<--PREV Doc #16  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #18 Document #17; February 1, 1957 To Charles Erwin Wilson Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part I: A New Beginning, Old Problems; January 1957 to May 1957 Chapter 1: The Mideast and the Eisenhower Doctrine   Dear Charlie: To my astonishment, not to say chagrin, I find that newspapers are trying to make a lot out of what they call my "rebuke" of you at last Wednesday's press conference.1 I think a reading of the text will dispel any thought that such was my intention. It is true that I remarked that anyone who enlisted in the National Guard could not be called a draft dodger because he was obeying the law of the land. I said that I knew you were not pointing the finger at any individual--and certainly I was not. Having disposed of what I thought was the unimportant part of your original statement, I then launched into a defense of your position in demanding the proper training for the Guard. I frankly stated that without six months' prior training, I saw no hope of getting the kind of Guard that we need.2 This I assumed to be the crux of the whole matter. If my mere observation that I thought your particular words of description concerning the Guard were unwise seemed to you to be a "rebuke," then all I can say is that I hope you will realize that such was not my intention.3 We have worked long and hard together in this business of developing an adequate defense at the lowest possible cost; I have been most deeply appreciative of all you have done and hope that so long as you may care to stay in your post you will continue to discharge your official responsibilities and duties in exactly the same way you have in the past. As ever P.S. I tried to call you this afternoon, but I understand you have been entertaining the King.4 1 For background on Secretary of Defense Wilson see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, nos. 7 and 23. In a January 28 statement to the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives, Wilson had accused the National Guard of "harboring youthful draft dodgers during the Korean conflict" (New York Times, Jan. 29, 1957). Asked about the Secretary's comment during his January 30 news conference, Eisenhower had replied that Wilson "was shortcutting and making a very, I think, unwise statement, without stopping to think what it meant, because these men have not been slackers when they have entered the military service in accordance with the law." Eisenhower's comment made headlines as "President Calls Wilson 'Unwise' in Guard Dispute" (ibid., Jan. 31, 1957; see also Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1957, p. 102). Privately, Eisenhower had deplored Wilson's statement, saying that Wilson "could do more to ruin himself than any man" (Jan. 30, 1957, AWF/AWD). 2 In his statement before the Armed Services Committee, Wilson had advocated a program that would require National Guard enlistees without basic military training to serve six months on active duty. The Army had previously required only an eleven-week, active duty program (New York Times, Feb. 3, 1957). The National Guard, fearing a cut in enlistments in the 17 - 18½ year age group because of school and job obligations, opposed the new policy. On February 26 the Guard and Army would agree to delay the start of the six-month active duty policy until January 1, 1958 (see Legislative Leadership meeting supplementary notes, Jan. 23, 1957, and Memorandum of Conference with the President, Feb. 6, 1957, both in AWF/D; see also New York Times, Feb. 27, 1957). 3 The Secretary's wife, the former Jessie Ann Curtis, had responded to calls for Wilson's resignation from members of Congress and others by saying that her husband should quit the Cabinet because the President was not supporting him as much as he supported John Foster Dulles. Speculation about a rift between Eisenhower and Wilson would die down after the Wilsons flew with the President to Augusta on their way to a vacation in Florida (Ann Whitman memorandum, Feb. 1, 1957, AWF/AWD, and New York Times, Feb. 3, 1957). 4 On the visit of King Saud see no. 13. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Charles Erwin Wilson, 1 February 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 17. 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/17.cfm <--PREV Doc #16  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #18

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