<--PREV Doc #37  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #39 Document #38; February 17, 1953 To Chester Bowles Series: EM, AWF, International Series: India ; Category: Secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part I: Charting a New Course; January 1953 to April 1953 Chapter 1: Developing a spirit of teamwork   My dear Mr. Ambassador:1 Thank you for your letter of February 5, 1953.2 I appreciate your writing to me on this matter and your cooperation in making the transition period both orderly and constructive. I am sorry if the necessary delay in nominating your successor has resulted in embarrassment to you.3 On the same day you sent your letter to me, you undoubtedly received word concerning our plans for your replacement. By the time this letter reaches you, George Allen's nomination as Ambassador to India and Nepal will have been announced publicly.4 Your plan to depart New Delhi by early March is wholly agreeable, and I understand the Department of State is preparing the necessary orders for you. The thoughts contained in your letter to Secretary Dulles are most interesting, and I am sure he will give them full consideration.5 May I take this opportunity to express my great appreciation for your outstanding service to your country in India and to wish you every success in your future undertakings. With personal regard, Sincerely 1 A New Deal Democrat and wartime price and stabilization administrator who in 1948 had supported Eisenhower as a possible Democratic presidential nominee (see Galambos, Columbia University, no. 90), Bowles had been elected Governor of Connecticut in 1949; two years later President Truman had named him U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal. 2 Assuming "from various stories" that he would be replaced and believing that a clarification of his position was "urgently needed," Bowles had written to assure the President that he was "anxious to do everything possible to make the transition period constructive." 3 Eisenhower had accepted Bowles's resignation in early January (New York Times, Jan. 10, 26, 1953). The President's first choice to replace Bowles had failed to receive Senate support (see no. 23). 4 The Indian government would accept career diplomat George Venable Allen (A.B. Duke 1924) as Bowles's successor on February 18. Eisenhower would formally nominate Allen, then U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia, nine days later, and the Senate would confirm him on March 11. 5 In a ten-page letter dated February 5 (AWF/I: India), Bowles discussed his belief that the United States should act "boldly and with imagination" to end the Korean conflict because it dissipated American strength and increased Chinese dependence on the Soviets. Bowles argued that "a most basic objective of our foreign policy should be to bring about a rift between the Soviet Union and Communist China. Practically every non-Communist leader with whom I have talked in Asia," he reported, including Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, "is convinced that this is the one hope for avoiding a third world war." On Eisenhower's impression of Nehru and his intention to strengthen U.S.-Indian ties see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 33 and 989. For Eisenhower's own reaction to Bowles's analysis see no. 43. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Secret To Chester Bowles, 17 February 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 38. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/38.cfm <--PREV Doc #37  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #39

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