Presidential Papers, Doc#749 Personal and confidential To Clifford Roberts, 1 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #749; March 1, 1954
To Clifford Roberts
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 Cliff: Thank you for the trouble you took to make certain that I could finish building our house without getting into real financial embarrassment.

1 I quite agree with your thought that it would be better to keep all my financial affairs centered at one spot, and consequently if I have to borrow some money temporarily I shall go to Mr. Butler's firm.2

I do not believe I shall draw down the income from the Trust Fund I established with his firm, as I would rather make an outright loan.

It should be quite some time before we have to begin the borrowing business because over the past few years Mamie has saved up something to apply to her "farm." Since it will be some months before the builder completes the project, I shall hope to stay out of debt for a while longer.3

All of us are well--already looking forward to the April expedition to Augusta.4

Incidentally, I would make a small wager at about 1 to 3 that Ben Hogan wins it--of course, I would take better odds if I could get them.5 As ever

1 Writing on February 26 (AWF/N) Roberts had advised the President on possible financial arrangements for payments on the Gettysburg farm, which had undergone extensive renovations since April 1953 (see no. 154; and Eisenhower, At Ease, pp. 358-60). Concerned that the Eisenhowers would need "some extra cash" in connection with the project, Roberts had proposed that Eisenhower take a loan with the Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Company in Baltimore, Maryland, rather than disturb his trust fund held by that company.

2 Thomas Butler, president of the Mercantile Safe-Deposit and Trust Company, had assured Roberts that his firm would extend all necessary credit to the President. "I think it might be best," Roberts wrote, "for you to make this arrangement in Baltimore than to do it through a Washington, D.C., bank. The less discussed about the President's finances, the better--and it seems to me there is always more conversation on all subjects around Washington than anywhere else."

3 By mid-1955, with the help of Mamie's savings, the Eisenhowers would own their home. On completion, the charge for renovations at the farm would total $215,000--some $175,000 more than the original estimate (see no. 154; and Eisenhower, At Ease, p. 360).

4 The Eisenhowers would spend the week following the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia (see no. 680).

5 Eisenhower waged bets frequently with his friends (see, for example, no. 581). Hogan, who had won the 1951 and 1953 Masters tournaments, would lose by one stroke in 1954 (see New York Times, Apr. 13, 1954).

In earlier correspondence with Roberts following his vacation in Palm Springs, California (see no. 734), Eisenhower had warned, "I think I should tell you--since it will be to your eventual sorrow--that Ben gave me a few pointers that I shall demonstrate to you the next time we are on the course" (Feb. 24, 1954, AWF/N).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Clifford Roberts, 1 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 749. 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/749.cfm

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