AMBROSE / DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER COLLECTION

 

 

(Mss 153)

 

 

Inventory

 

 

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

 

March 2000

 

 

Contents

 

 

Summary

 

Historical/Biographical Note

 

Container List

 

Index Terms

 

Procedures for Requesting Special Collections Materials

 

 

 

Summary

 

 

Size:                          5.5 linear feet

 

Geographic

locations:                 United States

 

Inclusive dates:      1948-1982

 

Summary:                Photocopies of documents from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas, including Eisenhower's private correspondence, summaries of meetings, minutes of the National Security Council and Cabinet meetings, diary entries by the President and various members of his staff, drafts of speeches, etc.  This collection was accumulated by Dr. Ambrose in the course of his research on the Eisenhower administration, which culminated in several books.

 

Related

collections:              Eisenhower Center Conference Collection (Mss 191); Ambrose / Dwight D. Eisenhower Collection, Addendum 1 (Mss 298)

 

Source:                     Gift, 1983

 

Access:                     No restrictions

 

Copyright:                Physical rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.

 

Citation:                    Ambrose / Dwight D. Eisenhower Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

 

 

 

Historical/Biographical Note

 

 

Source:      The following information has been quoted verbatim from "Contemporary Authors Online."  Biography Resource Center.  Gale Group.  1999.

                        <http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC/hits;$sessionid$PJQZ4EQAABB2VRTQVFZQAAA?NA=Eisenhower%2C+Dwight&OP=full&n=10&c=1&orig Search=true&docType=Biography+Resource+Page&secondary=false&t=KW&s=1&r=s&o=DocTitle&l=7

 

            Following a distinguished military career which culminated in his appointment as commander in chief of the Allied forces in Europe during the Second World War, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected the thirty-fourth President of the United States.  In both his military and political roles, Eisenhower was known as a superb administrator.  He was, Ronald Steel commented in Saturday Review, "a man whose genius lay not in strategy .  .  .  but in an ability to organize, delegate authority, and mediate."  Townsend Hoopes of the Washington Post Book World called Eisenhower "tough, yet wise; decisive, yet careful; not intellectual, but smart.  A natural leader.  He understood and used power with considerable finesse, but with an innate appreciation of its limited efficacy.  .  .  .  He was, above all, a man of proportion who exerted himself to neutralize the extremes of his time."  The eight years of the Eisenhower Administration were a time of economic prosperity, peace, and domestic tranquility.

 

            Eisenhower first came to public attention in 1942 when General George C. Marshall chose him to be commander in chief of the Allied forces fighting Nazi Germany.  Until that assignment, Eisenhower had served as a career army officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the army's War Plans Division.  "There he won the admiration of George Marshall," Steel explained.  Marshall, impressed with Eisenhower's ability to moderate differences among subordinates, promoted him over 366 more senior army officers to the important post of overseeing Allied military efforts in Europe. 

 

            As commander in chief, Eisenhower was in charge of the joint military operations of the United States, Britain, and France in their fight against Nazi Germany.  Running such a massive effort required the ability to satisfy the varied needs and expectations of foreign allies, domestic politicians, and the military leaders of three countries.  Eisenhower, Hoopes remarked, "had a natural gift, unequalled by any of his contemporaries, for diplomatic persuasion." A writer for the Times Literary Supplement maintained that Eisenhower was "a superlative manager of men and an excellent chairman of committees."  Gerald Clarke of Time called him "the ideal choice to lead contentious allies."  By war's end, Eisenhower had become one of the best known and most popular figures in the United States.

 

            This popularity led the Republican party in 1952 to nominate Eisenhower as its presidential candidate.  He won election that year and reelection in 1956, serving a total of eight years as president.  Cabell Phillips of the New York Times Book Review reported that Eisenhower was a popular president: "No President of recent times has enjoyed such sustained and uncritical affection."  As Stephen E. Ambrose commented in the New Republic, "The 1950s saw peace and prosperity, no riots, relatively high employment, a growing GNP, virtually no inflation, no arms race, no great reforms, no great changes, low taxes, little government regulation of industry and commerce, and a president who was trusted and admired."  "Dwight Eisenhower," Steel wrote, "was first in war, peace, and the hearts of his countrymen.  .  .  .  His reputation both as General and as President has become nearly as sacrosanct as the flag."

 

            But at the time of his presidency, Eisenhower was often depicted in the press as a lazy and unsophisticated leader who did little because he was unaware of what to do.  His casual and unassuming style, along with his reluctance to use governmental power except in extreme cases, also won Eisenhower severe criticism.  "Most impartial students of public affairs today," Phillips remarked in 1967, "rate the Eisenhower Presidency rather low on the scale of vigor and accomplishment."

 

            In later years, however, after access to Eisenhower's private papers and diaries had become available, critical evaluation of Eisenhower took a dramatic turn for the better.  Eisenhower's casual leadership style, which had made him seem unconcerned about the nation's affairs to some observers, was reevaluated as a shrewd pose designed to keep his adversaries off balance.  He was "as shrewd and calculating a mind as has ever won a war or run a country," Clarke observed.  "What emerges from the recent studies of Eisenhower," Steel wrote, "is a man of extreme self-assurance, at ease with himself and his convictions.  .  .  .  A man who was skillful to the point of cunning."

 

            When compared to the presidents who followed him, Eisenhower also fared well.  Ambrose maintained that the initial hostility to Eisenhower came from comparing him to his immediate predecessors, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.  But when compared to "his successors rather than his predecessors," wrote Ambrose, Eisenhower would be placed "in the top 10, if not the top five, of all our presidents."  Eisenhower, "to judge from what followed rather than what preceded him, seems a man of decent instincts, incorruptible and unimpressed by titles, .  .  .  and not noticeably afflicted with insecurities," Steel wrote.

 

            Even Eisenhower's critics spoke kindly of him.  Writing in the Saturday Review, Ernest R.  May explained that "admirers and critics of President Eisenhower have held remarkably similar views of him.  Both have thought of him as a kindly, good-natured fellow with sound instincts."  Charles Burton Marshall of the New Republic found that "it is impossible not to like him.  He is thorough, comprehensible, forthright, desirous of everyone's benefit, and mild rather than spiteful.  .  .  .  One wonders whether any President ever better epitomized his nation." Ambrose noted that Presidents Roosevelt and Eisenhower held the unique distinction of having "a higher reputation and broader popularity when they left office than when they entered."  And Hoopes maintained that "as an enduringly popular and trusted American political leader, through thick and thin, [Eisenhower] was without peer in this century."

 

 

Personal Information

 

            Family: Born October 14, 1890, in Denison, Tex.; died March 28, 1969; son of David and Ida Elizabeth (Stover) Eisenhower; married Mamie Geneva Doud, July 1, 1916 (deceased); children: Doud Dwight (deceased), John Sheldon Doud.  Education: West Point Military Academy, graduate, 1915; Command and General Staff College, graduate, 1926; attended Army War College and Army Industrial College.  Politics: Republican.  Religion: Presbyterian.  Avocational Interests: Golf, swimming, fishing, painting, playing bridge, watching western films, Civil War literature.  Thirty-fourth president of the United States.  U.S. Army, commissioned 2nd lieutenant, 1915, executive officer at Camp Gaillard, Canal Zone, 1922-24, member of American Battle Monuments Commission, 1927-29, assistant executive to assistant secretary of war, 1929-33; American Military Mission to Philippine Islands, assistant to General Douglas MacArthur, 1935-39; chief of staff of U.S. Third Army, 1941, appointed commanding general of European theater of operations, 1942, commander in chief of Allied forces, North Africa, 1942-43, supreme commander of Allied Expeditionary Force, 1943-45, Army chief of staff, 1945-48; Columbia University, New York, N.Y., president, 1948-52, on leave, 1950-51; Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C., chairman ex-officio, 1950-51; NATO commander of Allied powers in Europe, 1951-52; elected president of the United States as Republican party candidate, 1952, reelected, 1956, retired, 1961.

 

 

Works by Eisenhower (listed chronologically)

 

Eisenhower's Own Story of the War: The Complete Report by the Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, on the War in Europe from the Day of Invasion to the Day of Victory.  New York: Arco, 1946.  Also published as Report by the Supreme Commander to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations in Europe of the Allied Expeditionary Force, 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945.  Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.

 

Crusade in Europe.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1948.

 

The White House Years. Volume I: Mandate for Change, 1953-56.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963.  Volume II: Waging Peace, 1956-61, 1965.

 

Sir Winston Churchill: Champion of Freedom.  Marble Hill Press, 1965.

 

At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967.

 

In Review, Pictures I've Kept: A Concise Pictorial Autobiography.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969.

 

Letters to Mamie.  Edited by John S. D. Eisenhower.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978.

 

The Eisenhower Diaries.  Edited by Robert H. Ferrell.  New York: Norton, 1981.

 

Ike's Letters to a Friend.  Edited with introduction by Robert Griffith.  Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1984.

 

Atoms for Peace: Dwight D. Eisenhower's Address to the United Nations.  Introduction by Jack M. Holl and Roger M. Anders.  Washington: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989.

 

The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence.  Edited By Peter G. Boyle.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.

 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Office Files, 1953-1961.  Edited by Robert E. Lester.  Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1990.

 

            Collections

 

Eisenhower Speaks: Excerpts from the General's Speeches, with a Biographical Sketch.  Edited by H. S. Bagger.  Interallied, 1946.

 

Eisenhower Speaks: Dwight D. Eisenhower in His Messages and Speeches.  Edited by Rudolph Treuenfels.  New York: Farrar, Straus, 1948.

 

Peace with Justice: Selected Addresses.  New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.

 

The Quotable Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Edited by Elsie Gollagher and others. Anderson, SC: Droke, 1967.

 

The Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower: The War Years.  Edited by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. and others.  5 vols.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970.

 

Selected Speeches of Dwight David Eisenhower, Thirty-fourth President of the United States, Selected from Three Principal Periods of His Life: As Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the War Years, as Supreme NATO Commander, and as President.  Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.

 

Dear General: Eisenhower's Wartime Letters to Marshall.  Edited by Joseph Patrick Hobbs.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971.

 

Ike: A Great American.  Edited by Don Ramsey, with an introduction by Mamie Doud Eisenhower.  Hallmark, 1972.

 

Eisenhower Declassified.  Edited by V. Pinkley and J. F. Scheer.  Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 1979.

 

The Declassified Eisenhower.  Edited by Blanche Wiesen Cook. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.

 

The Wisdom of Dwight D. Eisenhower: Quotations from Ike's Speeches and Writings, 1939-1969.  Selected by Stephen E. Ambrose.  New Orleans, LA: Eisenhower Center, 1990.

 

 

Books about Eisenhower by Stephen E. Ambrose (listed chronologically)

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  D-Day: The Climactic Battle of World War II.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  Eisenhower.  Vol. 1: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890-1952.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.  Vol. 2: The President, 1984.

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945: The Decision to Halt at the Elbe.  New York: Norton, 1967.

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  Ike: Abilene to Berlin; The Life of Dwight D. Eisenhower from His Childhood in Abilene, Kansas, through His Command of the Allied Forces in Europe in World War II.  New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  Ike's Spies: Eisenhower and the Espionage Establishment.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  The Supreme Commander: The War Years of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971.

 

Ambrose, Stephen E.  The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys, the Men of World War II.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.

 

 

Selected Books about Eisenhower by Other Authors

 

Benson, Ezra.  Cross-Fire: The Eight Years with Eisenhower.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962.

 

Childs, Marquis W.  Eisenhower, Captive Hero: A Critical Study of the General and the President.  New York: Harcourt, 1958.

 

Collection of Manuscripts and Archives in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.  Washington: U.S. National Archives and Records Service, 1970.

 

Davis, Kenneth.  Soldier of Democracy.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1945.

 

Divine, Robert A.  Eisenhower and the Cold War.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

 

Dockrill, Saki.  Eisenhower's New Look National Security Policy, 1953-1961.  Houndsmill, Hampshire, Eng.: Macmillan Press, 1996.

 

Donovan, Robert.  Eisenhower: The Inside Story.  New York: Harper, 1956.

 

Durham, J. C.  A Moderate among Extremists.  Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981.

 

Eisenhower, David.  Eisenhower at War, 1943-1945.  New York: Vintage Books, 1986.

 

Eisenhower, Dwight D.  The White House Years.  Volume I: Mandate for Change, 1953-56.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963.  Volume II: Waging Peace, 1956-61.  1965.

 

Eisenhower, Dwight D.  The Eisenhower Diaries.  Edited by Robert H. Ferrell.  New York: Norton, 1981.

 

Eisenhower, Dwight D.  Crusade in Europe.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1948.

 

Eisenhower, John S. D.  Strictly Personal.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974.

 

Ewald, William Bragg, Jr.  Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981.

 

Gelb, Norman.  Ike and Monty: General at War.  New York: Morrow, 1994.

 

Gunther, John.  Eisenhower: The Man and the Symbol.  New York: Harper, 1952.

 

Hatch, Alden.  General Ike.  New York: Holt, 1952.

 

Hatch, Alden.  Young Ike.  New York: Messner, 1953.

 

Hicks, Wilson.  This Is Ike.  New York: Holt, 1952.

 

Historical Materials in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library.  Washington: U.S. National Archives and Records Service, 1972.

 

Lasby, Clarence G.  Eisenhower's Heart Attack: How Ike Beat Heart Disease and Held on to the Presidency.  Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997.

 

Lee, R. A.  Eisenhower.  Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981.

 

Lovelace, D. W.  Ike Eisenhower: Statesman and Soldier of Peace.  New York: Crowell, 1956.

 

Miller, Merle.  Ike the Soldier: As They Knew Him.  New York: Putnam, 1987.

 

Pusey, Merlo.  Eisenhower, the President.  New York: Macmillan, 1956.

 

Rovere, Richard.  The Eisenhower Years: Affairs of State.  New York: Farrar, Straus, 1956.

 

Smith, Walter.  Eisenhower's Six Great Decisions: Europe, 1944-45.  New York: Longmans, Green, 1956.

 

Stassen, Harold and Marshall Houts.  Eisenhower: Turning the World Toward Peace.  St. Paul, MN: Merrill and Magnus, 1990.

 

Taylor, Allan, ed.  What Eisenhower Thinks.  New York: Crowell, 1952.

 

Vexler, Robert, ed.  Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969: Chronology, Documents, Bibliographical Aids.  Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana, 1970.

 

Weigley, Russell F.  Eisenhower's Lieutenants.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.

 

 

 

Container List

 

 

Headings listed below are the original headings given to the files by Dr. Ambrose, insofar as they could be determined.  Some of the original folders were no longer available when the collection was refoldered in 2000.  In cases of doubt, every effort was made to follow the sort of pattern Dr. Ambrose had used.

 

 

Box 1

 

153-1, 152-2              n.d.

 

153-3                          October - December 1948.

 

153-4                          January - June 1949.

 

153-5                          July - December 1949.

 

153-6                          January - June 1950.

 

153-7                          July - December 1950.

 

153-8                          January - March 1951.

 

153-9                          April - June 1951.

 

 

Box 2

 

153-10                        July - September 1951.

 

153-11, 153-12         October - December 1951.

 

153-13 - 153-15        January - March 1952.

 

153-16                        April - May 1952.

 

153-17                        "Ann Whitman File Political Campaign Series Except Political Speeches '52".

 

153-18                        June - August 1952.

 

 

Box 3

 

153-19                        September - December 1952.

 

153-20, 153-21         January - March 1953.

 

153-22                        April 1953.

 

153-23                        May 1953.

 

153-24                        June 1953.

 

153-25                        July 1953.

 

153-26                        August 1953.

 

153-27                        September 1953.

 

153-28                        October 1953.

 

 

Box 4

 

153-29                        November 1953.

 

153-30                        December 1953.

 

153-31                        January 1954.

 

153-32                        February 1954.

 

153-33                        March 1954.

 

153-34                        April 1954.

 

153-35                        May 1954.

 

153-36                        "Schlesinger."

 

153-37                        June 1954.

 

153-38                        July 1954.

 

 

Box 5

 

153-39                        August 1954.

 

153-40                        September 1954.

 

153-41                        October 1954.

 

153-42                        November 1954.

 

153-43                        December 1954.

 

153-44                        "Public Papers 1955".

 

153-45 - 153-47        January - March 1955.

 

153-48, 153-49         April - June 1955.

 

 

Box 6

 

153-50                        July - September 1955.

 

153-51                        October - December 1955.

 

153-52 - 153-55        January - March 1956.

 

153-56                        April - June 1956.

 

153-57                        July - September 1956.

 

 

Box 7

 

153-58 - 153-59        October - December 1956.

 

153-60, 153-61         January - March 1957.

 

153-62, 153-63         April - June 1957.

 

153-64                        July - September 1957.

 

153-65                        October - December 1957.

 

 

Box 8

 

153-66                        January 1958.

 

153-67                        February 1958.

 

153-68                        March 1958.

 

153-69                        April 1958.

 

153-70                        May 1958.

 

153-71                        June 1958.