<--PREV Doc #695  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #697 Document #696; January 28, 1954 To Franklin David Murphy Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries Series: Bricker Amendment 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 Dr. Murphy: I got a tremendous lift out of reading the copy of your letter, addressed to each member of the Kansas Congressional delegation. It is heartening to know that we still have citizens who take a good long look at some of these high pressure efforts and subject them to a little bit of common sense analysis.1 Of course I am looking forward to seeing you on the eighth. Possibly I shall get a chance to express my thanks in warmer and more intimate fashion.2 With personal regard, Sincerely 1 Murphy (M.D. University of Pennsylvania 1941), was chancellor of the University of Kansas and a member of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association. On January 26 Murphy sent the President a copy of his letter (of the same date) to Kansas Senator Frank Carlson on the subject of the American Medical Association's support for the Bricker amendment (AWF/D: Bricker Amendment; see also Murphy to Whitman, Jan. 26, 1954, ibid.). Murphy objected vigorously to the AMA's resolve to favor the controversial amendment (see no. 673). He said that he was "unalterably opposed" to the amendment, and that its passage would represent a "direct attack on the whole philosophy of the foreign policy orientation of President Eisenhower." In further correspondence, Murphy would tell the executive secretary of the Kansas Medical Society that he expected the AMA to "speak for American medicine on matters relating to medicine," but that he would "revolt" if the AMA spoke for him on any other aspect of American life (Jan. 29, 1954, AWF/D: Bricker Amendment). On this same day, in a telephone call to Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower discussed the "political atmosphere that has been stirred up" by the Bricker amendment; he pointed out that Murphy's letter was but one in a "stream of propaganda that passed across his desk--it is violent and unceasing" (Memorandum of telephone call, Feb. 28, 1954, AWF/D). For developments see no. 700. 2 Murphy would attend the President's stag dinner on February 8 (see Murphy to Whitman, Jan. 26, 1954, AWF/D: Bricker Amendment; see also President's daily appointments). On the stag dinners see no. 323. Murphy's February 11 note of appreciation is in AWF/N: Eisenhower Foundation. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Franklin David Murphy, 28 January 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 696. 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/696.cfm <--PREV Doc #695  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #697

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