Presidential Papers, Doc#1081 To Foster Furcolo, 27 February 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #1082

Document #1081; February 27, 1959
To Foster Furcolo
Series: EM, WHCF, Official File 124-A-1
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part VI: Setbacks; November 1958 to February 1959
Chapter 15: "Debate is the breath of life"

 

Dear Governor Furcolo: I have your letter in which you request that I appoint a Commission to investigate the unemployment situation.1

My associates and I all have a profound and most sympathetic concern for those who are out of work. It was because of this that last year I recommended that Congress enact temporary legislation to provide supplementary unemployment compensation to those who had exhausted their benefits under the State law.2 Our laws at present provide for a statutory body--the Federal Council on Employment Security consisting of representatives of employees, employers, and the public--to make the kinds of studies and recommendations you have in mind.3 This Council considered the whole problem last fall, and its members have come up with differing recommendations that reflect virtually every point of view. All of these are presently under study within the Administration. Under these circumstances, I do not believe the appointment of another group to go over the same ground would be helpful.

I was glad to have your views on this question,4 Sincerely

1 Governor of Massachusetts since 1957, Furcolo (LL.B. Yale 1936) had also served as Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts from 1949 - 1951. He had written on February 12, 1959, regarding his concerns over "the current unemployment crisis," and the 142,000 jobless residents of his state. Since the 1957 - 1958 recession, U.S. unemployment figures for January and February 1959 had shown little recovery, matching the November 1958 level of over 6 percent. (On the recession see nos. 598 and 677.)

2 For background on the Temporary Unemployment Compensation Act of 1958, which provided federal funds to states for the extension of unemployment benefits up to a maximum of fifty percent see Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XIV, 1958, pp. 153 - 56. See also nos. 598 and 633. Furcolo was concerned because the law was scheduled to end benefits on April 1, 1959. He expected more than 11,000 people would be dropped from the list of those receiving assistance in Massachusetts.

3 The Federal Advisory Council on Employment Security, comprising representatives of labor, management, and the general public, was charged with advising the Secretary of Labor on unemployment compensation programs.

4 General Goodpaster had sent Furcolo's letter to the Secretary of Labor for preparation of a draft reply, which had been completed on February 24. White House aide Gerald Morgan had also prepared a response to the Massachusetts governor. Eisenhower had incorporated portions of each draft in his letter (both drafts are in the same file as document).

On March 4, Furcolo would again request Eisenhower to extend the Temporary Unemployment Compensation Act beyond its April 1 deadline. Responding on March 14, Eisenhower would say that the program "was proposed and enacted as a temporary undertaking to meet an emergency need at a time when many state legislatures were not in session." Since most state legislatures were then in session, the President was reluctant to take "action that would invite the transformation of this temporary program into a permanent Federal program not in keeping with the long standing responsibilities of the states over the twenty-year history of the unemployment insurance program." On March 25, however, Congress would vote to extend the limit for collecting unemployment insurance by an additional three months (Furcolo to Eisenhower, Mar. 4, 1959, and Eisenhower to Furcolo, Mar. 14, 1959, ibid.; see also Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XV, 1959, pp. 219 - 21). For developments on the economy see no. 1204.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Foster Furcolo, 27 February 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1081. 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/second-term/documents/1081.cfm

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