<--PREV Doc #50  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #52 Document #51; February 20, 1953 To Clarence Douglas Dillon Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series 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 Mr. Dillon:1 Thank you very much for your note of the sixteenth.2 I have every confidence that you will carry out your duties as Ambassador to France with great credit and distinction. I suppose the Secretary of State has already told you of my hope that you will be able to establish Paris, informally, as a central meeting point for you, Dr. Conant3 and Mr. Aldrich4--and perhaps Mrs. Luce.5 I think it important that our Ambassadors to these capitals should meet regularly to discuss mutual problems--perhaps, at first, as often as once every two months.6 With every good wish to you in this new assignment. Sincerely 1 Dillon (A.B. Harvard 1931) had served in the Navy in World War II and since 1946 been chairman of the board of Dillon, Read & Co. He was the son of Clarence Dillon. During the 1952 campaign in his home state of New Jersey Clarence Douglas Dillon had been an active supporter of the General. In early January reports had circulated that Dillon, experienced in international finance, might be Eisenhower's choice as U.S. Ambassador to France. The President nominated him to that post on February 16 (New York Times, Jan. 10, Feb. 17, 1953). 2 Writing Eisenhower in longhand on Shoreham Hotel stationery (AWF/A), Dillon had acknowledged the "great responsibilities" of the ambassadorship to France and had indicated that he would do his "utmost to carry out my duties in a manner that will reflect credit on you, on Foster Dulles and on the nation." On the twenty-seventh the Senate would confirm Dillon, who would be sworn into office at the State Department the same day. 3 As president of Harvard University and a leader of the American Chapter of the Committee on the Present Danger, James Bryant Conant had worked with Eisenhower on peacetime planning for wartime manpower (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 242, 702, 870). Eisenhower had named him U.S. High Commissioner for Germany in mid-January. 4 U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Winthrop Williams Aldrich. 5 On February 7 Eisenhower had nominated Clare Boothe Luce to be U.S. Ambassador to Italy. A two-term congresswoman from Connecticut and in 1952 a candidate for that state's Republican nomination to the Senate, Luce had helped to organize the National Committee for Eisenhower. Her husband, Henry Robinson Luce, was publisher of Time, Life, and Fortune magazines. Mrs. Luce would be sworn into office in early March (Galambos, Columbia University, no. 542; Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 652 and 918). For developments see no. 167. 6 Dulles reported such a meeting late in the summer and noted plans for another one in September, at a gathering of European Defense Community countries in Luxembourg. "I mention this to you," he wrote the President, "as I know your interest in meetings of this type" (Dulles to Eisenhower, Aug. 1, 1953, AWF/D. See also State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. V, Western European Security, pt. 1, p. 808). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Clarence Douglas Dillon, 20 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 51. 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/51.cfm <--PREV Doc #50  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #52

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