---
aliases:
  - Dwight D. Eisenhower
  - Dwight Eisenhower
  - Eisenhower
  - Ike
  - President Eisenhower
  - Dwight David Eisenhower
created: 2026-05-14
updated: 2026-10-09
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
  - KeyFigure
  - Person
  - President
  - CIA
  - Politician
  - Israel
  - Dimona
  - MJ12
  - Soviet
  - Military
  - 1950s
  - 1960s
summary: "Thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953-1961) who authorized CIA operations in Guatemala, received the first intelligence on Dimona, and warned in 1961 against the military-industrial complex."
born: 1890-10-14
died: 1969-03-28
location: "Denison, Texas"
relations:
  - type: head_of
    with: "[[United States]]"
    start: 1953-01-20
    end: 1961-01-20
    role: "34th President"
    fn: 1
  - type: appointed
    with: "[[Allen Dulles]]"
    role: "Director of Central Intelligence"
    fn: 3
  - type: appointed
    with: "[[Christian A. Herter]]"
    role: "Secretary of State, 1960"
    fn: 6
  - type: appointed
    with: "[[Thomas S. Gates]]"
    role: "Secretary of Defense, 1960"
    fn: 6
  - type: appointed
    with: "[[John McCone]]"
    role: "Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, 1960"
    fn: 6
  - type: participant_in
    with: "[[Operation PBSUCCESS]]"
    start: 1953-08
    role: "authorized the operation with a $2.7 million budget"
    fn: 2
  - type: investigated
    with: "[[Church Committee]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 1975
    role: "Committee examined whether he authorized the 1960 plot against Patrice Lumumba and found the record unclear"
    fn: 3
---
Dwight D. Eisenhower, born in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890 and died on March 28, 1969, served as the 34th President of the [[United States]] from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961.[^1] The record below follows his administration through the clusters on which the vault holds material: covert action, the discovery of [[Dimona]], the Majestic-12 documents, and the farewell address.

### Covert action

The National Security Archive's edition of the CIA's 1997 Guatemala release states that [[Operation PBSUCCESS]] was authorized by Eisenhower in August 1953 with a $2.7 million budget for "psychological warfare and political action" and "subversion," after an earlier effort, PBFORTUNE, had been authorized by [[Harry S. Truman]] in 1952; the release included an assassination instruction guide found among PBSUCCESS training files.[^2] The CIA's internal history of the 1953 Iran coup was published by the Archive in 2000 (see [[Operation AJAX]]).

In 1975 the [[Church Committee]] investigated the 1960 plot against the Congolese premier [[Patrice Lumumba]]. It reported that in the fall of 1960 two CIA officials were asked by superiors to assassinate Lumumba, that poisons were sent to the Congo, and that Lumumba was killed in early 1961 by Congolese rivals with no evidence of United States involvement in the killing. On August 25, 1960, at a Special Group meeting, [[Gordon Gray]], Eisenhower's national security adviser, reported that the President "had expressed extremely strong feelings on the necessity for very straightforward action" against Lumumba; the next day [[Allen Dulles]] cabled the Leopoldville station that "in high quarters" Lumumba's "removal" was "an urgent and prime objective." The National Security Council staff member Robert H. Johnson testified that at a summer 1960 NSC meeting Eisenhower said something that "came across to me as an order for the assassination of Lumumba," while adding that he had since had doubts and that it would have been uncharacteristic of Eisenhower to announce a decision in an NSC meeting. Under Secretary of State [[C. Douglas Dillon]] gave the opinion that the August 18, 1960 meeting was most likely the one Johnson meant, said he would not have taken the remark as a clearcut order, and testified that it was "perfectly possible" that Dulles would have treated strong presidential language as implicit authorization, and Gray testified that "it was not my impression that we had in mind the assassination of Lumumba." The Committee concluded: "the record is unclear and serious doubt remains concerning whether assassination was authorized by the respective Presidents," and that the system of command and control left open "the possibility that there was a successful 'plausible denial' and that a Presidential authorization was issued but is now obscured."[^3]

### Atoms for Peace and the Soreq reactor

Under the 1955 "Atoms for Peace" bilateral agreement the United States gave [[Israel]] a 1 megawatt swimming-pool light-water reactor at Nahal Soreq, installed by American Machine and Foundry Atomics; see [[Atoms for Peace]].[^4]

### The discovery of Dimona, 1960

The journalist [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Eisenhower had been concerned about the lack of aerial intelligence on the [[Soviet Union]], that the U-2 became operational in July 1956, that by 1958 CIA photo interpreters saw activity at an Israeli Air Force practice bombing range south of [[Beersheba]] that proved to be the early Dimona reactor, that Eisenhower secretly authorized the Air Force to train Israeli fighter pilots and to teach aerial reconnaissance and photo interpretation, and that when shown clear evidence of the reactor in late 1958 or early 1959 he showed no interest in a follow-up, which puzzled [[Arthur C. Lundahl]] and [[Dino A. Brugioni]]. Hersh also wrote that the Eisenhower administration, including [[John Foster Dulles]], was angered by Israel's attempt to mask its military buildup before the 1956 Suez crisis.[^5]

The published Eisenhower Library and National Archives record, assembled by the [[National Security Archive]] and the Wilson Center, dates the administration's discovery to the last months of 1960. In late July 1960 embassy officials in Tel Aviv learned from an American Machine and Foundry employee that French personnel were building what he described as a 60 megawatt power reactor near Beersheba; Professor Henry Gomberg of the [[University of Michigan]], a consultant to the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, reported on December 1, 1960 that Israel was building a large secret project; and Special National Intelligence Estimate 100-8-60, issued on December 8, 1960, determined that the complex included a reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. The January 1961 CIA post-mortem stated that "information was available to some elements of the intelligence community as early as April 1958" and that information from "special intelligence sources in mid 1959" had been discounted. The Wilson Center editors wrote that it "is still a puzzle whether, and to what extent, U-2 overhead photographs were especially telling or whether they were being distributed within the intelligence community."[^6]

On December 8, 1960, with Eisenhower presiding, the National Security Council heard Allen Dulles report that Israel was building with French assistance a complex including a reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, and passed around photographs taken by the United States Army attaché; Secretary of State [[Christian A. Herter]] said the Arab reaction would be "severe," and Under Secretary of the Treasury Fred Scribner suggested that "Jewish charitable organizations in the U.S." with tax-deductible contributions might have been a funding source. On December 19, 1960, after press reports partly based on leaks by Atomic Energy Commission chairman [[John McCone]], Eisenhower met Herter, Dulles, McCone, [[Thomas S. Gates]] (Secretary of Defense), the science adviser [[George Kistiakowsky]] and Gray. Gates said "our information is that the plant is not for peaceful uses"; McCone said his people believed there was a chemical separation plant; Herter said the plant had been built "through diversions from private and public [U.S.] aid to Israel"; and Eisenhower said "we had evidence" the cost was between $100 and $200 million and that "we do not know where they have obtained the funds." Eisenhower agreed that the American public statement should call on Israel, as an IAEA member, to allow inspection, said a visit to the site by the United States would be unnecessary if the agency inspected it, and the meeting ended with the decision that the State Department rather than the White House would handle the matter. Portions of the December 8 and December 19 records remained classified, and the editors noted that the classified portions of the December 8 record were the subject of a mandatory declassification review request filed in 2014.[^6]

On January 19, 1961 the State Department told the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy that Israel and France had given "unequivocal" official statements as to the non-military character of the Israeli program, that Israel had given "formal assurance that visitors from the United States or another friendly country will be received when the present intense public interest in the question has subsided," and that the Department would "take any feasible measures to damp down speculation."[^7]

### The Majestic-12 documents

A document headed "Briefing Document: Operation Majestic 12 Prepared for President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower (Eyes Only), 18 November 1952," and a memorandum dated July 14, 1954 from the presidential assistant [[Robert Cutler]] to General [[Nathan Twining]] referring to an "NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project" and a briefing on July 16, 1954, are the two documents on which the Majestic-12 claims connect to Eisenhower; see [[Majestic-12]] and [[Cutler-Twining memorandum]].

The National Archives' Military Reference Branch recorded on July 22, 1987, in a reference report signed by Jo Anne Williamson, that the Cutler memorandum in Record Group 341 lacks the top secret register number the series requires, is the only item in its folder about "NSC/MJ-12," carries a marking, "Top Secret Restricted Information," that the National Security Council and the Eisenhower Library said was not used in the Eisenhower administration, and bears no eagle watermark of the kind found on all Cutler documents in the Library's collection; that a search of National Security Council meeting minutes found no meeting on July 16, 1954 and no mention of MJ-12 or Majestic; and that a folder titled "Special Meeting July 16, 1954" held a notice that NSC members would be called to a civil defense exercise. The Eisenhower Library wrote on July 16, 1987 that the President's appointment books contain no entry for a special meeting on July 16, 1954, that Cutler was visiting overseas military installations on July 14, 1954 at Eisenhower's direction (a report to the President dated July 20, 1954 refers to visits between July 3 and 15), and that the NSC's declassification office had no record of declassification of the memorandum.[^8] The researchers who published the documents, [[William L. Moore]] and [[Jaime Shandera]], and later commentators including [[Stanton T. Friedman]] took positions on authenticity that are recorded on the Majestic-12 page.

### Wilhelm Reich and weather control

[[Wilhelm Reich]]'s journal CORE (July 1954) states that "the legislative procedures of the Eisenhower administration which tended to secure safety in weather control were greatly appreciated," reproduces a New York Times report of July 11, 1953 of Eisenhower's remarks on drought, and records Army planes over Orgonon on July 8, 1953.[^9] Reich's Contact with Space states that Mr. Douglas of Tucson, described as a member of "President Eisenhower's advisory board," wrote in late 1954 requesting a personal discussion.[^10] On March 21, 1957 [[William Moise]] wrote to Senator [[Margaret Chase Smith]] that he faced the decision whether to use orgone energy "to storm and flood portions of the U.S.A." and that the responsibility for such a decision rests with "the few genuinely responsible government persons such as yourself and the President"; the Senator's administrative assistant gave the letter to the FBI on March 25, 1957.[^11]

### Farewell address, January 17, 1961

In his farewell radio and television address on January 17, 1961, Eisenhower said: "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government." He continued: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." On research he said that "a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity" and warned "that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite."[^12]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Miller Center, University of Virginia, "Dwight D. Eisenhower" (born October 14, 1890, Denison, Texas; inaugurated January 20, 1953; term ended January 20, 1961; died March 28, 1969). https://millercenter.org/president/eisenhower
[^2]: Doyle, Kate, and Peter Kornbluh, eds. "CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents." National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 4, documents released by the CIA on May 23, 1997. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/ ; "The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 28. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/index.html
[^3]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, 94th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Reports vol. 3-8, 1975, summary of findings on Lumumba; section on the Congo; testimony of Robert H. Johnson (June 18, 1975), C. Douglas Dillon (September 2, 1975) and Gordon Gray (July 9, 1975); findings on authorization. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^4]: "The U.S. Discovery of Israel's Secret Nuclear Project," Wilson Center, Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, with the National Security Archive, document headnote on American Machine and Foundry Atomics. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-us-discovery-israels-secret-nuclear-project
[^5]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991, ch. 4.
[^6]: "The U.S. Discovery of Israel's Secret Nuclear Project," sections "The Eisenhower Administration and the Discovery of Dimona," Documents 1 to 14, including the post-mortem on SNIE 100-8-60, the National Security Council meeting of December 8, 1960 and the meeting of December 19, 1960 (Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Christian Herter Papers; White House Office, Office of the Staff Secretary, International Series, box 8, Israel (3)); also National Security Archive, "Israel and the Bomb: Dimona Revealed." https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/israel/documents/reveal/
[^7]: Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations William B. Macomber, Jr., to Executive Director of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, January 19, 1961, with enclosed summary of January 17, 1961, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, Volume XVII, Near East 1961-1962, Document 3. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v17/d3
[^8]: National Archives and Records Administration, Military Reference Branch, "Reference Report on MJ-12," July 22, 1987 (Jo Anne Williamson, Chief), quoting the Eisenhower Library letter of July 16, 1987 to NNMR; text as transcribed at https://mirror.cyberbits.eu/textfiles.com/ufo/UFOBBS/2000/2437.ufo
[^9]: Wilhelm Reich, CORE vol. 6 nos. 1 to 4 (July 1954), https://archive.org/details/contact-from-space-by-wilhelm-reich.
[^10]: Wilhelm Reich, Contact with Space: Oranur Second Report, 1951-1956 (Core Pilot Press, 1957), p. 132, https://archive.org/details/wilhelm-reich-contact-with-space.
[^11]: Moise to Smith, March 21, 1957, and Nease to Tolson, March 25, 1957, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^12]: Eisenhower, Dwight D. "Farewell Radio and Television Address to the American People," January 17, 1961, Public Papers of the Presidents. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/farewell-radio-and-television-address-the-american-people