Eisenhower, Dwight D., Thirty-fourth President

Typed letter signed ("Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Personal"), 1 page (10  1/4  x 7 in.; 260 x 177 mm), Indio, California (but on his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, letterhead), 10 April 1968, to Robert J. Levy, New York, giving his views on the Vietnam War conflict and protestors; horizontal folds, minimal soiling in left margin.

Typed letter signed ("Dwight D. Eisenhower. Personal"), 1 page (10 1/4 x 7 in.; 260 x 177 mm), Indio, California (but on his Gettysburg, Pa., letterhead), 10 April 1968, to Robert J. Levy, New York; horizontal folds, minimal soiling in left margin.
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The former Allied Commander President on the war in Vietnam.  In this highly quotable letter, Eisenhower attempts to clarify points he made in an article in the  Reader's Digest.  "My recent article ... contains an expression of my conviction that we should  encourage honest  dissent, as the very essence of Democracy.  My disgust is with draft-card burners, with unruly audiences that will not permit a govermental official to present his side of the case, with student groups that parade for 'peace at any price', and with those who unlawfully try to block the entrances to recruiting stations and the like."

Ike agrees that Levy was correct "in saying that the circumstances of World War II were far different from those that now exist in Viet Nam. There were many people, even today, who honestly believe that our government deliberately provoked Japan into war. During 1939-41, however, the Communists and Communist-leaning people in our midst were bitter about the war and about any possibility of our getting into it. After Germany attacked the Soviets these people suddenly changed their tune."

Adressing specifically the Vietnam conflict, Eisenhower goes on to say, "By no means do I feel any need for concurring in every detail of the conduct of the current war, but I do believe that the people who do not see the consequences of our turning tail and leaving South Viet Nam to its fate, are as blind as those who praised Mr. Chamberlain's actions at Munich, and the events that proceeded and succeeded that abortive attempt to keep the peace.

"... I hope that a careful reading of the Reader's Digest  article will show that I do not criticize honest and decent dissent."