Eisenhower (66 page)

10
claiming the center and east coast:
“The Korean War,” in
American Military History
, p. 547.

11
“All Korea,” he warned, “is lost”:
John Allison,
Ambassador from the Prairie
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973), p. 137.

12
several moments of silence:
Notes of June 26, 1950, meeting of Truman, Acheson, and congressional leaders, George M. Elsey Papers, HSTL.

13
daunting seawalls:
“Korean War,” p. 556.

14
“Few people”:
Halberstam,
Coldest Winter
, p. 311.

15
“no stopping MacArthur now”:
Weintraub,
MacArthur’s War
, p. 163 (also quoted in Halberstam,
Coldest Winter
, p. 331).

16
“If Korea were completely occupied”:
This cable is included in Mao Zedong’s
Manuscripts Since the Founding of the People’s Republic
. It is unclear whether Stalin received it. An alternative cable included in Russian files from the period suggests that China was reluctant to commit its forces as of that day. The difference may be explained by divisions within the Chinese leadership at that point. For a discussion of this issue, see Shen Zhihua, “The Discrepancy Between the Russian and Chinese Versions of Mao’s 2 October 1950 Message to Stalin on Chinese Entry into the Korean War: A Chinese Scholar’s Reply,”
Cold War International History Project Bulletin
(Winter 1996–97), p. 237.

17
MacArthur disregarded the threat:
Weintraub,
MacArthur’s War
, p. 207.

18
were stashed for the Chinese:
Ibid., p. 209.

19
MacArthur’s headquarters ignored the warning:
Ibid., p. 210.

20
“Anything MacArthur wanted”:
Ibid., p. 211.

21
“are not coming in”:
Ridgway,
Korean War
, p. 254.

22
“MacArthur seemed at the time”:
Ibid., p. 153.

23
“I am going to maintain silence”:
DDE to Clay, April 16, 1951, Lucius D. Clay (7) folder, box 24, Principal File, Pre-presidential Papers, DDEPL.

24
by December 31 of that year:
April 23, 1951, memo for the Executive Secretary, National Security Council, NSC 114–2 (1) folder, box 8, Disaster File, White House Office, NSC Staff Papers, 1948–61, DDEPL.

25
raised the American flag: Stars and Stripes
, Dec. 6, 1952, p. 16.

26
so as to avoid attention: New York Times
, Dec. 6, 1952.

27
traveled fast in the cold air:
Ibid.

28
“Police action, hell”: Stars and Stripes
, Dec. 6, 1952, p. 16.

29
“He’s the man to do it”:
Don Whitehead, “The Great Deception,” p. 12, The Korea Trip (1), box 11, Hagerty Papers.

30
“before being captured”:
Op-Ed,
New York Times
, Sept. 27, 2008. John Eisenhower also describes this understanding in his memoir,
Strictly Personal
.

31
“It would probably become necessary”:
Memorandum on Ending the Korean War, Dec. 15, 1952, Douglas MacArthur folder, box 25, Administration Series, Whitman File.

32
“a piece of demagoguery”:
Dec. 11, 1952, news conference, APP.

33
“dog and pony act”:
Adams, oral history interview, p. 16.

34
“To the best of my recollection”:
Ibid., p. 127.

35
“Dull, Duller, Dulles”:
Hughes,
Ordeal of Power
, p. 251.

36
“the brisk nodding of the head”:
Ibid., p. 51.

37
“He is not particularly persuasive”:
DDE, entry for May 14, 1953, in
Diaries
, p. 237.

38
“because for years I thought”:
SecDef Histories,
www.defenselink.mil/specials/
secdef_histories/bios/wilson.htm
.

39
“Mr. Wilson is prone”:
DDE, entry for May 14, 1953, in
Diaries
, p. 237.

40
“I see you part your hair”:
Parmet,
Eisenhower and the American Crusades
, p. 183.

41
decades as its president:
See M. A. Hanna Company official history. Obtained by author from company headquarters, Cleveland, Ohio.

42
“If you’re going to live”:
Parmet,
Eisenhower and the American Crusades
, p. 183.

43
“When George speaks”:
Saginaw Hall of Fame entry for Humphrey.

44
“a sound business type”:
DDE, entry for May 14, 1953, in
Diaries
, p. 237.

45
Brownell did not forget: Time
, May 30, 1957.

46
“It would be natural to suppose”:
DDE, entry for May 14, 1953, in
Diaries
, p. 239.

47
before heading to the office: Time
, May 7, 1956.

48
“give us men with a mandate”:
Ibid.

49
take her to the hospital:
Biographical sketch of Hobby, Fondren Library, Rice University, at
http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/digital-archive-information/online-exhilbits/oveta-culp-hobby-and-the-women-s-army-corps-exhibit/oveta-culp-hobby-biographical-sketch
.

50
turn out the lights:
See Hagerty, oral history interview, for his background and tenure.

51
after a short time in the White House:
DDE,
Mandate for Change
, p. 119.

52
Ike’s trip to Korea:
John L. Helgerson,
Getting to Know the President: CIA Briefings of Presidential Candidates, 1952–1992
(Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1996).

53
“And I thought”:
Ibid.

54
longest two weeks in history:
Scripps-Howard wire story, July 6, 1956.

55
Whitman opted to drive:
Whitman letter to “Marie,” undated but marked “6/58,” Eisenhower Library Documents (1), box 2, Personal Papers of Whitman.

56
“Your companionship”:
Robinson to DDE, Jan. 21, 1953, Eisenhower (Personal) 1953 folder, box 2, Robinson Papers.

57
“This ability to segregate”:
Slater,
The Ike I Knew
, p. 39.

58
“read it not for praise”:
DDE,
Mandate for Change
, p. 99.

59
“no help”:
DDE, entry for January 16, 1953, in
Diaries
, p. 225.

60
felt it demeaned the ceremony:
Neal,
Harry and Ike
, p. 285.

61
the balance of the ride:
DDE,
Mandate for Change
, p. 101.

62
“The faith we hold”:
DDE, Inaugural Address, APP. Video of the speech is widely available on the Internet.

63
had ever done at an inauguration:
Holt,
Mamie Doud Eisenhower
, p. 59.

64
holing up there for two days:
Jan. 1953, Presidential Appointment Books, DDEPL.

65
“I guess the old gal”:
DDE to Edgar, Feb. 7, 1953, Edgar Eisenhower 1953 (3) folder, box 11, Name Series, Whitman File.

66
seamstress to convert it:
Holt,
Mamie Doud Eisenhower
, p. 63.

67
“reach over and pat Ike”:
Susan Eisenhower,
Mrs. Ike
, p. 276.

68
middle-class affectations:
Ibid., p. 281.

69
surrounded by photographs and papers:
Slater,
The Ike I Knew
, p. 32.

70
concentration and memory:
Ibid., p. 57.

71
“dressing for my husband”:
Susan Eisenhower,
Mrs. Ike
, p. 294.

72
Robert Taft “blew up”:
Dulles and Hagerty, conversation, April 30, 1953, White House Telephone Conversations, Jan. to April 1953, box 10, Telephone Calls Series, Dulles Papers.

73
“one of the worst days”:
DDE, entry for May 1, 1953, in
Diaries
, p. 235.

74
Julius fell in love:
Roberts,
Brother
, p. 40.

75
electrical engineering in early 1939:
Ibid., p. 45.

76
Greenglass slept in:
Ibid., p. 136.

77
“She called our bluff”: New York Times
, Sept. 11, 2008 (the quotation originally appears in Sam Roberts’s mesmerizing 2001 book,
The Brother
. The
New York Times
article also was by Roberts).

78
“I consider your crime”:
Kaufman’s statement appears at the conclusion of the trial record. Copies of the transcript are widely available, including at
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects
/ftrials/rosenb/ROS_TRIA.HTM
.

79
freed in 1969: New York Times
, Jan. 15, 1969.

80
“if anyone … believes”:
Cabinet Meeting, Feb. 12, 1953, box 1, Cabinet Series, White House Office, Office of the Staff Secretary Records, 1952–61, DDEPL (handwritten notes; typed minutes contained in box 1, Cabinet Series, Whitman File).

81
pardon, commutation, or execution:
Reaction was strongly in favor of commuting the Rosenbergs’ sentences and highly critical of Eisenhower for refusing to do so. One batch of telegrams tallied on Feb. 12 showed 436 opposed to Eisenhower’s action compared with 57 in favor of it. See OF 101-R, Amnesty-Pardons (1), Julius and Ethel Rosenberg folder, box 354, Official File, White House Central Files, 1953–61, DDEPL.

82
if the executions were carried out:
Bedell Smith, Memorandum for the President, Rosenberg Case Statement, May 20, 1953, box 32, Administration Series, Whitman File.

83
jeopardized lives and national security:
The historian Stephen Ambrose maintains that there was dissent within his cabinet over the Rosenberg case and that Ike was deeply conflicted at the prospect of allowing Ethel to be put to death. At page 182 of
Ike’s Spies
, for instance, Ambrose writes: “Some of Ike’s most trusted advisers told him he would have to grant a stay of execution because the nation simply could not put to death the mother of small children. Many in the Cabinet recommended clemency.” As the scholar Lori Clune has revealed, Ambrose’s statement is unsupported by cabinet records or any other documents—indeed, those documents all point in the opposite direction—and was contradicted by Brownell in a later oral history interview. Ambrose’s analysis may charitably be regarded as a mistake. At worst, it represents a fabrication.