Getting to Know One Another, 1945–1948

Abstract

Herbert Hoover and Dwight D. Eisenhower were not strangers when they first exchanged written communications. In fact, it is likely that the two men were introduced by General Douglas MacArthur, who was chief of staff of the U.S. Army during the Hoover administration. Eisenhower was MacArthur’s aide and was often charged with the responsibility for preparing reports and communications with the president. It is logical, therefore, to assume that Eisenhower had had a number of formal conversations and briefings with his commander in chief between 1929 and 1933. That likelihood having been acknowledged, there is no record of any written contact between Hoover and Eisenhower during those years.