Presidential Papers, Doc#867 To Daniel I. J. Thornton, 10 May 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #868

Document #867; May 10, 1954
To Daniel I. J. Thornton
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part V: Maintaining "a united defense"; April 1954 to August 1954
Chapter 10: Losing the war "they could not win"

 

Dear Dan: Your letter of May third somehow did not reach my desk until this morning, or I would have mentioned it to you when you were here this Saturday.1

I am glad that you felt the Governors' Conference was beneficial, and grateful to you for the time and trouble you took to send me the proposed plan for dust and wind erosion for Colorado. I shall see that it is given serious consideration by those in the Executive Branch who are especially concerned with the long range aspects of the dust bowl problem. Dr. Hauge tells me that studies of that kind on an organized basis are being stepped up as a result of the dust bowl meeting held in connection with the Governors' Conference.2

Again I must emphasize to you the importance I attach to the principal subject we discussed during your visit. I most earnestly hope that you will find it possible to agree.3

Love to Jessie.4 As ever

1 Thornton's letter is in WHCF/OF 113-I-A. For background on his visit with Eisenhower see no. 859.

2 Thornton, chairman of the Governors' Conference held in Washington, D.C., in late April, had sent the President a five-page proposal to help bring about "constructive, desirable changes in land use" in eastern Colorado--an area that had been devasted by drought and dust storms, and had been a subject of discussion at the conference ("A Proposed Dust and Wind Erosion Plan for the State of Colorado" by Dan Thornton, n.d., WHCF/OF 113-I-A. Thornton had also sent his proposals to Wilton B. Persons, Deputy Assistant to the President, and to Sherman Adams, the Assistant to the President, telling them both in cover notes that some of the proposals would be "controversial," and he thought that it would take "definite and courageous action to arrive at a solution of the dust problem" (May 3, 1954, ibid.; see also Thornton's earlier report of March 29, 1954; Thornton to Eisenhower, Apr. 6, 1954; and Eisenhower to Thornton, Apr. 8, 1954, all in AWF/N).

Eisenhower had asked Administrative Assistant Gabriel Hauge to follow up on the issue; see memorandums, Hauge to Benson, May 11, and Benson to Hauge, May 20, WHCF/OF 113-I-A. Hauge would report that the Department of Agriculture had estimated it would need $10 million from the President's emergency fund to effect a special wind erosion control program. The Congress, however, would authorize $15 million in payments to farmers on May 6, part of the Third Supplemental Appropriation Bill (H.R. 8481) signed on May 11, 1954 (PL 357) (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. X, 1954, pp. 149, 179, 181; True D. Morse to Hauge, May 24, 1954, WHCF/OF 113-A-I-A.

3 The principal subject of discussion had been the possibility that Thornton would run for the U. S. Senate this year (see no. 859). Eisenhower had tried to convince his friend to run, but Thornton would announce five days later that he would not do so in 1954 (New York Times, May 16, 1954).

4 Thornton's wife.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Daniel I. J. Thornton, 10 May 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 867. 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/867.cfm

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