<--PREV Doc #593  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #595 Document #594; March 5, 1958 To Harold Edward Stassen Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series ; Category: Personal and confidential The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part IV: Recession and Reform; February 1958 to May 1958 Chapter 8: "To engender confidence"   Dear Harold: Recently a good Pennsylvania Republican came to me to argue the suitability of a particular individual for the gubernatorial nomination. The man he had in mind is one that I admire, respect and like.1 I informed my visitor that I had already told you that if you were successful in the primary I would support you enthusiastically.2 I can say nothing more or nothing less than this to anyone else as long as my candidate for the nomination conforms to my own standards as to suitability. You may be sure that I shall not, in advance of the primary, publicly or privately urge the selection of one good candidate over another.3 Now a piece of news. My visitor stated that in recent weeks your own stock had been going up rapidly in Pennsylvania. He said that your only real weakness was a noticeable personal resentment on the part of some of the older bosses in the state. He thought that even in this respect you had made some advances.4 Finally, he said that aside from his own candidate, he was in your "corner." With warm regard, As ever 1 Eisenhower was probably referring to former U.S. Steel President Benjamin Fairless. On that day the President had called Fairless in Florida to ask him to consider running for Governor of Pennsylvania (Telephone conversation, Eisenhower and Fairless, Mar. 5, 1958, AWF/D). Fairless said that while he would discuss the matter with his wife, his initial reaction was that he was too old (he was born in 1890). In a discussion of Stassen, Eisenhower said that he had a higher opinion of Stassen's abilities than did most people, but he felt that Stassen would have difficulty securing the support of the Pennsylvania Republican organization. See also Telephone conversation, Fairless and Whitman, March 6, 1958, and Graham and Whitman, March 7, 1958, AWF/D. 2 In February 1958 Stassen had resigned his position as Special Assistant to the President for Disarmament and entered the race for governor of Pennsylvania (see Ann Whitman memorandum, Feb. 7, 1958, AWF/AWD; see also New York Times, Feb. 16, 1958, and nos. 182 and 191). Eisenhower had stated publicly that he believed Stassen had many traits that were "admirably fitting" for such an office and called him "a great administrator" and "an indefatigable worker" (Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1958, p. 148). 3 On March 5, 1958, the Pennsylvania Republican organization would select Arthur T. McGonigle, a 51-year-old pretzel manufacturer, to be the organization's nominee in a three-way fight for the party's gubernatorial nomination (New York Times, Mar. 6, 1958). 4 Stassen would reply on March 21 (AWF/A). He noted that it was not his intention to involve Eisenhower in the gubernatorial campaign until after the primary on May 20. However, "from May 21 on, if I am the nominee of the party, I would hope to have your strong support for the final election," he said. Stassen's program would concentrate on four points: "building up industry for more jobs; better school opportunities for youth; streamlining and modernizing the state government; and keystone leadership on the broad issues of national and international problems." Stassen would lose his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination; and McGonigle would be defeated in the November election (see New York Times, May 21, Nov. 5, 6, 1958). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Harold Edward Stassen, 5 March 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 594. 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/594.cfm <--PREV Doc #593  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #595

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