Dwight D. Eisenhower Typed Letter Signed as President

TLS as president, signed "D. E.," two pages, 7 x 10.25, White House letterhead, May 6, 1958. Letter to businessman Irving Geist. In part: "I am sure it is no news to you that I am engaged in an all-out effort to secure legislation under which the Defense Department may be organized to meet modern security requirements with maximum efficiency and minimum cost"¦As of today, the Defense Department must operate under a system, or lack of system, similar to one that, as I say, would not be tolerated by a successful business corporation. All of us know that the competition faced by the Defense Department is the sternest in the world, that provided by the military might of the Soviet Union. The single objective of the Defense Department is the nation's security; in this it must be successful"¦In a successful company the Board of Directors operates through its Chief Executive Officer"¦I believe that, in a similar manner, the Secretary of Defense must, under broad policies prescribed by the Congress, make sure that the Defense establishment operates under a single direction." In fine condition, with a stray ink mark near the signature. Eisenhower oversaw the first major reorganization of the Department of Defense in 1958, which streamlined departments and channels of authority.