Eisenhower

An historic souvenir album assembled by Navy cruise book photographers onboard the USS Helena visually documenting President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower onboard ship Dec. 3 - 11 1952 who signed three of these photographs for them after his historic diplomatic fact-finding trip to the Korean War battlefront. Most of his proposed cabinet gathered with him for high-level meetings to craft a solution in ending the bloody conflict which had entered the third Korean Winter Campaign. The taxing flurry of interviewing soldiers with Omar Bradley negotiating with South Korean President Syngman Rhee and the brutal cold and wartime devastation taxed Eisenhower’s stamina so he spent his return trip on the USS Helena in meetings as well as his beloved trapshooting as depicted in many of these photos along with bridge games with his cabinet and US Navy officers.

1952 · rif. 64017 — Yokosuka Japan Guam & Honolulu T.H.: USS Helena United States Navy Nov. 24 1952 - Dec. 11 1952. 4to. 24 pp unpaginated. mylar sleeves w/ paper inserts and all holding photographs attached w/ plastic hinge at gutter margin with 25 original silver gelatin photos inserted sized from 4 x 5 in. up to 8 x 9 in. 3 signed by Dwight Eisenhower many w/ photographer’s markings at blank gutter margin some annotations in pen & pencil MS on versos 47 loose 4 x 5 in. photos inserted into rear compartment one folded pencil MS leaf on Royal Hawaiian letterhead “What a treasure! My class thinks these are simply great!! Thank you so much for letting us see them. G. Madden.” Padded brown full calf gilt decorated borders front cover silk pastedowns minor scuffing edgewear still a VG exemplar. This previously unknown album captures the brief moments of leisure onboard the USS Helena CA-75 of President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower following his historic mission to the Korean War battlefront in between shipboard foreign policy meetings with his proposed cabinet in December 1952. On October 24 1952 when General Dwight D. Eisenhower was leading in the polls as Republican candidate for President while serving as the Supreme Commander of NATO Ike announced he would “forego the diversions of politics and concentrate on the job of ending the Korean War. . . I shall go to Korea.” Nearing the end of 1952 the brutal War was entering its’ third winter U.S. casualties were over 25000 battlefield dead and the United States had been at War for eight of the past 11 years and he set himself the task of ending the War. Despite President Truman terming the trip as a gimmick Eisenhower secretly left the U.S. Nov. 29 1952 accompanied by Chief of Staff Omar Bradley and spent Dec. 2 1952 - Dec. 6 1952 viewing conditions on the ground wearing a fur-lined hat thermos boots and eating and interviewing enlisted soldiers and officers with his son John Eisenhower Omar Bradley and Admiral Radford. He quickly realized that the massive offensive being pushed by President Rhee would only result in another status quo and obliquely threatened China with possible Nuclear War as well as convincing Rhee that they would have to accept a division of Korea and find a solution for ceasefire. The album opens with signed photo of Eisenhower standing on the deck of the USS Helena followed by others including another signed image depicting him with his future cabinet including Charles Erwin Wilson future Secretary of Defense John Foster Dulles future Secretary of State Attorney General Herbert Brownell Secretary of the Treasury George M. Humphrey and Secretary of the Interior Douglas James McKay former Oregon governor along with Admiral Arthur Radford and Captain James E. Cohn commander of the Helena. One of Ike’s favorite pastimes was trapshooting and four of the large 8 x 9 in. photos and over 20 depict him in this sequence of holding and shooting the shotgun as well as competing with others in the entourage. A few of the sequence Naval photographs depict him walking and talking with photojournalists interacting with USS Helena sailors and others. The USS Helena had been relieved of her normal duties Nov. 24 1952 for special mission carrying President-Elect Eisenhower along with other dignitaries and after leaving Yokosuka Harbor Japan she sailed to Guam by Dec. 3 where she picked up the party delivered onboard Ike’s preferred Navy Helicopter the Sikorsky H-5 Dragonfly HO3S-1 UP 39 Last Chance Taxi IV depicted in several photos here. The President-Elect Eisenhower’s delegation disembarked Dec. 11 1952 in Honolulu T.H.The shipboard Navy photographers were John W. Wahlborg and Clarence Wayne Newland 1924-2009 who used two of these images for the 1953 USS Helena cruise book see p. 76 which have also included here many different photographs of the USS Helena at Yokosuka Japan with two of the images indicating their visit coincided with the flight operations of the Essex-Class carrier USS Oriskany CVA-34 depicted in photos with her full complement of Corsairs and folded wings on deck as well as an unidentified Carrier. Many of the photos also depict the UP 39 Sikorsky helicopter flying across the harbor and onto the deck of the USS Helena with giant US Flag painted on the deck. Following their cruise to Honolulu the USS Helena subsequently traveled to Long Beach CA for celebrations and then was a featured guest at the Portland Oregon Rose Festival festivities in May-June 1953. The trip was especially significant in that Eisenhower was able to convince both President Rhee and Secretary of State Dulles that compromise was necessary and after over 7000 additional casualties approximately the same amount as suffered by U.S. Armed Forces in post-9/11 war operations including Iraq and Afghanistan over 25 years the armistice was signed under the Eisenhower administration July 27 1953. See: USS Helena CA-75 1953 Cruise Book Kobe Japan Issinsha Printing Co.; USS Oriskany CVA-34 Action Report 2 December 1952 through 27 December 1952 January 9 1953 US Navy Fleet Operations San Francisco CA; President-Elect Eisenhower’s Trip to Korea Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial National Park Service 2025. USS Helena, United States Navy, unknown