<--PREV Doc #688  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #690 Document #689; January 26, 1954 To Edward John Bermingham Series: EM, AWF, Name Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part IV: "Pushing ahead along the broad center"; December 1953 to March 1954 Chapter 8: A world "racing toward catastrophe"   Dear Ed: I have both your letters of the twenty-third. Jerry Persons tells me that he is working on the two matters of which you spoke to him.1 All of us share your enthusiasm for George Murphy.2 I for one would certainly be delighted if we could find a way to integrate him more closely into the staff family. Be sure to give me plenty of notice before Mr. Hixon traps the quail.3 Because I am not at the farm myself, I will have to make sure that someone supervises their release on the property. I would be extremely grateful to Mr. Hixon if he would send to me, a couple of weeks before the birds are shipped, a fairly comprehensive set of circumstances. I will have Bob Schulz or someone else make certain that our farmer up at Gettysburg is properly informed as to procedures.4 I am deeply obligated to you for your courtesy, and through you I am also grateful to Mr. Hixon. With warm regard, As ever 1 Eisenhower had met with Persons this morning to discuss problems of leadership in the Republican National Committee and the need for restructuring; Bermingham had written about this situation in his first letter of the twenty-third (AWF/N). 2 Bermingham had proposed including Hollywood actor George Lloyd Murphy, Republican State Chairman in California and director of public relations at MGM Studios, on the White House staff. He had suggested this once before (see no. 561). Murphy, who had organized the entertainment at the 1953 Inauguration and would do so again in 1956, had long been active in Republican politics. During the 1952 campaign he had enlisted Hollywood celebrities for appearances at political rallies and had instructed Republican candidates on television techniques. 3 Bermingham, responding to Eisenhower's expressed interest in stocking quail on his Gettysburg farm, had sought advice from C. Graham Hixon, Fish and Game Director in Alabama. Because "raised quail" could prosper, Hixon advised trapping cock birds and hens before mating season and sending them to the Gettysburg farm (Bermingham to Eisenhower, Jan. 23, 1954; Hixon to Bermingham, Jan. 23, Feb. 1, 1954, AWF/N). "What fun this is going to be," Bermingham would write on February 4, but on February 8 Eisenhower would notify him that Pennsylvania authorities had advised him that it would be a "waste of time and money to try to stock the Gettysburg farm with southern quail" (AWF/N). 4 See the following document. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Edward John Bermingham, 26 January 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 689. 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/689.cfm <--PREV Doc #688  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #690

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