Secret White House Tapes

Meeting with John Henshaw Crider—May 19, 1950

About this recording

  • John Henshaw Crider
May 19, 1950
The recording begins with the conversation already in progress. Eisenhower and Crider
are discussing President Harry Truman. Eisenhower remarks "And did you stop to think
of this, this extraordinary well, inexhaustible well of energy. My God, to go out and
make these damn speeches, fifty-five in sixteen days." Crider remarks that "And he
represents something else in American life which fits the rules and that is that the little
man and this is the age of the little man and he is as little as the littlest of them. And he
acts that way actually. When he looks like a, what used to be called a (unintelligible)
with the funny clothes that he wears the public likes him."
The next topics of conversation include Russell Davenport and a lengthy discussion
concerning the development of educational materials for public schools. According to
Eisenhower, the materials being developed "And they're using eight pilot cities, but what
they're actually doing in the high school level is taking these youngsters and putting them
back to the city activities ." Eisenhower says "they are producing materials that are easy
for the teachers of the high school and they're producing great things" and the program is
finding acceptance in the school systems.