<--PREV Doc #696  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #698 Document #697; January 29, 1954 To Daniel I. J. Thornton Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: 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 Dan: I understand that tentative plans are being made for another Governors' Conference in Washington. I am delighted at the prospect of meeting the group again, particularly while you are Chairman of the Conference.1 By the time of the Conference, the legislative pattern here in Washington should be evolving to the point that we can determine with some accuracy where our real difficulties will be. Of course, there are bound to be some.2 Right now, the so-called "Bricker Amendment" debate is occupying a lot of attention, primarily because there is so much misunderstanding both in the country and in the Senate as to the real issues involved. As I have so often stated, I will support any amendment that is designed to make sure that no treaty or Executive agreement can have any force or effect if it violates the Constitution. But I will not weaken the Federal Government in its task of providing for the nation's security and of carrying on the difficult job of strengthening our position abroad.3 While you are here I hope that you and I (and of course Allan Shivers) can get a chance to talk things over in a rather private and confidential fashion.4 It will be fun to get your reactions to the events and happenings of the past month. As you know, I have been having a series of stag dinners, all of them for non-governmental personnel (that is, elected personnel). They help a lot to keep me in touch with the thinking in the various sections of the country, but after all business and professional men do not normally represent the viewpoint of those who are deeply engaged in governmental responsibility. Incidentally, I hope that starting next January I can have a whole series of stag dinners to which I shall invite the Governors, the Republican National Committeemen, and a few others. It takes quite a time to get all the way around since I normally limit my guest list to fourteen.5 This winter I have asked a number of our Denver friends--mainly Cherry Hills members. There are one or two exceptions like Carl Norgren and Aksel Nielsen.6 Give my love to Jessie, and, of course, all the best to yourself.7 As ever 1 Governor Thornton of Colorado would chair the forty-sixth annual Governors' Conference on July 11-14 at Bolton Landing, New York. Eisenhower, who had accepted an invitation to address the governors, would cancel the engagement following the death of his brother Milton's wife, Helen E. Eisenhower (see no. 997, and New York Times, July 11, 1954). In August 1953 Eisenhower had attended the annual Governors' Conference in Seattle, Washington (see no. 288). For developments see no. 976. A draft of this letter, showing Eisenhower's handwritten emendations, is in AWF/Drafts. 2 When the conference opened in July, Thornton would predict that federal agricultural price supports would be the major domestic issue in the forthcoming elections (New York Times, July 11, 1954; on the elections see no. 1143). 3 In his reply of February 4 Thornton commented on Eisenhower's view of the amendment debate. "From out here," he wrote, "it seems that every columnist has put a different interpretation on your remarks and that every reporter has changed your mind many times. . . . I know that you will have no part of these so-called compromises" (AWF/N). For background see no. 656; for developments see no. 741. 4 Thornton would be in Washington to chair the White House Conference on Highway Safety from February 17-20. The President would address the opening session (New York Times, Feb. 18, 1954), but he, Thornton, and Texas Governor Shivers would not meet privately because the Eisenhowers would leave for Palm Springs, California, on the afternoon of February 17 (see no. 686). 5 Eisenhower would entertain the governors of the nation's states and territories at a White House dinner on April 26, 1954. 6 Eisenhower's old friends, Norgren and Nielsen, were ranch owners from Denver, Colorado. On the President's series of stag dinners see no. 323. 7 Thornton's wife, the former Jessie Willock. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Daniel I. J. Thornton, 29 January 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 697. 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/697.cfm <--PREV Doc #696  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #698

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