PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/12/1954 CO-SIGNED BY: LEWIS L. STRAUSS - HFSID 84539

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER and LEWIS L. STRAUSS
The President asks Lewis L. Strauss to get together with him to discuss a letter.
Typed Letter Signed: "D.E." as President and Lewis L. Strauss "LS", 1p, 6¾x8¾. White House letterhead but from Denver, Colorado, 1954 October 12. To Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C. In full: "Enclosed [not present] is a copy of a letter written by a good friend of mine. When I return to Washington, I'd like to discuss with you some of the questions raided in it. With warm regard, Sincerely," Lewis L. Strauss has written in pencil at upper left corner: Discussed with The President 10/27/54" and at lower margin: "The enclosure was written by Floyd Odlerum - presumably to George Allen." Eisenhower and Strauss were longtime friends, political and business associates. On November 13, 1958, Strauss was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Eisenhower. On June 27, 1959, by a vote of 49-46, the U.S. Senate refused to confirm Strauss as Secretary of Commerce, the first Cabinet nominee to be rejected by the Senate since 1925. There was opposition to his appointment because of Strauss' role as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1953-1958). Specifically, in June 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Los Alamos laboratory for atomic research during World War II, was denied security clearance by the Atomic Energy Commission. There were Senators who voted against Strauss' nomination for that reason alone. Twenty-nine years after his West Point graduation (1915), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) received his fifth star and the rank of General of the Army (December 20, 1944). Only the year before, he had been appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (January 1944) and placed in command of the Normandy invasion, "Operation Overlord". An experienced leader, "Ike" had commanded the U.S. Army in Europe from June 1942 to December 1943, during which time he had directed the invasions of North Africa (November 1942) and Sicily (July-August 1943). On May 7, 1945, Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Germany at Rheims. During his two terms as 34th U.S. President (1953-1961), Eisenhower presented his famous "Atoms for Peace" plan to the United Nations (December 1953), issued the Eisenhower Doctrine, which provided aid to Middle-Eastern countries threatened by Communist aggression (January 1957), and dispatched troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce students' civil rights (September 1957). Eisenhower's rank of Five-Star General of the Army was restored in 1961, two months after his presidential term ended. File notes and staple holes at upper left corner. Fine condition.