Presidential Papers, Doc#895 <EM>Note</EM>, 25 [May 1954]. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #895; [May 25, 1954]
Note
Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries 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"

 

The memo of a big man. He knows that it is people--not details of organization--that make things happen efficiently.1

1 Eisenhower wrote this note at the bottom of a memorandum from Secretary Dulles regarding the appointment of agricultural attachés by the Department of Agriculture (May 25, 1954, AWF/D). Although these attachés had been under the jurisdiction of the State Department since 1939, six bills had been introduced in the House of Representatives in 1954 to establish a separate foreign service in the Agriculture Department. Cabinet members had also discussed the issue at their April 30 meeting (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XI, 1954, pp. 325, 395; New York Times, Mar. 22, 1954; Cabinet meeting minutes, Apr. 30, 1954, AWF/Cabinet. For background on the missions see no. 826). "I do not like this," Dulles had written about the proposal, "because I think it is unsound in principle. It will undoubtedly lead to similar requests from Commerce, Labor, etc. and the result will be a mass of people abroad taking orders from different Department heads, and American foreign policy will appear very confused." However, Dulles understood that it was important to disperse agricultural surpluses efficiently and that the State Department Foreign Service was not well qualified to handle the job. For these reasons, he added, "I think that the present moment is one when principle must give way to practicality." As long as the authority of the ambassador is maintained and coordination exists between the two departments, Dulles said, "then we can live with this new arrangement for at least a while." (See also Telephone conversations, Eisenhower to Dulles, and Dulles to Benson, May 25, 1954, Dulles Papers, Telephone Conversations).

Dulles would meet with Eisenhower late in the afternoon of this same day. The President opposed the concept of an agricultural "foreign service" and said that the attachés should be subject to the authority of the ambassador, "who would have a right to bring about the recall of anyone who is in conflict with U.S. policy." Coordination between the two departments was crucial, the President told Dulles, who agreed to "cooperate fully" with the new method (Memorandum of Conversation, May 25, 1954, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series). For more on this issue see Benson, Cross Fire, p. 247.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1954, passed by Congress after months of debate and signed by Eisenhower on August 28, would reassign the agricultural attachés from the Department of State to the Department of Agriculture "for the purpose of encouraging and promoting the marketing of agricultural products of the United States" (U.S., Statutes at Large, vol. 68, pp. 908-10; see also Congressional Record, 83d Cong., 2d sess., 1954, 100, pt. 1, pp. 13908-11).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Note, 25 [May 1954]. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 895. 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/895.cfm

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