<--PREV Doc #1637  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1639 Document #1638; September 5, 1960 To Charles Douglas Jackson Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XXI - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part X: Ending an Era; August 1960 to January 1961 Chapter 23: "To keep the Free World free"   Dear C. D.: I am quite ready to stand in whatever breach Mr. Khrushchev can create by the lies, distortions and deceit that he will use at the United Nations.1 The first thing to do of course is to try to determine the character of the breach and what are the things that will most effectively show him up for the liar that he is. By no means should you think that this subject has been overlooked by me, by the State Department, or, while he was at the U.N., by Cabot Lodge.2 Long before Mr. Khrushchev ever announced his plan to come to New York we were considering such a possibility. (In fact while you speak of the "firming up" of his appearance, I still would want to know that he is at least in the air and know something about his ETA before I could accept his statement as fact).3 Put it this way: without attempting to guess exactly what the man will try to do, we are attempting to keep prepared and if we believe that there is something effective we can do to place our case properly before the world and refute the false charges of the Soviets, through a speech at the United Nations, I will be ready, at a time of our own choosing, to make such a talk.4 Many thanks for your letter. It was thoughtful of you to give me your ideas on this subject. With warm regard, As ever 1 Jackson had written Eisenhower regarding the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly and Soviet Premier Khrushchev’s decision to attend. The presence of Khrushchev and the heads of other Communist states, Jackson had written, would subject the United States to a "propaganda barrage of incredible concentration and ferocity." Eisenhower was the only man in the country who could "effectively stand up, be listened to, and believed," he said. It was a moment for "incisiveness, boldness, and virile action." Jackson had sent Eisenhower the draft of a speech for presentation at the United Nations; the message, he said, would show Khrushchev that there was no "moratorium on U.S. decision making until the next President is inaugurated" (Jackson to Eisenhower, Sept. 2, 1960, AWF/A; see also "Draft Speech by the President Before the 15">2 Ambassador Lodge had resigned his position at the United Nations on September 3 to campaign actively as the Republican vice-presidential nominee (see no. 1620). 3 On September 1 Khrushchev had made the announcement that he would head the Soviet delegation to the United Nations (see State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. II, United Nations and General International Matters, p. 305; and Eisenhower, Waging Peace, pp. 576 - 77; see also New York Times, Sept. 2, 1960). 4 In an address on September 22 that was probably less strident than Jackson had suggested, Eisenhower would strongly support the activities of the United Nations, particularly with regard to the newly-formed African nations (see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1960 - 61, pp. 707 - 20; see also Ann Whitman memorandums, Sept. 12, 15, 19, 22, 1960, AWF/AWD; Goodpaster, Memorandums of Conference, Sept. 14, 19, 1960, AWF/D; Telephone conversation, Herter and Goodpaster, Sept. 8, 1960, Herter Papers, Telephone Conversations; and Eisenhower, Waging Peace, pp. 578 - 81). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Charles Douglas Jackson, 5 September 1960. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1638. 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/1638.cfm <--PREV Doc #1637  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1639

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