Beschreibung:

EISENHOWER, DWIGHT DAVID, President . Typed letter signed ("Ike E") as U.S. Army Chief of Staff, to Earl M. Price in Bakersfield, California; Washington, 31 October 1947. 2 1/2 pages, 4to, on printed War Department stationery, staple holes at upper left corners , "Personal and Confidential" typed at head. "I WANT NO PART OF ANY POLITICAL JOB" An unusually lengthy and outspoken letter, written to a former West Point classmate three months before Eisenhower's resignation from the army. The General responds with more than a hint of irritation to a critical letter from Price and adamantly denies, above all, any interest in running for political office: "...First of all, you seem to think that I have been rather a shrinking violet in supporting Universal Military Training. I could send you a whole list of Congressional hearings, public speeches and records of press conferences in which I have battled for UMT ever since our 1943 campaigns in Africa. [Accompanying the letter is a photocopy of a typed list by Eisenhower, quoting at length from four letters or speeches from June 1945 to August 1947.] In fact, I kept talking when many real friends of UMT suggested that I keep still - their advice being based on their own conclusions as to expediency at a moment when so many other subjects were engaging the attention of the Congress and the public. I have not waited for anyone else to suggest a lead in this line..when you intimate that any cause for which I have labored so long and so hard has only recently been undertaken as a matter of convenience, there is plenty of evidence in the record to show that you are mistaken... "You devoted a considerable portion of your letter to discussing political affairs, more particularly as they might affect me personally. It is true that numbers of friends, acquaintances, or old associates around the country have done some talking about the possibility of my standing for political office. This has happened to every man who ever had his name favorably mentioned in the newspapers and I see no reason for my getting particularly excited about it except to say what I have already said, and mean, that I want no part of any political job . Since no man--at least since Washington's day--has ever gone into high political office except with his own consent, indeed with his own connivance, I feel perfectly secure in my position and I do not consider it either appropriate or in good taste that I say another word about it. If ever you find any statement anywhere that purports to quote me as saying that I want a political office, and I mean now or in the future, then you send it on to me and remind me of this statement. You seem to be impressed greatly with what Sherman said as applicable to any citizen whose name might be casually mentioned for political office ["If nominated I will not accept; if elected I will not serve"]. Did you ever look up the circumstances under which he said it? For 20 years many people hounded Sherman to take a part in politics and he steadfastly refused. Finally in 1884 a political convention was actually in session. It deadlocked. The bosses communicated with him and asked him to step in as the one person around whom all might unite. Of course, under these circumstance, it was appropriate and proper for him to say exactly what he did... "Frankly, the reason I am trying to point out these things in some detail is because you state that I have been guilty of double-talk. I am astonished that at this distance and considering the number of years that have elapsed since last I saw you, you should feel yourself so competent to pass such firm and unfavorable judgement upon an old classmate. Although I can agree with your generalization that plenty of double-talk does come out of Washington, I do not see why that circumstance alone convicts everyone who is compelled to serve here. I have never evaded a legitimate question or consciously lied to the press or the public... Enough of that!..