Diary Entry

FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1954 The President asked me to play nine holes of golf at Burning Tree in the afternoon. On way out and back we had an opportunity in the car to dis- cuss many things. Some 6f the topics we discussed were as follows: 1. Congress and the Legislative Program -- I told the President that I thought it was necessary for him to carry a fight for his program to the American people if Congress continued moving at a slow pace. He said, "I think it's a good idea and I have been thinking a lot about that myself lately. Just how do you think it could be done?" I said that I thought a deadline could be set of May 31st to see whether Congress was moving ahead or not. If not much progress was being made by that date, the President should tell the legislative leaders on Monday, May 3lst, that he had given them more than four months to work on the program and that they had been unable to get many of the major parts of the program moving, had scuttled Taft-Hartley, had linked Hawaii to Alaska, and had shown no inclination to pass the Social Security and health provisions of the program. Recommended that he tell the leaders something like this -- "Gentlemen, you have had four months and have done very little. I now propose to go before the American people and fight for this program. I have two months to get this passed - June and July - and I believe I can do it. As a matter of fact, I don't care whether I keep you here throughout August and September. I am determined to get this program through, and I believe that the people and the nation will support me. I intend to use radio and television and make many appearances throughout the country and speak on one portion of the program every time I make a public appear- ance or hold a press conference." The President thought that this was a good idea and followed it up by saying he would even consider going so far as to speak about the program instead of giving the usual greetings to conventions, etc. He also agreed with me that it might be a good idea on television to go on with Mrs. Hobby on the Health and Social Security Program, to speak with Secretary Benson on the farm program, Mitchell on Taft-Hartley, etc. Keep up heavy Presidential pressure on the Congress from June 1st on and let the chips fall where they may -- President is getting very impatient with Congress and repeatedly expressed the thought that all they were interested in was being re-elected instead of working for the welfare of the nation -- "How they fail to see that the best way they can get re-elected is by supporting the liberal program we have submitted to them is beyond me. If they don't pass a major section of this program, a lot of them, I am sure, are not coming back."