Presidential Papers, Doc#541 To Walter Philip Reuther, 12 November 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #541; November 12, 1953
To Walter Philip Reuther
Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries 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 7: Beef and Budgets

 

Dear Mr. Reuther:1 To the Fifteenth Constitutional Convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, I extend greetings and good wishes.2

When I last addressed a CIO Convention, I came to thank you for your magnificent performance in World War II in supplying the planes and tanks and ships and arms.3 You did your job, and you did it well.

Unfortunately, peace and freedom did not come to the world when the guns fell silent. America is still dedicated to achieving them. I know that American labor holds to that dedication. Proof is abundant that those of you who are today employed in plants supplying our Army, Navy, and Air Force and the armed forces of our Allies, have lost none of the spirit which in wartime was so magnificent. The maintenance of peace in the world depends directly upon America's ability to produce the material to give an aggressor pause. The productive might of America is the greatest bulwark of world peace. I know that leaders and members of American labor will never forget that fact. Your future and the future of your unions, in common with all free American institutions, will be determined by our ability further to strengthen our country in the uncertain period ahead.

I am glad the Secretary of Labor of the United States, the Honorable James P. Mitchell, can be with you for the Convention. I have selected him to be a member of my Cabinet because of his ability, his integrity, and his unreserved dedication to the public good.4 Already, in the few weeks he has served, he has impressed his colleagues in the Cabinet with his thorough understanding of the problems of labor, and with his determination to see that the aspirations and needs of working men and women are fully and forcefully represented at the highest level of government. Before he left for your Convention, I asked him to report back to me your ideas on matters of legislation and public policy.

I know you have a vital interest in the Taft-Hartley Act. I have previously stated my conviction that this law, while fundamentally sound, should be changed in some respects.5

For months, members of the Administration have been engaged in a searching study of the Act. Our objective is to recommend improvement in order to make possible a more free and vigorous collective bargaining process, to reduce government intervention in labor-management relations, and to promote sound and peaceful industrial relationships so essential to the economic well-being of American working men and women and to the welfare of all elements of our nation.

I shall submit the resulting suggestions to the Congress when it convenes in January.6 In formulating these suggestions, our guide will be the fundamental principle that the law must be absolutely fair to the laboring men and women of this nation, to management, and to the public at large.

Our nation's goal is world peace. We are endowed by the Creator with a bounty envied by all the earth. Our greatest resources are in the spirit and the ideals of our people. Counted in these is our tradition for composing group differences in the broad public interest. I commend that tradition to you and to those with whom you deal as you pursue your deliberations in this period which, with God's help, future historians will be able to mark as a time of triumph for the values of free men everywhere.7 Sincerely

1 Reuther, president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, had exchanged congratulatory letters with Eisenhower in early December 1952. The President-elect had selected union leader Martin P. Durkin as Secretary of Labor the same week Reuther was elected president of the CIO (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, p. 1454). A report Reuther would issue on the eve of the 1953 CIO convention, however, was testament to the chilled relations between organized labor and the Administration in the wake of Durkin's September resignation. The report charged that under Republican influence the federal government had become "a subordinate ally of big business, while disenfranchised groups, such as labor, had been kicked out or left bound and gagged in the abandoned attics of government." On Eisenhower's "middle of the road" policy, Reuther said: "Most of these men and women would have difficulty recognizing the `middle of the road.' They are, instead, driving their Cadillacs down the right-hand sidewalk--and the poor pedestrians are forced to scatter for safety" (New York Times, Nov. 16, 1953). On Durkin's resignation see nos. 409 and 457.

2 Eisenhower would send this message by air-mail, special delivery, in contrast to the personal delivery of his September message to the American Federation of Labor convention by Vice-President Nixon (New York Times, Nov. 17, 1953).

3 As Army Chief of Staff, Eisenhower had been warmly received by the CIO convention of November 20, 1946, particularly when he discussed the United Nations and foreign policy. At the conclusion of Eisenhower's speech, CIO President Philip Murray had told him, "Every man and woman in this hall is a friend of yours" (ibid., Nov. 21, 1946; Galambos, Chief of Staff, no. 1191, n. 3).

4 Reuther had praised Eisenhower's October 8 appointment of Mitchell, who seemed to subscribe to a moderate, rather than confrontational, approach to organized labor. Reuther had cautioned, however, that "the goodwill that Mr. Mitchell brings to this office will be of little value unless it is matched by support from the Administration and from Congress" (New York Times, Oct. 9, 1953). For background on Mitchell's appointment see no. 457.

5 For background on Eisenhower's Taft-Hartley position see nos. 397 and 457. At the convention Mitchell would, for the first time, publicly state his views on the Taft-Hartley Act. Like Eisenhower, he opposed its outright repeal; he would tell the delegates that only if people acknowledge that much of Taft-Hartley was "sound, firm and just" could the act then be improved. Mitchell's remarks met total silence, and the following day the CIO unanimously passed a resolution supporting Taft-Hartley's repeal (New York Times, Nov. 19, 20, 1953).

6 Eisenhower would propose a series of amendments to the Taft-Hartley Act in a January 11 message to Congress (see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1954, pp. 40-44). For further developments see nos. 604 and 670.

7 Eisenhower's message would be read aloud at the opening session of the CIO convention on November 16. None of the seven hundred delegates applauded. The CIO would unanimously reelect Reuther as president on November 20. In his acceptance speech, he said that the United States had the tools to create unlimited abundance, but "if they are geared only to the stock market and to the narrow interests of the stupid, selfish men who are now running our Government, these tools will dig our grave and the grave of the free world" (New York Times, Nov. 17, 21, 1953).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Walter Philip Reuther, 12 November 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 541. 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/541.cfm

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