Presidential Papers, Doc#657 Personal To Sarah Newcomb McClendon, 21 April 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #657; April 21, 1958
To Sarah Newcomb McClendon
Series: EM, WHCF, Official File 101-L ; Category: Personal
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part IV: Recession and Reform; February 1958 to May 1958
Chapter 9: "The problems inherent in this job"

 

Dear Mrs. McClendon: It was kind of you to write as you did concerning the press conference of last Wednesday. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Actually no apology was needed because I am quite sure that you had a special interest in the matter of community public works.1

I am grateful also for your comment on the usefulness of the presidential press conferences.2

With best wishes, Sincerely

1 McClendon, a news correspondent with the Austin American-Statesman, had apologized for referring to golf in her question to Eisenhower during his April 16 news conference (Apr. 17, 1958, same file as document). McClendon had said that Eisenhower's "energetic" fight against the communities facilities bill had bewildered some congressmen. A representative from Texas, she commented, suggested that the President "leave off" his golf and go out and visit small cities and towns in need of the immediate help the bill would provide. She acknowledged that she and many of her editors had a keen interest in community public works, but, she said, the reference to golf had just "slipped in." The Democrat-sponsored Community Facilities Act of 1958 (S. 3497) proposed funding loans to municipalities for various public facilities. The bill had passed, amended, by the Senate in a 60 - 26 roll-call vote that same day (see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1958, p. 315, and Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XIV, 1958, pp. 71, 151 - 53). For developments see no. 784.

2 McClendon said the news conferences provide a "worthwhile service . . . for the nation and for democracy." She also thanked Eisenhower for "making it possible for little as well as big papers to question you in these unusual sessions, which are quite unique in our world." See Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, no. 1857, for similar correspondence between Eisenhower and McClendon.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Sarah Newcomb McClendon, 21 April 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 657. 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/657.cfm

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