<--PREV Doc #1223  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1225 Document #1224; July 1, 1959 To Owen Robertson Cheatham Series: EM, WHCF, Official File 120 ; Category: Personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part VII: Berlin and the Chance for a Summit; March 1959 to August 1959 Chapter 18: "These extremist approaches"   Dear Owen: Thank you for your message. When the housing bill comes to the White House, I assure you that it will be studied very earnestly and very seriously.1 The problem is how, while sustaining prosperity, to prevent inflation. With this thief and robber stalking across the country, we can easily have an apparent prosperity for a time, but not for long. Inflation must be avoided, and this means that the Federal government must not only live within its means but must, in times of prosperity, begin reducing the nation’s debt. So, I repeat, every money bill that comes before me must be examined with the most painstaking concern.2 With personal regard,3 Sincerely 1 See no. 1042 for background. Georgia-Pacific Corporation chairman Cheatham had cabled the President asking him to sign the housing bill before Congress "in order to assure prosperity" and prevent the recession which, he noted, a "majority" of business people and economists thought would otherwise occur (Cheatham to Eisenhower, June 26, 1959, same file as document). 2 In his effort to balance the budget Eisenhower would deadlock with Congress over the proposed housing act. He would veto S. 57, the first housing bill, on July 7, citing among other reasons that it was inflationary. He would veto a second housing bill but sign a third into law on September 23 (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XV, 1959, p. 253; see also Press Release, Sept. 4, 1959, AWF/AWD). 3 Cheatham would write again later and suggest that housing construction, described by a Wall Street Journal editorial (Sept. 25, 1959) as America’s biggest growth industry, was as important to the economy as fiscal policy. In a brief reply, Eisenhower would thank him for calling his attention to the matter (Cheatham to Eisenhower, Sept. 25, 1959; Eisenhower to Cheatham, Sept. 29, 1959, same file as document). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Owen Robertson Cheatham, 1 July 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1224. 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/1224.cfm <--PREV Doc #1223  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1225

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