<--PREV Doc #786  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #788 Document #787; March 19, 1954 [To Gerald Demuth Morgan] Series: EM, WHCF, Official File 122-E 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"   Would it be possible to postpone drop taking effect until 6 mos after April 1. Or do it in 2 steps--now and 1 yr later?2 1 Morgan, Administrative Assistant to the President, had hand-delivered to Eisenhower a letter from Republican Senator Edward John Thye of Minnesota, who was vigorously protesting Administration plans to drop the level of price supports for dairy products (Mar. 19, 1954, same file as document). On February 17 Thye had introduced S. 2962, a bill to amend the Agricultural Act of 1949 by limiting the downward reduction that could be made in any year in the support level of dairy products. The measure was in direct response to Agriculture Secretary Benson's February 15 announcement that dairy products would be supported at 75 percent rather than 90 percent of parity for the marketing year beginning April 1, 1954. Thye had urged the President to consider a "modification" of Benson's program. He pointed out that farmers' income had not kept pace with national income, and that the order could mean "disastrous hardship to younger farmers." Thye said that because hearings in the Senate Committee on Agriculture would not have concluded before adjournment, he and the sponsors of S. 2962 had discussed offering their bill as an amendment to the first farm legislation up for consideration. On the farm program see nos. 130, 322, 525 and 652; Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. X, 1954, pp. 100-117; Public Papers of the Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954, pp. 23-39; and Ambrose, Eisenhower, vol. II, The President, pp. 159-60. Under considerable pressure on this front, Eisenhower would agree to reconsider the cuts in parity; meantime he continued to support Benson publicly (see Public Papers of the Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954, pp. 270-71, 303; see, for example, Meyers to Eisenhower, Mar. 25, 1954, Eisenhower to Myers, Mar. 29, 1954, Pexton to Eisenhower, Mar. 24, 1954, Eisenhower to Pexton, Mar. 25, 1954, all in same file as document. 2 Eisenhower wrote these questions in longhand at the bottom margin of Thye's letter. He was concerned at the bitter reaction to Benson's plan. He wished, he said, that Benson had searched for "some means of acting a bit more gradually" (no. 784). On March 23 Eisenhower and members of the White House staff--Wilton B. Persons, Gabriel Hauge, Morgan, and I. Jack Martin--would meet off-the-record with Benson and officials of the Department of Agriculture. Recalling the meeting, Benson would later write in his memoir that "They tried their best to soften us up on the dairy question, but I heard nothing to change my conviction that our action was best for the industry" (Cross Fire, p. 187). The following day, in a memorandum to the President, Benson would restate his position (Mar. 24, 1954, AWF/A). On March 25 Eisenhower would thank Thye for his "thoughtful letter," which he said would be studied further (same file as document). Then on March 31 Morgan would explain to Thye that Secretary Benson had reconsidered the problem and had concluded "that he could not in good conscience fix the support level higher that seventy-five per cent of parity" (ibid.; see also Thye to Morgan, Apr. 1, 1954, ibid.). As finally enacted the Agricultural Act of 1954 would provide continued flexible support of dairy prices between 75 percent and 90 percent of parity (see Congressional Quarterly Alamanc, vol. X, 1954, pp. 100-117). For developments see no. 811. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. [To Gerald Demuth Morgan], 19 March 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 787. 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/787.cfm <--PREV Doc #786  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #788

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