細節
EISENHOWER, Dwight. Typed letter signed ("Dwight D. Eisenhower") to Edgar A. Moss, Augusta, Georgia, 10 November 1964. 1 page, 4to, on personal stationery, with original envelope.
EISENHOWER ANGRILY REACTS TO STORY ABOUT HOMOSEXUALS IN HIS 1952 CAMPAIGN
The retired President's golfing trip to his beloved Augusta was marred by a letter from Edgar A. Moss, who passed along a Drew Pearson column that tried to draw a parallel to the arrest in October 1964 of LBJ aide Walter Jenkins, for soliciting an undercover policeman in a Lafayette Park men's room. Pearson charged Eisenhower's "closest assistant" in the 1952 campaign, Arthur Vandenberg, Jr., the Michigan Senator's son, was also homosexual, and had enjoyed access to classified briefings. Pearson claimed "Arthur was scheduled to become No. 1 assistant to the new President," until someone went through his security file "and he was eased out." Moss wrote asking for Eisenhower's comment, and got this indignant reply.
"I am astonished that you would have any confidence whatsoever in anything written by the columnist whose story about homosexuals you sent to me. As to his allegations about a man who was part of my political campaign in 1952 the following is fact: 1) The man mentioned in the clipping was never a part of my Administration; he never had even a temporary office or assignment in the White House. Before any individual was appointed to the White House Staff or to any important post in my Administration the Federal Bureau of Investigation made a full field check of his entire life and cleared him as to character and habits. During the campaign of 1952 I was occasionally 'briefed' on the Korean War but only on an individual and secret basis. No assistant or associate of mine ever had any access to that information or any knowledge of governmental affairs at that time. Moreover, so far as I know, no proof of any misconduct on his part was ever provided between election and inauguration. He went on to other occupations that had nothing to do with government and I think it despicable for anyone to report or write such dirty gossip unless some benefit to the public thus should be served." The issue of homosexuals in government was a thread woven through much of the politics of the 1950s, a period which historians are now calling the "Lavender Scare," second only in intensity to the "Red Scare" purge of Communists and suspected fellow-travelers.
EISENHOWER ANGRILY REACTS TO STORY ABOUT HOMOSEXUALS IN HIS 1952 CAMPAIGN
The retired President's golfing trip to his beloved Augusta was marred by a letter from Edgar A. Moss, who passed along a Drew Pearson column that tried to draw a parallel to the arrest in October 1964 of LBJ aide Walter Jenkins, for soliciting an undercover policeman in a Lafayette Park men's room. Pearson charged Eisenhower's "closest assistant" in the 1952 campaign, Arthur Vandenberg, Jr., the Michigan Senator's son, was also homosexual, and had enjoyed access to classified briefings. Pearson claimed "Arthur was scheduled to become No. 1 assistant to the new President," until someone went through his security file "and he was eased out." Moss wrote asking for Eisenhower's comment, and got this indignant reply.
"I am astonished that you would have any confidence whatsoever in anything written by the columnist whose story about homosexuals you sent to me. As to his allegations about a man who was part of my political campaign in 1952 the following is fact: 1) The man mentioned in the clipping was never a part of my Administration; he never had even a temporary office or assignment in the White House. Before any individual was appointed to the White House Staff or to any important post in my Administration the Federal Bureau of Investigation made a full field check of his entire life and cleared him as to character and habits. During the campaign of 1952 I was occasionally 'briefed' on the Korean War but only on an individual and secret basis. No assistant or associate of mine ever had any access to that information or any knowledge of governmental affairs at that time. Moreover, so far as I know, no proof of any misconduct on his part was ever provided between election and inauguration. He went on to other occupations that had nothing to do with government and I think it despicable for anyone to report or write such dirty gossip unless some benefit to the public thus should be served." The issue of homosexuals in government was a thread woven through much of the politics of the 1950s, a period which historians are now calling the "Lavender Scare," second only in intensity to the "Red Scare" purge of Communists and suspected fellow-travelers.