Details
KENNEDY, John F. Typed draft letter signed ("Jack"), as President, to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Washington, 21 January 1961. 1 page, 8vo, White House stationery, with a penciled emendation.
ON HIS FIRST DAY IN OFFICE, JFK THANKS EISENHOWER FOR A SMOOTH PASSING OF THE GENERATIONAL "TORCH"
In his famed Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy said "Let the world go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans..." and here he thanks former President Eisenhower for a flawless hand-off. "On my first day in office I want to send you a note of special thanks for your many acts of cordiality and assistance during the weeks since the election. I am certain that your generous assistance has made this one of the most effective transitions in the history of our Republic. I have very much enjoyed personally the association which we have had in this common effort. With all good wishes to you and Mrs. Eisenhower in the days ahead."
Eisenhower disparaged Kennedy during the 1960 campaign, thinking him a lightweight and a novice whose success owed more to telegenic looks and a wealthy family than to any intrinsic merits. But after two face-to-face meetings with the President-elect, on 6 December and 19 January, Eisenhower told a friend he was "tremendously impressed" with his successor's grasp of key foreign and domestic issues, such as Cuba, Berlin, Vietnam, the Congressional Budget and arms control matters. Eisenhower also agreed to put several Kennedy staffers into place at key departments such as State and Defense, allowing them to start learning the ropes weeks before the Inauguration. "A framework of good feeling was established," wrote Kennedy aide Ted Sorenson, "and in sharp contrast to the rancor, the cool relations, the absence of communication and the casual indifference which had marked almost all previous Presidential transitions, the Eisenhower-Kennedy transfer was characterized by an atmosphere of cordiality and continuity." It was, in Sorenson's view, the "smoothest transfer of power between opposing parties" (Kennedy, 229-232).
ON HIS FIRST DAY IN OFFICE, JFK THANKS EISENHOWER FOR A SMOOTH PASSING OF THE GENERATIONAL "TORCH"
In his famed Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy said "Let the world go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans..." and here he thanks former President Eisenhower for a flawless hand-off. "On my first day in office I want to send you a note of special thanks for your many acts of cordiality and assistance during the weeks since the election. I am certain that your generous assistance has made this one of the most effective transitions in the history of our Republic. I have very much enjoyed personally the association which we have had in this common effort. With all good wishes to you and Mrs. Eisenhower in the days ahead."
Eisenhower disparaged Kennedy during the 1960 campaign, thinking him a lightweight and a novice whose success owed more to telegenic looks and a wealthy family than to any intrinsic merits. But after two face-to-face meetings with the President-elect, on 6 December and 19 January, Eisenhower told a friend he was "tremendously impressed" with his successor's grasp of key foreign and domestic issues, such as Cuba, Berlin, Vietnam, the Congressional Budget and arms control matters. Eisenhower also agreed to put several Kennedy staffers into place at key departments such as State and Defense, allowing them to start learning the ropes weeks before the Inauguration. "A framework of good feeling was established," wrote Kennedy aide Ted Sorenson, "and in sharp contrast to the rancor, the cool relations, the absence of communication and the casual indifference which had marked almost all previous Presidential transitions, the Eisenhower-Kennedy transfer was characterized by an atmosphere of cordiality and continuity." It was, in Sorenson's view, the "smoothest transfer of power between opposing parties" (Kennedy, 229-232).