<--PREV Doc #990  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #992 Document #991; January 3, 1959 To Walter Bedell Smith Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part VI: Setbacks; November 1958 to February 1959 Chapter 15: "Debate is the breath of life"   Dear Bedell: I am enthusiastic about the proposition that Strong puts forward.1 In the meantime, as I contemplate more seriously some of the obstacles that would be encountered in the scheme I discussed with you on the telephone, I have lost some of my own eagerness for it.2 For one thing, in order to cover the period from the year 1942 until the end of ’45, I think we would probably have to have more people present than I first contemplated. In addition, more time might be consumed to do anything intelligible than I had originally thought (that is, I had been considering something on the order of seven to ten days). There is one variant that I did not mention to you that we might consider and that is to get over here all the British officers that we considered necessary, together with two or three of the more critical ones in the American group, and then to ask others of the Americans to come up from Washington for a day at a time. That would be the only way, as I see it, we could handle as many as we would want to hear. As far as the time element goes, we might be able to conquer it by having a clear agreement on fundamentals and arranging for a good staff to do the editing and make a final report to each of us. To guide the staff procedures we should probably have to have a little executive committee--for example, you, Spaatz and Strong or Jock Whiteley.3 The three of you could communicate with each other in order to give the necessary guidance for the staff in the editing of the conversations. Finally, I rather think that if I make the proposal at all I shall make the primary purpose that of an enjoyable reunion, and I would make the recording of reminiscences a secondary purpose. In any event, I rather think I will want to wait until Strong comes over here before I make any further move. (Of course I want to see him, and hope that the two of you will come in together). Certainly it appears that you and he and I seem to be thinking along the same lines.4 With warm regard, As ever 1 Major General Sir Kenneth William Dobson Strong was Director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau, in the British Ministry of Defence. During World War II Strong served as SHAEF's intelligence officer and later as director of British Foreign Office and defense intelligence bureaus (for background see Chandler, War Years, no. 831; and Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 449). Strong had written Smith (Oct. 27, 1958, AWF/N) that the recent publication of Montgomery's memoirs had prompted him to set the record straight in a "dispassionate" manner. For background on Montgomery's controversial volume and Eisenhower's reaction to it see nos. 933 and 1012. 2 The President had telephoned Smith on January 2 about his plans to gather his wartime colleagues together in order to compose an agreed-upon document regarding events during the European phase of World War II (Telephone conversation, Eisenhower and Smith, Jan. 2, 1959, AWF/D; and Ann Whitman memorandum, Jan. 3, 1959, AWF/AWD). For background on the idea see no. 989. 3 General Carl Andrew Spaatz had commanded the American air forces in Europe during World War II. General Sir John Francis Martin ("Jock") Whiteley had been SHAEF Assistant G-3 at the end of World War II. Following the war he had served as commandant of the National Defense College and Canadian Army Staff College, Canada, and as Deputy C.I.G.S. He was chairman of the British Joint Services Mission in Washington and was the United Kingdom representative on the Standing Group of the Military Committee of NATO from 1953 - 1956, when he retired. 4 Strong said he might be in the United States in January or February. As it turned out, Strong would not visit the President until December 1960. On January 15 Eisenhower and Smith would hold an off-the-record meeting at the White House. For developments on the reunion see no. 1194. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal To Walter Bedell Smith, 3 January 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 991. 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/991.cfm <--PREV Doc #990  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #992

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