Letter to Harry H. Semmes, Co-Chairman, National Security Committee, Concerning Military Reserve Week.
[Released March 6, 1956. Dated March 3, 1956]
Dear General Semmes:
I am impressed and deeply gratified by your and Mr. Wilson's letter informing me of the National Security Committee's sponsorship of Military Reserve Week, April 22-28, 1956. This action by your Committee and its many worthy constituent organizations is a splendid demonstration of responsible citizenship. Your leadership in undertaking to educate the American people regarding the new Six-Month Reserve Training Program will be welcomed by all of us.
I have always believed that no public program, whether or not it is enacted into law, can fully succeed unless the American people understand and support it. As you so truly say, the responsibility for preserving our security and freedoms rests not alone with the Department of Defense or indeed the Government as a whole, but also with all American citizens. An all-out effort to strengthen our security through the building of a strong reserve must come from the hearts of the people. The action of the National Security Committee and its constituent organizations demonstrates to me that the people have their hearts in this program.
I am, therefore, delighted to learn of your sponsorship of Military Reserve Week, and its objectives.
I assure you that all elements of the Government will give full support to the educational effort to be waged during Military Reserve Week. I am hopeful that all elements in American life, whether they be labor, business, scientific, or educational, will see the advantages of this new Six-Month Reserve Training Program both to the young men of our nation and to the national security. If all of us work together to point out to the seventeen to eighteen- and-a-half year old age group the opportunities offered to them in this Program, I am sure that it will succeed.
Once again I commend the National Security Committee and its many constituent organizations for undertaking this great project.
With warm regard,
Sincerely,
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Note: The National Security Committee, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in 1947, includes in its membership representatives of national veterans, civic, and fraternal organizations. Its activities include educational campaigns and programs for strengthening the military reserve.
The text of the letter from General Semmes and John H. Wilson, Co-Chairmen of the Committee, was not included in the release.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter to Harry H. Semmes, Co-Chairman, National Security Committee, Concerning Military Reserve Week. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233024