#5-008
To General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower
January 4, 1944 [1945] [Radio No. W-86550.] Washington, D.C.
Secret
Personal and eyes only for Eisenhower from Marshall. Reference your E81755 January 3d.1 We will proceed as you have indicated. However please understand this: In response to your messages regarding limitations on the travel of members of Congress, difficulties of transportation and accommodation and in order to protect you we have refused to accede to heavy pressures here particularly by the Under Secretary of War and by General Somervell2 for the sending of representatives of a single item of manufacture. I anticipate now that you will inherit a flood of such observers because this precedent makes us powerless to defend you further.3
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed radio message.
1. The January 3 telegram, sent over General Eisenhower’s name, stated that he agreed to allow a group of union workers from the rubber tire industry to visit his theater. “It is believed that such a trip will increase the output of urgently needed tires. I agree with this proposal and would welcome such a group in the theater.” (The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., et al., 21 vols. [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1970–2001], 4: 2398.)
2. Lieutenant General Brehon B. Somervell was the chief of Army Service Forces.
3. “I hope you will not think me inappreciative of the way you have protected us and am sorry I did not consult you personally before giving my promise in this affair,” Eisenhower replied to the chief of staff on January 5. “I agreed to receive such a group because of the critical tire situation and provided the group was shepherded by General [Albert J.] Browning who knows the ropes and therefore makes little demand upon our time and attention.” (Papers of DDE, 4: 2397–98.) Brigadier General Albert J. Browning served as director of the Purchases Division of the Army Service Forces and as assistant director of materiel. That same day Eisenhower alerted Lieutenant General John C. H. Lee that staff responsible for dispatching telegrams “not use words purporting to express my personal opinions unless they know exactly what they are.” “I know nothing about production problems at home,” Eisenhower told Lee, “and the only opinion I expressed was that I was ready to cooperate, as far as we can, with people at home who do bear this responsibility.” (Ibid., p. 2398.)
Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith wrote from S.H.A.E.F. to Deputy Chief of Staff Thomas T. Handy in February: “I am very much embarrassed about the visitor question, and I am afraid we rather went off the deep end on this one,” Smith wrote. “I hope that General Eisenhower’s subsequent message straightened the situation out, but I am afraid he acted on impulse and without realizing the difficulties you have had in keeping visitors off our necks. Actually, they are a serious burden, but as these matters do not ordinarily come to Ike’s attention, he does not appreciate the difficulties which we have experienced in handling trippers.” (Smith to Handy, February 9, 1945, GCMRL/T. T. Handy Papers.) For further information regarding visitors to the American sector, see Papers of George Catlett Marshall, #4-429 [4: 499].
Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 5, “The Finest Soldier,” January 1, 1945–January 7, 1947 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), pp. 10–11.