<--PREV Doc #1356  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1358 Document #1357; October 29, 1959 To Arthur Frank Burns Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part VIII: "Friends and Foes"; September 1959 to February 1960 Chapter 19: Khrushchev in America   Dear Arthur: Thank you very much for your letter of October twenty-first and for the account of your conversation with the Russian economists.1 I was very much interested in learning what their line of talk is and what you think about it. I am quite in agreement with the Russians’ view that we could accomplish a transition to a lower level of defense spending without serious economic dislocation.2 It seems to me we proved that after the Second World War and again after Korea. But, in my opinion, the Russians’ views on our growth prospects underestimate considerably the growth potential of our economy. I am also interested in your comment that our growth rate has been too low recently.3 If you have thoughts as to how we could step it up, in addition to what you say in your letter, I should be very glad to know of them. With warm regard, Sincerely 1 Burns had reported that the Soviet economists had emphasized the problems faced by the American economy due to military spending (AWF/A). Burns believed that this new "party line" was designed to fit neatly into Khrushchev’s "new peace offensive." "My guess is that Khrushchev really believes that Russia can beat us soon on the economic front, that the uncommitted areas will go communist when they see this happen, that Russia could move ahead faster on the economic front if some disarmament took place, and that they will know how to disarm 10 per cent when they agree to disarm 20 per cent and get us to do so." 2 The Soviet economists had said that although the rate of growth of the American economy, which they believed to be less than two percent a year, was low, the rate of improvement of living standards could be raised if a smaller percentage of resources went into defense production. Because Americans had learned how to control the business cycle, partial or complete disarmament could be accomplished without leading to significant unemployment. 3 In a postscript Burns had disputed the Russian claim that the U.S. economy had been growing at an average rate of less than two percent a year since 1953. "In fact, the average rate shown by official figures is 2.7 per cent and there are some cogent reasons for considering this an understatement." Burns felt that the recent rate of growth had been too low, and that it was "highly important" that a strenuous effort be made to raise it. "Among other things," he said, "we can no longer afford the luxury of a shorter work week or the continuation of feather bedding." Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Arthur Frank Burns, 29 October 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1357. 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/1357.cfm <--PREV Doc #1356  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1358

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