Beschreibung:

ARCHIVE OF EISENHOWER LETTERS TO C0-FOUNDER OF AUGUSTA NATIONAL GOLF CLUB. 248 Typed Letters Signed (“Dwight Eisenhower,” “Ike,” “Ike E,” “D.E.,” “D.D.E.” and “Coronary Ike”), 309 pp, 4to, various places including New York, Paris, Washington, Gettysburg, and Indio, January 5, 1949 to December 28, 1968, to Clifford Roberts, on personal and professional letterhead, including mint green White House stationery, some thumbing and creasing throughout; many letters with carbons of Roberts’ response. Together with 4 unsigned Eisenhower letters; 7 Western Union telegrams from Eisenhower to Roberts, 1948-1962, being thank-yous, congratulations, and invitations; and related correspondence from Eisenhower staffers. This lot features a phenomenal collection of Eisenhower correspondence, dating from the early years of his friendship with Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts, through both administrations, to Ike’s retirement years. From the moment they met in 1948 when Eisenhower was a guest at the Augusta National, Roberts and Ike shared a mutual passion for golf, bridge, and conservative politics. It was Roberts who prepared a memo in 1950 enumerating the reasons why Ike should pursue the presidency, and it was he who served as a trusted advisor throughout the campaign and administrations. From December 8, 1951, as Eisenhower is feeling the pressure to enter the Presidential race, he writes: “There has apparently arisen a crisis in the whole effort that is being made a home to drag me into the political field. This crisis involves a growing conviction on the part of ‘political engineers’ that I must, as of now, make a positive announcement of political intent. Otherwise, I am told, the whole effort is hopeless. / As you know, I simply am not going to do any such thing. To my mind, it would be a dereliction in duty—almost a violation of my oath of office. This brings into a head-on collision the convictions of the practical politician as to what are the conditions prerequisite to nomination and my determination to do my present duty … It has always worried me to realize that too many people did not believe me when I told them I do not want a political career and, moreover, that I would do nothing of any kind to get a nomination. I have promised only that I would not repudiate their efforts.” A month later, after Senator Henry Cabot Lodge bumbles the announcement of Eisenhower’s entry into the New Hampshire primary, Ike writes Roberts: “Just after Senator Lodge issued his statement and so made it necessary, in my opinion, for me to break my own silence (a conclusion that caused me a bit of bitter resentment), I wrote to Lucius Clay to say, ‘No more of this.’ I earnestly hope that interested individuals realize that if any attempt is made to push me beyond the limits set by my own ideas of my duty there will be an explosion … there is one thing I do not understand; It is the difficulty that politicians at home have in understanding why it is important to the United States for me to stay here. (In fact, it would appear that they could make a virtue out of this decision.) As you say, the average man in the street considers that the Presidency overshadows any other duty in importance. But beyond this, he also instinctively believes that every American would rather be President than to do anything else whatsoever, no matter what the circumstances. Because he does believe this, it seems to me that he would have no trouble concluding that the refusal of another individual to struggle for the position would imply at least a respectable sense of duty.” Once elected, Eisenhower writes frequently of congressional issues. In a letter dated December 7, 1954, he comments on the recent censure vote against Senator Joseph McCarthy: ”The number of Republican Senators who voted against censure for McCarthy indicates that in that body the so-called splinter group may constitute almost half of the entire party representation. However, I think it is true