Presidential Papers, Doc#699 Personal and confidential To Sigurd Stanton Larmon, 1 February 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #699; February 1, 1954
To Sigurd Stanton Larmon
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal and confidential
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 9: Fending off "the reactionary fringe"

 

Dear Sig: You may be perfectly certain that I understand your situation fully; in fact I am sympathetic to it and agree with your conclusions.1

Now I want to ask you something else. I am constantly beset by people who say to me in effect, "The accomplishments of this Administration are simply unknown to the people. There is a fine record to tell and it is not told. There are many ways to tell it, including Presidential chitchats on the television, Congressional speeches on the floor, the normal news conference, the dissemination of material by the regularly organized Republican hierarchy, as well as the Citizens groups, and so on."

My question to you is--Do you agree with this general view? If you do, have you any specific ideas as to how to correct the situation? Do you think you might develop such ideas if you should come down and sit around with me and my immediate staff for a few days?

You understand I am not talking about public relations for the Republican National Committee. They have their own publicity and propaganda jobs. What I am talking about is more of publicizing our factual record, in which each of the items would be so well dressed up and presented that it would be news. Consequently it would be sought after rather than pushed upon a resisting public.

Bill Robinson and I have talked about this from a different angle--namely, the job that Len Hall has as head of the National Committee. However, he would be aware also of the criticisms in the areas of which I speak and if you should like to talk to him, he could fill you in on many details that I could not attempt to discuss in a short letter.

After you have thought the matter over a little bit, could I have your preliminary reaction?2

With warm personal regard, As ever

1 In January Eisenhower had asked Larmon to join the White House staff as a presidential adviser (see no. 663).

2 On March 11 Larmon would send the President a seven-page report on his view of the Administration's public relations problems (AWF/N). He recommended first the need for a "symbol, theme or slogan" that would "interpret simply, directly, and dramatically what the Administration is for." "As yet," he wrote, "the Administration and you as the leader of the team, have not defined yourself and your purpose so as to make for easy, simple interpretation." Larmon suggested that Eisenhower's symbol and theme be "strength." Reasoning that among Eisenhower's attributes were his strong leadership capabilities, and his moral and physical strength, Larmon recommended more regular radio and television appearances to reassure the people of the President's commitment to a stronger America. He further recommended that an "offensive" be undertaken against Senator McCarthy, whose antics, he said, were "shoving all other public relations problems into the background."

To expedite those recommendations Larmon advised Eisenhower to expand his staff, bringing in more writers and researchers to assist in the preparation of speeches and papers. He proposed also that the Executive Branch Liaison Office be expanded to mount a "selling job" to appropriate government departments and to share material with the Republican National Committee. Larmon's final suggestion involved the creation of an informal semi-anonymous group of politically astute advisers who would meet regularly to audit the Administration's situation and make recommendations to the President.

Eisenhower directed that copies of Larmon's report be sent to Milton S. Eisenhower, Leonard W. Hall, Kevin C. McCann, Robert Montgomery, James L. Murphy, Thomas E. Stephens, and Arthur E. Summerfield. For additional correspondence on the subject see Eisenhower to Humphrey, February 1, 1954, AWF/A.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Sigurd Stanton Larmon, 1 February 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 699. 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/699.cfm

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