<--PREV Doc #971  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #973 Document #972; July 10, 1954 To Florence Jaffray Harriman Series: EM, WHCF, Official File OF 71-Q 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 11: The "men in the Kremlin are not to be trusted"   Dear Mrs. Harriman:1 As you know, I have long been interested in Home Rule for the District, and have publicly announced my support many times. I continue to press for its adoption.2 The Senate District Committee has reported favorably on the bill and it is now on the Senate calendar. I understand that Senator Case is trying to work out with the Senate leaders a time when it can come up for debate. This means there is still some hope for its passage this session.3 With my thanks for your note,4 and with best wishes, Sincerely 1 Mrs. Harriman was Democratic national committeewoman from the District of Columbia; she had served from 1937 until 1941 as minister to Norway. 2 In his January 7, 1954, State of the Union message Eisenhower had said that the "time is long overdue" for granting national suffrage and local self-government to the citizens of the District of Columbia (see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1954, p. 22; New York Times, Jan. 8, 1954). Since 1952, however, all measures proposing to grant the District of Columbia some degree of home rule had failed (see Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. VIII, 1952, p. 233; vol. IX, 1953, pp. 363-64). 3 Republican Senator Francis Case of South Dakota was chairman of the Senate District of Columbia Committee. Despite Case's efforts Eisenhower would (on August 20) veto S. 1611, a bill designed to set up primary elections in the District of Columbia so that party national committeemen and delegates to presidential conventions could be elected. Eisenhower based his veto on disapproval of a provision in the measure which would have allowed federal employees in the District to engage in partisan political activity (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. X, 1954, p. 410). In 1955 Eisenhower would renew his support for self-government and right of suffrage in the nation's capital (New York Times, Jan. 7, 1955). In August he would sign into law P.L. 376, a measure that provided for the election of party national committeemen, delegates and alternates to national presidential nominating conventions; a second bill (S. 669), which would have granted some measure of home rule in the District, would fail (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XI, 1955, pp. 389-90). In 1959 Congress would finally approve home rule for the capital city, permitting election of a mayor, city council, and a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives (see New York Times, July 16, 17, 1959). 4 In her note, dated "July '54," Mrs. Harriman had urged Eisenhower to impress upon his staff and party leaders his "great interest in Home Rule for the District" (same file as document). Harriman's campaign to gain home rule for Washington, D.C., would continue; see her letter urging citizen action on the question (New York Times, Aug. 1, 1955). Harriman had sent her letter to Eisenhower by way of Thomas E. Stephens, secretary to the President (see Harriman to Stephens, July 9, 1954, and Stephens to Harriman, July 20, 1954, both in same file as document). Eisenhower, in a verbal message to Harriman through Stephens, had given her permission to show his letter to Senator Case (so noted by Stephens in lower margin of Eisenhower's letter to Harriman, July 15, 1954). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Florence Jaffray Harriman, 10 July 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 972. 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/972.cfm <--PREV Doc #971  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #973

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464