<--PREV Doc #758  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #760 Document #759; March 8, 1954 To Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Eyes only 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 Cabot: I am grateful for your two letters, both dated March sixth. Of course I am pleased to hear how well your meeting went at Chicago,1 but my main interest is for your exposition on the need for a "political strategist."2 As I have often said to you, you can get no argument from me when you advance this contention. I have asked for an increased allotment for the White House and I should soon, under some euphonious title, be able to station some such man right here as a personal assistant. If you can think of a person who would fill the post to your satisfaction, I wish you would give me his name. Until I have him this matter will continue to be one that creates a sense of uneasiness and frustration.3 This is all the more unfortunate in view of the fact that we have so much to be bragging about. Instead of that we allow situations to arise where we have to go around wearing sack cloth and ashes.4 Cordially 1 In his letter concerning the March 4 Chicago meeting, Lodge reported "two noteworthy events" (AWF/A). The first--occurring during Lodge's speech at a dinner sponsored by the Council Against Discrimination--was the applause heard when he announced that Eisenhower had appointed African-American J. Ernest Wilkins as Assistant Secretary of Labor. The second event was a report that Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., (Democratic Representative of New York) had responded to news of Wilkins's appointment by telling a meeting of African-Americans that "`Eisenhower is the greatest President for Negroes that has ever been--greater than Roosevelt and Truman put together.'" Wilkins (J.D. University of Chicago 1921) had practiced law in Chicago since 1921. In 1953 he had served as vice-chairman of the President's Committee on Government Contracts and would now represent the government in the International Labor Organization, an arm of the United Nations (see New York Times, Mar. 5, 1954). On Powell's support of Eisenhower's program see Neil Hickey and Ed Edwin, Adam Clayton Powell and the Politics of Race (New York, 1965), pp. 122-27; and Charles V. Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: The Political Biography of an American Dilemma (New York, 1991), pp. 199-210. "Someone on your staff," Lodge observed, "is really doing an imaginative and effective job of getting well qualified Negroes into important positions." For developments see no. 764. 2 In his second letter of March 6, marked "Eyes Only" (AWF/A), Lodge offered the conclusions he had drawn from his assignment as special adviser to the President on political matters (see no. 629). "The plain fact is," he wrote, "that there is a gap in your organization because there is no one whose primary responsibility is political strategy. . . . By political strategy I mean all of the actions and decisions which involve your popularity, prestige, and influence." Lodge pointed out that Eisenhower appeared to have "delegated political strategy to everyone in general and no one in particular," naming presidential assistants Sherman Adams and Wilton B. Persons, and presidential Press Secretary James C. Hagerty as three who seemed to share responsibility for political tactics. Lodge recommended that the "function of political strategy" be established in Eisenhower's office. Lamenting the fact that there were only a few Republicans who understood national politics, and fewer still who understood congressional politics, Lodge proposed that the appointee keep in touch with experienced people who were devoted to the President's interests and who would put the President's interests ahead of those of "the party." He suggested that this could be done by "reshuffling" the functions of senior men, or by bringing on an intelligent junior man who would rely on experienced advisers. 3 Two candidates are discussed in no. 798. 4 Lodge had discussed Eisenhower's role in the recent "political blunder" involving Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and Army Secretary Robert T. Stevens (see no. 741). "You did extremely well," Lodge told Eisenhower, but because the President lacked a political strategy deputy, he ended up "picking up the pieces. . . ." Lodge warned, "you should not have to pick up the pieces." Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eyes only To Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., 8 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 759. 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/759.cfm <--PREV Doc #758  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #760

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