Letter, Representative Adam Clayton Powell to President Dwight D. Eisenhower Regarding Civil Rights

THE WHITE HOUSE Congress of the United States Mar 29 8 48 AM '57 House of Representatibes RECEIVED Washington, B. €. MAR 29 1957 CARDER March 28, 1957 My dear Mr. President: Recently you were invited by a group of southern Negro leaders to go to the south to make a statement there concerning the harmony and easing of tensions. Personally I disagreed with such a nove, but I do most positively desire to point out the immediate and continuing need for you wherever you may go, whatever speech you may deliver, whatever press conference you may hold, to speak a word calling for all Americans to stand together and to continue to develop harmonious relations North and South, black and white, Jew and gentile, Protestant and Catholic. Not behind the iron curtain, but within the United States, men of God are being arrested, houses of worship are being bombed, and American citizens are continually meeting with physical violence. A word spoken now with continuing em- phasis by you would not only have an impact for good, but would bring hope to millions of Americans that the Chief Executive of our land is concerned with this problem. With every good wish. to ( favall h Yours truly, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. for mm The President of the United States The White House Washington, D. C. MWN (personally dictated, but not signed)