[Eisenhower, Dwight D] - Col. Russell P. "Red" Reeder

101 leaves of bond typing papers (11 x 8 1/2 in.; 280 x 217 mm), typed on rectos only, numbered, with corrections, with extensive autograph commentary and correction by Eisenhower, in pencil, totaling some 1,150 words, with occasional authorial or editorial emendations as well—together with an index card bearing a question about the text from Reeder with Eisenhower's autograph reply ("Right! DE"); 4 one-page typed letters signed ("D.D.E."; "D.E."; "DDE"), possibly secretarial, from Eisenhower to Reeder, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Walter Reed Hospital, 26 April 1966, 14 & 21 July 1967, and 22 May 1968, the first three all concerning Reeder's book, the last with original envelope; and by a first printing of Reeder's biography, signed and annotated by him.

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Ike as ghost editor. General Eisenhower and Colonel Reeder knew each other from World War II. Reeder was wounded during the D-Day invasion and had to have a leg amputated. After he left the Army in 1947 and joined the athletic department at West Point, Reeder took up writing and produced more than two dozen books, including a juvenile biography of his former commander in chief. In his second letter to Reeder, Eisenhower writes, "I was quite happy to examine your manuscript for accuracy. I was glad to undertake the chore, but, of course, it must never be known that I have seen such a document before publication. It would have the implication that I agree with every nice thing you have to say about me." (In the third letter, Eisenhower supplies a blurb that appears on the dust jacket of Reeder's book."

Ike clearly read the typescript carefully, and most pages have a comment or correction by him. These range from single words to lengthy paragraphs. Many of the corrections reflect Eisenhower's modesty, as well as his passion for accuracy. Where the text reads "he was the best halfback in central Kansas," Ike changed it to "he was a good halfback"; and where Reeder wrote "He was an excellent student," Ike emended the line to read "He was a good but not outstanding student." But there a longer and more revealing changes as well. The original text stated of six Eisenhower boys that "The hard times and the poverty they experienced made them part of a family that struck together." Ike rewrote that line as "Their life was a spartan one but the family was a happy one," and at the bottom of the page he elaborated: "Our Poverty has been over-emphasized. By today's standards of course we were poor—but we were always well fed, well sheltered and adequately clothed. We always gave 'Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets of food' to those we considered as really poor."

The section on the text dealing with World War II provides for some of Eisenhower's most interesting comments, and in at least four instances he refers Reeder to his own Crusade in Europe for clarification. For instance, Reeder relates that Ike dismissed a member of his staff for cursing a British officer; Eisenhower commented, "What I said was—I don't mind you calling him a so-in-so. But you called him a 'British so-in-so.' I don't want you on my staff." He also writes of wartime meetings with Roosevelt, Churchill, Patton, and Bradley, and corrects Reeder on the chronology of D-Day: "on the early morn of 4th attack for fifth called off. Late on 4th (confirmed on 5th) D-Day was set for 6th." He also does not let go unremarked Reeder's comment on the end of the Korean War, which the author described as "a stalemate, with neither side winning. Korea was still divided." Ike crossed that out and replaced it with the sentences that appear in the published book: "There was no victory but the U.S. along with its allies had gone into the war only to defend South Korea. In this it was successful." A remarkable and revealing Eisenhower document.