taxes, the retailers were "strongly opposed" to any broad-based manufacturers' excise tax. Regarding social security, they were "united" in their conviction that the tax rate covering federal old-age and survivors insurance should be frozen at the present rate of 1.5 percent of payrolls levied against both employers and employees. The Taft-Hartley law, they said, was "fundamentally sound" and "in the public interest." According to the Jones memorandum, its "greatest deficiency" was its failure to curb unjustified boycotts. For background on Taft-Hartley see no. 397. 2 In fact, Eisenhower had not recommended that the scheduled increase in social security contribution rates be deferred when he delivered his State of the Union message on February 2, 1953. On that occasion he said, "There is urgent need for greater effectiveness in our programs, both public and private, offering safeguards against the privations that too often come with unemployment, old age, illness, and accident. The provisions of the old-age and survivors insurance law should promptly be extended to cover millions of citizens who have been left out of the social-security system." He said also that his Administration had begun studies of appropriations and expenditures of all departments, looking for "significant items" that may be decreased or canceled, and that he would soon submit a plan "defining new administrative status for Federal activities in health, education, and social security" (Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1953, pp. 20, 32-33). It was on May 20, in a special message to the Congress on tax legislation, that the President recommended that the scheduled increase in the old-age insurance tax, effective January 1, 1954, be postponed until January 1, 1955. He explained that the postponement would reduce the tax burden on employees and employers and would not affect the administrative budget, because the old-age and survivors trust fund had reached nearly $18 billion (ibid., pp. 318-26). In a second action regarding changes in the social security program, on August 1 Eisenhower had proposed to Congress that some 10.5 million people be offered social security protection for the first time (ibid., pp. 534-36; for background see no. 26). Despite the President's urgings, expansion of coverage would be put off until the 1954 session. For developments see no. 525. 3 Humphrey's reply of November 5 would alert Eisenhower to the fact that some members of the House Ways and Means Committee were opposed to "freezing the Social Security tax." "We are hoping," he said, "to get agreement with everyone before too long because this certainly should be sponsored by the Republicans rather than the Democrats" (AWF/A; for background see no. 229). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To George Magoffin Humphrey, 30 October 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 502. 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/502.cfm <--PREV Doc #501  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #503

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