EISENHOWER, DWIGHT D.: Post-Presidential Papers, 1961-69
1964 PRINCIPAL FILE
Series Description
The 1964 Principal File, which was the main office file for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Gettysburg
Office, is divided into two subseries--a subject file and an alphabetical file. The subject subseries
consists of a little over twenty-three boxes of material, and it is arranged alphabetically by
subject. This subseries contains such categories as appointments, autographs, endorsements,
gifts, invitations, memberships, memoranda, messages, political affairs, publications, statements,
and trips. Invitations generated the greatest volume of correspondence, followed by
appointments, messages, and gifts. Documentation in this subseries includes correspondence,
schedules, agendas, articles, memoranda, transcripts of interviews, and reports. The alphabetical
subseries, which has a little over thirty-four boxes, is arranged alphabetically by names of
individuals and organizations. It is primarily a correspondence file, but it also contains printed
materials, speeches, cross-reference sheets, interview transcripts, statements, clippings, and
photographs.
During 1964 Eisenhower was receiving correspondence from the public at the rate of over fifty
thousand letters a year. This placed considerable strain on Eisenhower and his small office staff,
and many requests for appointments, autographs, speeches, endorsements, and special messages
met with a negative response.
Although the great bulk of the correspondence in this series involves routine matters, there are
considerable letters and memoranda which deal with national and international issues, events,
and personalities. Some of the subjects discussed in Eisenhower’s correspondence include the
1964 presidential race, NATO, the U.S. space program, the U. S. economy, presidential inability
and succession, defense policies, civil rights legislation, political extremists, and Cuba.
Organizations which featured prominently in his correspondence were Freedoms Foundation,
People to People, the American Assembly, Planned Parenthood, the Critical Issues Council, the
Republican National Committee, and the Boy Scouts.
Some of the most fascinating correspondence in the 1964 Principal File centers around the 1964
presidential race, including the primaries, convention, and the campaign. This correspondence
documents Eisenhower’s differences with Barry Goldwater, his efforts to encourage moderate
Republican candidates, his desire for an “open” convention, his response to criticisms of his
administration by Goldwater, and Eisenhower’s role in the campaign. The post-election
correspondence describes efforts to evaluate the election results and moves to reorganize the
Republican Party by replacing Dean Burch with Ray Bliss as head of Republican National
Committee.
Eisenhower’s fence-sitting prior to the Republican National Convention led to a large volume of
letters from people--all good Republicans--who either urged him to come out in favor of a
moderate Republican candidate in order to save the party from the Goldwater “extremists” or