Description:

Eisenhower Dwight


President Eisenhower TLS: "I'll speak to Dick Nixon"

 

1p TLS signed by 34th U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) as "DE" near center. Written at the White House, Washington, D.C. on January 11, 1954. Removed from an album, the stationery paper with "The White House, Washington" embossed letterhead has been tastefully mounted on quality beige paper. Expected paper folds and a staple mark at upper left, else near fine. The TLS measures 6.875" x 8.875" while the mat measures 7.125" x 10.375" overall.

 

Eisenhower wrote friend and businessman Barry T. Leithead:

 

"I'll speak to Dick Nixon about the Brand Names speech--but in view of the pressures here in Washington for the next few months, I can't urge him too strenuously to accept. I know he will give the matter his earnest consideration."

 

The Brand Names Foundation was a non-profit organization established in 1943. Its mission was to promote American interests during the Cold War by establishing a direct link between capitalism and democracy. Thus, emphasizing the freedom to choose goods celebrated the American way, and consumers could combat Communism by purchasing name-brand products. To mold public opinion, the Brand Names Foundation hosted conferences and awards ceremonies that highlighted the efforts of the best and brightest American manufacturers, advertisers, and merchants.

 

The search for award recipients culminated in the Brand Names Day Dinner, which was usually held each year in the spring. The Dinner presented a brilliant opportunity for White House representatives like Vice President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) and other mouthpieces of big business to talk about the American economy. The records don't indicate that Vice President Nixon attended the 1954 Brand Names Day Dinner, but dictation discs of a draft of the speech he presented at the April 18, 1956 Dinner are in the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

 

When President Eisenhower wrote about "the pressures here in Washington," he may have been referring to his proposed modifications to the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act presented to Congress that very day. Later that spring, the Eisenhower administration would wrestle with such domestic and foreign policy issues as granting partial rearmament privileges to Japan, the Army-McCarthy hearings, growing tensions in Vietnam, and fallout over the Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education.

 

Barry T. Leithead was the chairman and C.E.O. of Cluett, Peabody and Co., an apparel manufacturer. Leithead had worked his way up the ranks from Chicago floor salesman in 1929 to New York corporate chairman in 1966. A zealous Republican, Leithead fundraised for Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, in the latter year generating $1,000,000 as chairman of the New York State rally. Leithead was also a personal friend and an occasional golfing partner.

 

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