Presidential Papers, Doc#5 [Note], 24 January 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #5; January 24, 1957
[Note]
Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series, Brundage Corr.
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

 

Making F.C.D.A. a "Department" would tend to create a public feeling that Fed. Govt. would do it all. This would defeat F.C.D.2

1 According to the Ann Whitman Diary, Eisenhower wrote his note about Federal Civil Defense on this date (see Ann Whitman memorandum, Jan. 24, 1957, AWF/AWD).

2 The President was responding to a memorandum (Jan. 22, 1957) from Bureau of the Budget Director Percival F. Brundage (AWF/A) about converting the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) into an executive department. In July 1956 Eisenhower had written to FCDA Administrator Val Peterson expressing his concern that the "destructive capabilities of potential enemies have been outpacing our non-military defensive measures" (see Cabinet meeting minutes, Jan. 9, 1957, AWF/Cabinet; see also Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 1 to December 31, 1956 [Washington, D.C., 1958], pp. 598 - 602). The federal civil defense law, which had been written before the advent of the hydrogen bomb, needed to be "realistically revised," the President said (for background on the FCDA see National Archives and Records Service, United States Government Organization Manual 1957 - 1958 [Washington, D.C., revised June 1, 1957], pp. 361 - 64). The Federal Civil Defense Administration needed "authority to carry out necessary pre-attack preparations" and "must be enabled to assure adequate participation in the civil defense program." Eisenhower said that the agency "must be empowered to work out logical plans for possible target areas which overlap state and municipal boundaries" and "must have an organization capable of discharging these increased responsibilities." In an effort to increase the "prestige and effectiveness" of the FCDA, the President asked that the administrator now participate in Cabinet meetings. The Cabinet had approved FCDA recommendations for modifying the 1950 Civil Defense Act on January 9, with the understanding that the administrator would proceed "conservatively" (Cabinet meeting minutes, Jan. 9, 1957, and further correspondence in AWF/Cabinet).

In his memo to the President, Brundage had stated that making the Federal Civil Defense Administration an executive department would not, on balance, increase FCDA's ability to coordinate the civil defense activities of other federal departments--one of its central responsibilities. Upgrading this small agency would also reduce the President's flexibility in composing his Cabinet and suggest that the nation would be "permanently under conditions of threatening atomic disaster" (see also Peri E. Arnold, Making the Managerial Presidency: Comprehensive Reorganization Planning 1905 - 1980 [Princeton, N. J., 1986], pp. 218 - 25).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. [Note], 24 January 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 5. 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/5.cfm

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