Presidential Papers, Doc#809 Diary, 31 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #810

Document #809; March 31, 1954
Diary
Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries Series
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"

 

Knowland and members of the Senate are arguing for the appointment of Mark Trice to the job of Comptroller General;1 all the House members are arguing for Congressman Sterling Cole.2 My own limited knowledge of the two would indicate that Cole is much the better man, but I rather think that the Senate leaders are going to raise a storm about the matter.

My confidence in the Senate's wisdom and disinterestedness in the appointment is somewhat shaken by the fact that they are urging the appointment of Dean West to the job of Librarian for the Congressional Library.3 This is obviously a recommendation based on politics--but since the Library is considered an adjunct to the Congress rather than part of the Executive Department, I assume that I have to give way to their recommendations. The scientific and learned societies of the United States will probably be outraged.4

In any event, Knowland, Millikin and Ferguson are coming to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning to plead the case of Trice. I feel that the three Republican leaders of Congress (if they have any comprehension whatsoever of leadership) would have something better to do than to spend their time in petty patronage problems.5

1 On Knowland and the Senate leaders see n. 5 below. J. Mark Trice (LL.B. Georgetown University 1928) was Secretary of the Senate.

2 W. Sterling Cole (Rep., N.Y.) was a member of the Committee on Armed Services and chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.

3 This was probably Warren Reed West (Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University 1922), dean of special students at George Washington University.

4 For background see no. 687. In April Eisenhower would choose as Librarian of Congress the director of the Cleveland Public Library, Lawrence Quincy Mumford (B.S. Columbia University School of Library Science 1929), who would then become the first professional librarian appointed to the post. Following Senate confirmation on July 29, Mumford would be sworn in on September 1 (New York Times, Jan. 6, Apr. 3, Sept. 2, 1954, and Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. X, 1954, p. 663).

5 Republican Senators William Fife Knowland (Calif.), Eugene Donald Millikin (Col.), and Homer Ferguson (Mich.)--all members of the Senate Majority Policy Committee--would breakfast with the President at 7:45 a.m. on April 1. Immediately following that meeting Eisenhower telephoned House Majority Leader Halleck to ask his assistance in settling "the Trice matter" (telephone conversation, AWF/D). Eisenhower would select--over opposition from Democrats in the Senate--Joseph Campbell (A.B. Columbia University, 1924) as comptroller general. A member of the Atomic Energy Commission, Campbell had been Columbia University treasurer and vice-president in charge of business affairs since 1949 (see New York Times, Nov. 9, 1954; and Galambos, Columbia University, nos. 391, 392, 514). On March 18, 1955, the Senate would confirm Campbell's appointment for a term of fifteen years (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XI, 1955, p. 667).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Diary, 31 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 809. 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/809.cfm

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