Letter from Charles Wilson to President Dwight D. Eisenhower Regarding Difficulties with the People-to-People Foundation

CHARLES E. .WILSON THE WHITE HOUSE 570 LEXINGTON AVENUE NEW YORK 22,N.Y. October 21, 1957. Oct 22 11 03 AM '57 RECEIVED Dear Mr. President: Probably too belatedly, I am trying to face the facts concerning the People-to-People project, and to do it quite unemotionally, although a year's work on your plan has convinced me that it has the elements of eventually providing the world atmosphere essential to enable the diplomats to get some degree of accord and bring about Peace. Much to my surprise, meetings with the nationals of a dozen other nations in London and Rome have indicated positive interest by these counterpart organization leaders in the plans and purposes of our U.S. People-to-People. Originally, our People-to-People project got off on the wrong foot. The planning for the 1956 meeting, and the format therefor, affronted the officers of the great Foundations by non-reference nor acknowledgment of their great contributions to the programs of a number of the groups assembled. Then when a committee of Group Chairmen got together and recommended formation of a "Foundation" to collect and disburse contributions to People-to- People and to correlate (where necessary) the variety of programs and activities, resulting in request to a leading Foundation for a five million dollar grant, we did not know how deeply the Foundation was already involved in various Group activities, financially and otherwise. We learned this the hard way and this has mitigated against our chances of success with the Foundation involved. And if you "strike out" with one of the large Foundations, you can be pretty sure of a turndown by others. Working on a shoestring and with a staff of only three persons since this became a"non- government" 'project two months ago, enough has been accomplished to confirm that an adequately staffed organization can whip up tremendous interest