Details
EISENHOWER, Dwight D. Typed letter signed ("Dwight D. Eisenhower"), and initialed postscript ("D. E."), as Supreme NATO Commander, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe, 8 March 1952. Two and a half pages, 4to, on personal stationery.
EISENHOWER PRACTICALLY BEGS FOR A "COMPELLING CALL...BY HIGHER AUTHORITY" TO SUMMON HIM HOME FOR THE 1952 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
A savvy Eisenhower claims to still be sitting on the fence about seeking the White House, but his lengthy letter to a GOP Congressman reveals his true ambitions: "I am personally touched and moved by the honor you do me," he writes, and "by the importance of the services in the political field you believe I could render to America's present and future." Yet he seems to throw cold water on any presidential prospects when he says: "no other job or mission that I can discharge seems more important than the one in which I am now engaged [as NATO commander]. My own personal inclinations, the advice of loyal associates and warm friends, the possibilities that lie ahead--none of these can be permitted to outweigh an inescapable and present duty."
In the very next breath, however, he says: "Of course, I am NOT indispensable to the success of NATO and SHAPE--even if at one time many may have thought me so." And he feels confident that "should I walk out of this headquarters tomorrow, the mission would be carried on by competent hands--carried on successfully." Then Eisenhower's not so subtle plea: if he received "a clear-cut call to another and higher duty, a call that is traditionally and universally recognized as the voice of the American people speaking through a national convention," then he would run. "Such a call imposes an obligation of citizenship on the man so honored." In the absence of such "a compelling call...by higher authority" he would stay put. But Congressman Hope would have been a poor politician if he did not hear Ike practically commanding such a summons from the party faithful back home.
They got the message. The party bosses put his name on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary in March. Eisenhower won without setting foot in the state or shaking a single voter's hand. That was the "summons" he wanted. He packed up his bags, turned in his General stars and jumped into the campaign, easily besting Robert Taft and Henry Cabot Lodge for the nomination and trouncing Adlai Stevenson in November to win the White House.
EISENHOWER PRACTICALLY BEGS FOR A "COMPELLING CALL...BY HIGHER AUTHORITY" TO SUMMON HIM HOME FOR THE 1952 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
A savvy Eisenhower claims to still be sitting on the fence about seeking the White House, but his lengthy letter to a GOP Congressman reveals his true ambitions: "I am personally touched and moved by the honor you do me," he writes, and "by the importance of the services in the political field you believe I could render to America's present and future." Yet he seems to throw cold water on any presidential prospects when he says: "no other job or mission that I can discharge seems more important than the one in which I am now engaged [as NATO commander]. My own personal inclinations, the advice of loyal associates and warm friends, the possibilities that lie ahead--none of these can be permitted to outweigh an inescapable and present duty."
In the very next breath, however, he says: "Of course, I am NOT indispensable to the success of NATO and SHAPE--even if at one time many may have thought me so." And he feels confident that "should I walk out of this headquarters tomorrow, the mission would be carried on by competent hands--carried on successfully." Then Eisenhower's not so subtle plea: if he received "a clear-cut call to another and higher duty, a call that is traditionally and universally recognized as the voice of the American people speaking through a national convention," then he would run. "Such a call imposes an obligation of citizenship on the man so honored." In the absence of such "a compelling call...by higher authority" he would stay put. But Congressman Hope would have been a poor politician if he did not hear Ike practically commanding such a summons from the party faithful back home.
They got the message. The party bosses put his name on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary in March. Eisenhower won without setting foot in the state or shaking a single voter's hand. That was the "summons" he wanted. He packed up his bags, turned in his General stars and jumped into the campaign, easily besting Robert Taft and Henry Cabot Lodge for the nomination and trouncing Adlai Stevenson in November to win the White House.