Eisenhower (74 page)

36
“a highly practical decision”:
Brownell,
Advising Ike
, p. 225.

37
“I can’t imagine”:
July 17, 1957, news conference, APP.

38
“this does not mean”:
Ibid. See also
Time
, Aug. 19, 1957.

39
“just plain miserable”:
DDE to Adams, note, Sept. 3, 1957, doc. 320, HP.

40
as soon as the Court detailed the rules: Cooper v. Aaron
, 358 U.S. 1 (1958).

41
“with all deliberate speed”:
Ibid.

42
“the best for the interests of all pupils in the District”:
Ibid.

43
southern political campaigns of that era:
For a concise summary of Faubus’s rise to political power, see
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
, at
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/
encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=102
.

44
would never cave:
Brownell,
Advising Ike
, p. 209.

45
“breathing room”:
Ibid.

46
not to find the governor in contempt:
Oct. 8, 1957, entry memorializing meeting of Sept. 14, 1957, Little Rock (2) folder, box 23, Administration Series, Whitman File.

47
“In any area where the federal government”:
Ibid.

48
“Just because I said it”:
Reed,
Faubus
, p. 219.

49
Faubus continued to resist:
Statements by Eisenhower and Faubus, Sept. 14, 1957, Civil Rights (2) folder, box 6, Gerald Morgan Records, Whitman File.

50
subordinate who had failed him in battle:
Brownell,
Advising Ike
, p. 210.

51
“a small-town politician”:
Oral history with Brownell.

52
“not legally sufficient”: New York Times
, Sept. 21, 1954. Some accounts of this episode suggest that Faubus attended the hearing. The
Times
and other contemporary descriptions make clear that he did not.

53
a governors’ conference at Sea Island, Georgia:
Reed,
Faubus
, p. 222.

54
played three hours of bridge:
Sept. 22, 1957, Presidential Appointment Books.

55
beat Allen and Robinson by thirty-six points:
Slater,
The Ike I Knew
, p. 160.

56
“I hope they bring out”:
Reed,
Faubus
, p. 225.

57
Song of the South: Sept. 23, 1957, Presidential Appointment Books.

58
withdrawn from the scene by Faubus:
Calls of Sept. 24, 1957, Sept. 1957 Telephone Calls, box 27, DDE Diary Series, Whitman File.

59
he signed the order: New York Times
, Sept. 25, 1957.

60
before appearing on national television:
Calls of Sept. 25, 1957, Sept. 1957 Telephone Calls, box 27, DDE Diary Series, Whitman File. There is some confusion about the dates in the White House records, which suggest that Eisenhower traveled to Washington on Sept. 25; in fact, he returned on the twenty-fourth and spoke to the nation that evening.

61
he emended it to “instructed”:
Undated draft of speech, copy courtesy of DDEPL, at
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Digital_Documents/LittleRock/New%20PDFs/Little_Rock_speech_draft.pdf
.

62
“If resistance to the Federal Court order”:
Transcript of the address courtesy of DDEPL, at
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Digital_Documents/LittleRock/New%20PDFs/Press_release_92457.pdf
.

63
he called to check on Mamie:
Calls of Sept. 25, 1957, Sept. 1957 Telephone Calls, box 27, DDE Diary Series, Whitman File.

64
Martin Luther King Jr.:
Reed,
Faubus
, p. 235.

65
at the height of the confrontation:
See, for instance, DDE to William M. Shepherd, telegram, Oct. 3, 1957, doc. 367, HP.

66
“I shall be forever thankful”:
Resignation letter, Oct. 23, 1957, The President—Resignation Letter folder, box 55, Brownell Papers.

67
collaboration and mutual suspicion:
The description of this reception is drawn largely from Launius, “Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age.”

68
“I’ve just been informed”:
Ibid., at
http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/sputorig.html
.

69
The Soviets beamed: New York Times
, Oct. 5, 1957.

70
circle the earth every ninety-five minutes:
Technical specifications come from
Pravda
, Oct. 5, 1957, reprinted at NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters.

71
over obligation to the federal government: New York Times
, Oct. 5, 1957.

72
to respond to reports of the Soviet satellite:
Oct. 4, 1956, Presidential Appointment Books.

73
remind critics of his arrogance:
Hauge, oral history interview, p. 125.

74
“The peculiar nature”:
Undated memo but written one week after
Sputnik
launch, Special Projects: Sputnik, Missiles, and Related Matters, box 35, White House Office of the Staff Research Group, DDEPL.

75
filthy, disease-ravaged tunnels:
Neufeld,
Von Braun
, pp. 159–60.

76
speak directly with Eisenhower but was turned down:
Ibid., p. 203.

77
“I am convinced”:
Ibid., p. 310.

78
“If you go back to Washington”:
Ibid., p. 311.

79
“Muttnik”: New York Times
, Nov. 4, 1957.

80
“Flopnik”:
Launius, “Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Race.”

81
“The enervating suspense was over”:
Adams, unpublished MS, p. 1146.

82
“That’s wonderful”: New York Times
, Feb. 1, 1958.

83
dedicated to putting a man in space:
Dates from NASA timeline, at
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/
pao/History/Timeline/1958.html
.

84
fought back tears:
Adams, unpublished MS, p. 1173.

85
He stomped out:
Ibid., p. 1176.

86
“the light of her life lay ill upstairs”:
Susan Eisenhower,
Mrs. Ike
, pp. 296–97.

87
he struggled for a word:
Whitman, Nov. 25–27, 1957, entries, Present Illness of the President, box 9, ACW Diary Series, Whitman File.

88
dispatch American troops:
DDE, Message to Congress, Jan. 5, 1957, APP.

89
“Experience shows”:
Ibid.

90
“American protectorate”:
DDE,
Waging Peace
, p. 181.

CHAPTER
14:
NUCLEAR INTERLUDE

  
1
“Total war”:
Estimate of the Situation, p. 22, annex to NSC 5602/1—Basic National Security Policy, box 17, Policy Papers Subseries, NSC Series, White House Office, Office of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, DDEPL.

  
2
“Wait a minute, boys”:
John Eisenhower, interview with author, Oct. 7, 2010.

  
3
“You might as well go out”:
Ann Whitman, March 5, 1959, entry, March 1959 (2) folder, box 10, ACW Diary Series, Whitman File.

  
4
“In 1953, Soviet capability”:
John Eisenhower, interview with author, Oct. 7, 2010.

  
5
“virtually cease to exist”:
Slater,
The Ike I Knew
, p. 126.

  
6
“perhaps the richest”:
Craig,
Destroying the Village
, p. 56.

  
7
“Inability to use these weapons”:
277th NSC Meeting, Feb. 27, 1956, box 7, NSC Series, Whitman File.

  
8
immediately constitute a general war:
The preceding references to the discussion of the NSC are drawn from ibid.

  
9
Eisenhower’s language intact, was approved:
325th NSC Meeting, May 27, 1957, box 8, NSC Series, Whitman File.

10
“We want to be able to treat”:
Cutler to DDE, memo, Aug. 7, 1957, Limited War folder, box 3, Subject Subseries, OCB Series, White House Office, Office of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs.

11
“The evidence clearly indicates”:
A copy of the full report is available at:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv
/NSAEBB/NSAEBB139/nitze02.pdf
.

12
“remake a way of life in our own country”:
Ibid.

13
“when and how nuclear weapons”:
Ibid.

14
“It looked to the President”:
Sherman Adams, unpublished MS, p. 1162, Adams Papers.

15
“Maximum massive retaliation”:
Memorandum of Conference with the President, Nov. 4, 1957, in
FRUS
, vol. 19, p. 621.

16
“Was the Panel proposing”:
343rd NSC Meeting, Nov. 7, 1957, in ibid., p. 632.

17
willing to court its own destruction:
Memorandum of Conversation between the President and the Secretary of State, Nov. 7, 1957, in ibid., p. 638.

18
“would be smashed”:
Whitman, Nov. 9, 1957, entry, Nov. 1957 folder, box 9, ACW Diary Series, Whitman File.

19
almost certainly Nitze:
Asked years later by a collaborator on his memoir how the report ended up in the hands of the
Washington Post
, Nitze at first declined to answer, then added that he assumed the reporter must have gotten it “from several sources.” See Thompson,
The Hawk and the Dove
, p. 166.

20
“I’m the only Army general”:
Nov. 16, 1959, entry, Transcript of Diary, 1959–60, Nov. 1959 folder, Kistiakowsky Papers.

21
“we will finish it”:
394th NSC Meeting, Jan. 22, 1959, box 11, NSC Series, Whitman File.