Happy Flag Day!
Letter from Sheryl Byland to President Dwight D. Eisenhower Regarding American Flag Design Suggestion, 10/1958
Baseball great, Jackie Robinson with President Eisenhower and comedian Joe E. Brown at the White House on May 14, 1957.
-from the Eisenhower Library
“I respectfully remind you sir, that we have been the most patient of all people.”
-Letter from Jackie Robinson to President Eisenhower of May 13, 1958
After he retired from Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson went on to champion the cause of civil rights from his position as a prominent executive of the Chock Full o’Nuts Corporation.
Robinson had grown increasingly impatient with what he regarded as President Eisenhower’s failure to act decisively in combating racism. In this letter dated May 13, 1958, he expresses his frustration and calls upon the President to finally guarantee Federal support of black civil rights.
“The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945.
EISENHOWER”
Top secret document sent by General Eisenhower to his superior officers to inform them that his mission was fulfilled - Germany was defeated and the war in Europe was over.
-from the Eisenhower Library
The first Eisenhower Easter Egg Roll will be held Saturday, March 30, from 1 to 4 p.m. on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home.
This event is free and open to the public and will feature games, crafts, face painting, an Easter egg hunt and more. The egg hunt will begin promptly at 1 p.m. so don’t be late! Admission to the Museum and Boyhood Home will be free all day.
Image: In 1958 Bunny, Hazel, Fred (Skippy), and Darlene Johansen attend the Eisenhowers’ White House Easter Egg Roll. (Eisenhower Library)
Letter from President Eisenhower to Daphne Moaney, 01/18/1961
Before President Eisenhower left office, he replied to questions submitted by the History Class, Montclair High School, Montclair, New Jersey on January 18, 1961. The original questions were not included in this record so we’re particularly curious about the question for number nine:
The answer to question number nine is still classified as TOP SECRET.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower is lassoed by cowboy star Montie Montana (with permission from the Secret Service) while reviewing the inaugural parade as Vice President Richard M. Nixon and other dignitaries look on on January 20, 1953.
Originally, the parade was meant to escort the President to the White House from the Capitol, but it soon developed into something more. Jefferson began the tradition of the open house. Americans could come directly into the White House and congratulate the President. Over time, the crowds became so enormous that President Jackson fled the crush through an open window.
By the time Grover Cleveland took office, the number of inaugural visitors was too large to manage, and so Cleveland had parade stands set up outside, where he could review the troops. Over time, this the review came to include floats and other civilian contributions. For Clinton’s second inauguration, the parade featured floats, choirs, and marching bands from all 50 states.
January is National Soup Month
In honor of National Soup Month, here’s President Eisenhower’s recipe for (not so vegetarian) Vegetable Soup.
President Eisenhower’s Recipe for Vegetable Soup as Published in The Marion Sentenel, Linn County, Iowa
What is your favorite kind of soup?
Welcome to the Union, Alaska!
Presidential Proclamation 3269 of January 3, 1959, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower admitting the State of Alaska into the Union., 01/03/1959
Did you miss our Alaskan photoset from last year’s anniversary?
The National Christmas Tree with the White House in the background.
Below, a composite photo of President Dwight D. Eisenhower pushing the button to light the National Christmas Tree, and the tree after lighting. 12/22/59.
-from the Eisenhower Library
On December 19, the sound of the a human voice was transmitted through space. It was the voice of President Eisenhower, broadcasting a message of peace to the world below.
This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one. Through this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind America’s wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere.
-Satellite SCORE Goodwill message, President Eisenhower, December 19, 1958
Recorded on December 17th, it was transmitted to the satellite following a last-minute plan to change the existing recordings with Eisenhower’s goodwill message and broadcast on December 19th.
Merry Christmas — from Outer Space!
Once upon a time, space was quiet. This was before satellites had cluttered the orbit of the earth, beaming TV shows and text messages and GPS coordinates.
Before 1958, space was very quiet.
On December 18, 1958, the Air Force placed the first communications satellite, a Project SCORE relay vehicle, into orbit.
And then, on December 19, the sound of the a human voice was transmitted through space. It was the voice of President Eisenhower, broadcasting a message of peace to the world below.
This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one. Through this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind America’s wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere.
Fewer than 100 people knew about the project, called SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment). The goal was to put an Atlas missile into orbit and to show that communications satellites could transmit messages to Earth. It was a huge technological breakthrough and a milestone in the space race.
Sputnik 1 had been successfully launched in 1957 and had an onboard radio-transmitter. The satellite in the SCORE project used a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages—it was the first satellite to relay messages, making Eisenhower’s the first human voice to be heard in space.
The Christmas message was a last-minute change of plans. The Atlas launcher had already been sealed with prerecorded messages when the director of the project persuaded President Eisenhower to include a message of peace. The new message had to be changed through radio transmission, which meant that there was a chance the message might be overheard, and the President did not want to be “scooped” by the media. But the change was successful, and the message remained secret until the official broadcast.
Coming up next - the audio recording of Eisenhower’s historic greeting from outer space.
“We Negroes are American Citizens - First Class tax payers, but so often we are treated as second class citizens, if there is such. In our hearts, we would like to know what it is that the White man has against the Negro. What can we do to make peace with the White man? We have to live on this earth together. We can not do without each other. We as a group, want your friendship, won’t you accept?”
Letter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from Mrs. Floy J. Anderson Regarding Racial Disputes, 10/15/1957
In this letter, Mrs. Floy J. Anderson, who describes herself as Negro, writes about racial disputes including the recent Little Rock School Integration Crisis, being treated as a second class citizens and an incident where she was refused a ride on a Trans-contentintal Railway Bus.
via DocsTeach
Congress in the Archives will feature monthly staff posts on our blog. Today’s post comes from Center intern Steven Robles.
Today marks the anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s nomination of Keith Glennan as NASA’s first administrator. Eisenhower submitted the nomination to the Senate for confirmation on August 8, 1958. Glennan’s appointment ended a tumultuous year during which Americans and their government struggled to respond to the Soviet Union’s unprecedented achievement of 1957, the launch of the satellite Sputnik. Between Eisenhower’s stoic leadership and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson’s deft political maneuvering in Congress, Americans soon had their own civilian space program, NASA, with heady goals to surpass the Soviets. But the work had hardly begun.
In its first tempestuous years, the young NASA incorporated many disparate pieces and had to devise a structure that put hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to efficient use. Some of the early plans for the new civilian space program were modeled off its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. But quickly, politicians and policymakers realized that the daunting tasks facing the new space program would require a single authoritative administrator rather than a committee of advisors, like the one that had presided over NACA. Equally important to this decision about core structure, then, was the appointment of the first Administrator himself. Glennan’s successful presidency of Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, his involvement as member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and his history of service made him an ideal candidate for the post.
After Eisenhower submitted his nomination of Glennan, the Senate had the task of either confirming or denying the appointment. The poll sheet, shown above, documents an important step in the Senate’s process. Here the Senate Special Committee on Space and Astronautics, chaired by Lyndon Johnson, unanimously voted to recommend the nomination’s confirmation to the Senate at large, which accepted the recommendation and confirmed Glennan just five days later on August 19. In the three short years the Glennan served as Administrator at NASA, he oversaw the incorporation of installations such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center into NASA. Glennan’s contribution helped to ensure the space program’s success throughout the 1960’s and to secure NASA’s place in the history of great scientific achievements.
Nomination of T. Keith Glennan to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 8/8/1958, Records of the U.S. Senate (ARC 306360)
Poll Sheet of Members of the Senate Special Committee on Space and Aeronautics relating to Nominations of T. Keith Glennan, 8/14/1958, Records of the U.S. Senate
“It is the intent of the Congress that the Interstate System be completed as nearly as practicable over a thirteen-year period and that the entire System in all the States be brought to simultaneous completion. Because of it’s primary importance to the national defense, the name of such system is hereby changed to the “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”
National Interstate and Defense Highways Act
An ardent supporter of a “modern, interstate highway system,” ever since his experience in the arduous 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy, President Eisenhower signed this bill into law on the 29th of June, 1956. The act authorized the building of highways throughout the nation, which would be the biggest public works project in the nation’s history.
