Presidential Papers, Doc#751 To Richard King Mellon, 17 June 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #752

Document #751; June 17, 1958
To Richard King Mellon
Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part V: Forcing the President's Hand; June 1958 to October 1958
Chapter 11: "Take time by the forelock"

 

Dear Mr. Mellon: As you know, your invitation to visit Fort Ligonier has a great attraction for me. I am keeping it on my tentative schedule.1 However, with the usual uncertainty as to when Congress will adjourn and the present state of the world today, I cannot as yet make any detailed plans for the future months.2 I venture that it will be at least mid-August before I can possibly give you any reasonably accurate prediction as to whether I can accept. If this is satisfactory, I shall ask my Appointment Secretary, Thomas E. Stephens, to get in touch with you at that time.

Meantime, I much appreciate your assurance that should I be able to be with you, you would personally look after the details of the visit.

With warm regard, Sincerely

P.S. It suddenly occurs to me that the 26th of September in 1918 was the beginning of the Argonne Battle in World War I. It is scarcely possible to realize that that important event will be forty years behind us as Fort Ligonier celebrates its bicentennial.3

1 On June 9 Mellon had reminded the President of his tentative agreement, made in 1957, to attend the bicentennial celebration of Fort Ligonier in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, on September 26. Mellon was the chief financier and promoter on the restoration of the fort as a national monument. Fort Ligonier, the first British fort west of the Allegheny Mountains, had operated as a depot and a military post. See also Mellon to Eisenhower, May 28, 1957, Eisenhower to Mellon, June 5, 1957, and Mellon to Eisenhower, June 20, 1957. All correspondence is in WHCF/PPF 1-F-113.

2 The second session of the Eighty-fifth Congress would adjourn on August 24.

3 At the time of the Argonne offensive, one of the final campaigns of World War I, Eisenhower was commander of the Tank Corps at Camp Colt in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (see Eisenhower, At Ease, pp. 137 - 51).

For developments see no. 866.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Richard King Mellon, 17 June 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 751. 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/751.cfm

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