<--PREV Doc #554  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #556 Document #555; January 28, 1958 To Charles Douglas Jackson Series: Jackson Papers ; Category: Personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part III: The Space Age Begins; October 1957 to January 1958 Chapter 7: NATO and the Cold War   Dear C. D.: I have just read the letter you wrote to Sherman Adams. It seems to me to fail to be responsive to the proposition I had in mind.1 In the simplest possible language, my proposal was that you take a position under Dulles in the State Department as Under Secretary of State. While it would probably be an euphemistic title, your duties would be to head up the cold war effort. This would, of course, include studying and keeping abreast of every possible proposal, friendly or unfriendly, in disarmament. Admittedly this plan would assume the authorization by the Congress of a second Under Secretary of State. Some years ago we had two of these, but in recent times only one. In our conversation I pointed out to you that my "ideal" organizational change would be to create a post which I would call "The First Secretary of the Government." This officer--who in this case would be Mr. Dulles--would be responsible to the President for coordinating and directing the efforts of the State Department, the USIA, the ICA, and the international activities of the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, Labor and Treasury. He would be relieved of the chore of meeting with Committees and long hours of detailed discussion and argument--he would be given time to think. Even with this scheme of mine, I still think there should be within the State Department an officer specifically charged with the responsibility for carrying on cold war activities, including disarmament. However, it would probably, under this proposition, not be necessary to create a new post of a second Under Secretary, because presumably the new Secretary of State and his Under Secretary could handle this function since they would be relieved largely of responsibility of representing the President at international conferences, of formulating basic policy and of making final decisions in all the major elements of diplomatic procedure. In any event, why could you not, after Foster comes back, come to see him or me once more and see whether there isn't some virtue in the idea I have discussed?2 I have no notion of making you simply a Presidential representative, with vaguely defined duties and responsibilities, nor have I ever dreamed of you as an individual who was begging disarmament favors from the Kremlin. I am not sure when Foster will be back, but I suppose it will be toward the end of the week.3 With warm regard, As ever 1 For background on Eisenhower's proposal to create a position within the State Department for Jackson see no. 527; on the President's proposal for a first secretary of government see no. 538. In his January 27 letter to Adams, Jackson had declined a suggestion by Adams that he consider a post as presidential assistant for disarmament matters. He had a "personal distaste" for disarmament, Jackson had said. The United States had done more than any other nation to promote the reduction of armaments, and he opposed any further "unilateral American sweetening of the disarmament kitty." Believing as he did, he could not honestly take a position where he would be "identified publicly" as the man responsible for promoting the Administration's disarmament position. He also believed that the time had passed for effective work to be done by a presidential assistant "with vague terms of reference, nebulous responsibilities (except for disarmament), and no authority except what he can cajole out of his betters" (Jackson Papers). 2 Dulles was attending the Baghdad Pact Council meeting in Ankara, Turkey, from January 27 - 30. 3 "I have a certain feeling of embarrassment in replying to your January 28th letter," Jackson would write," because while I have a normal desire to absolve myself, at the same time I do not want to add anything to the crossed-wires department." His letter to Adams, he said, was in response to a different proposition made to him earlier by Adams (Jackson to Eisenhower, Jan. 31, 1958, AWF/A). For developments see no. 603. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Charles Douglas Jackson, 28 January 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 555. 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/555.cfm <--PREV Doc #554  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #556

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