<--PREV Doc #909  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #911 Document #910; October 25, 1958 To Ezra Taft Benson Series: EM, AWF, Administration 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 13: Quemoy and Matsu   Dear Ezra: Many thanks for your report on the political situations you have found in Indiana and Arizona. When I called your office, I was told you were in Wisconsin today. I can only tell you once again how grateful I am for your energetic efforts.1 I shall see you Sunday night, but meantime I wanted to send you this little note to tell you how encouraged I am by your report.2 With warm regard, As ever 1 The Secretary of Agriculture’s letter to Eisenhower, dated October 23, is in AWF/A. Campaigning in Indiana, Benson had found that Republican candidates and their supporters knew that they were "in a fight this year" and thought that this knowledge would motivate them "to win us more victories than some of the so-called experts are predicting." In Arizona he had delivered "some very good endorsements" for Barry Goldwater and had encountered a large number of Democrats who enthusiastically supported the Republican Senator’s reelection drive. He accurately predicted that Republicans would capture two of the four congressional districts that he visited, and that Goldwater would also defeat his Democratic opponent. His prediction that the Republicans would win the contested Indiana Senate seat was, however, mistaken. See New York Times, November 6, 1958. Presidential Secretary Ann Whitman may have drafted this letter for delivery by telegraph to Benson. 2 On October 26 Benson would attend a private concert given by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the White House (Benson, Cross Fire, pp. 412 - 13). For developments in the political campaign see no. 913. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Ezra Taft Benson, 25 October 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 910. 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/910.cfm <--PREV Doc #909  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #911

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