Remarks at the Dedication of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Republican Center.

Chairman Morton, Mrs. Eisenhower, Members of the Congress, members of the National Committee, and our very special guests this morning:

I feel that it is a very great honor to have the opportunity to participate in this ceremony that I understand has been going on for some time before I arrived.

I don't know whether there was any significance in the fact that they gave the dollar away before I got here.¹

¹ Mary T. Brooks, Director, Bureau of the Mint, had presented a bronze model of the designs on both sides of the Eisenhower dollar to Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Representative Rogers C. B. Morton of Maryland, chairman, Republican National Committee, then accepted the model from Mrs. Eisenhower for display at the Center.

But, in any event, the remarks that I will make will be brief and quite personal, as I think General Eisenhower would have wanted them to be on such an occasion.

We have here a building and we think of how it came into being. And we know that it came into being because men helped to build it, men who knew things about bricks and mortar and superstructure and architecture and all that. And we are very proud that they built such a good building.

It also came into being because one man in particular had a dream. I know that his name has been referred to previously, but let me refer to him in the terms that General Eisenhower, I think, would have referred to him.

I well recall a conversation I had with General Eisenhower right after he became President and I became Vice President in 1953. We were riding back from Quantico after a meeting there of various members of the armed services with regard to our defense budget. And the General was reminiscing about some of the great days of the victory in Europe and about some of the men who served under him and with him.

And I asked him that if he had to select one quality in an individual for an organization, above everything else what would it be? And he thought a moment and he answered, "Selflessness." He said, "Of course, other things matter. You want brains and dedication and hard work." But he said the most important quality that you can have in an army, whether it is an army in war or an army in a political campaign or an organization in a great national administration, is "selflessness," the willingness to go out and do hard and tough jobs in a completely unselfish manner; the willingness to sacrifice one's self for a greater cause than himself.

I think Jim Auchincloss ² was a selfless man. I remember 20 years ago when I was in the House and later in the Senate and then as Vice President and when I was out of office, I could always expect a call from Jim Auchincloss about the Eisenhower Center.

² James C. Auchincloss, United States Representative from New Jersey 1943-64.

And he spoke about his dream, the necessity to get support for it, ideas that didn't seem to have any chance of succeeding. But he drove on and on and others then joined him and eventually this great building, the center for all of the Republican National Committee's activities finally came into being.

And a selfless man, Jim Auchincloss, and all the other selfless people with him, and many of them are right here in this audience, I think General Eisenhower would want me especially to pay tribute to this morning.

The other thing I think the General would say today is something about the party of which he was a member, and the party to which he had such dedication, and what he would like for it in the future. And perhaps he would speak of this party the way he used to speak about the party and its organization to the members of the Cabinet and to me during those occasions when we were in political campaigns in '54, '56, '58, and then again in 1960. He often used to emphasize the necessity for the party to expand, to get more people, more troops to join with us. And he pointed out, which was actually a very great truth, that by itself neither political party in this country could win an election. In order to win, it is necessary to pick up enough Independents and enough members of the other party to get the majority.

And President Eisenhower, for that reason, would emphasize the necessity in speaking to a party organization--and all of us, you, our party organization people here today--to say organize the party well, but be sure that you organize it in a way that you can bring others into the party and allow others to have allegiance to it and to our cause even though they may not be members of the party.

And I think on that score one thing that General Eisenhower used to say in talking about the party, on those occasions when he saw in it a tendency that might be too introverted, was that, he said, the tendency of most organizations is to organize fewer and fewer better and better.

And that, of course, is the great danger of any party organization. It is the great danger of any club. It is the great danger of any association of people to be more interested in the organization as a goal and an end in itself, rather than an organization as simply a base to do something, do something bigger than itself, an organization that will grow, an organization that will have an influence on the community? and on the State and on the Nation and even on the world.

And so I think General Eisenhower would have said, "Organize this Republican Party well. But organize it in a way that it can grow, that it can attract Independent voters and Democratic voters, that it can attract Americans in all walks of life so that we can become an organization that will be an effective instrument for doing better things for America and better things for the world."

As a matter of fact, I noted as I came out onto this platform today--which, incidentally, is heated by the television lights--but in any event, I noted as I came out that the door was open. And now it is dosed.

Symbolically, what I would like to say as this new building is officially dedicated is that I would like this building to be the building of the open door. I would like the Republican Party to be the party of the open door, a party with its doors open to all people of all races and of all parties, those who share our great ideals about the future of America and the future of the world.

That is how the Republican Party came into being. It was a party then that brought into it not just a group of people who believed certain very narrow things, but people who differed about a great number of things but were united on one principle: They wanted union. They believed in the unity of this Nation. They believed in the freedom of men.

And so our party has great principles, principles that are far bigger than the Republican Party. They are as big as all of America itself. But our party will not grow unless it is the party of the open door, open to all people, all people who share our principles, who want to work with us for the betterment of America and the betterment of the world.

And so I think these are the two thoughts that General Eisenhower would have wanted me, who was proud to be his Vice President during the 8 years he was President of the United States, to convey to you, this very distinguished audience today:

First, an appreciation to all of you who have been selfless in your work for our party in campaigns. Sometimes we won. Sometimes we lost. But you gave everything you had. And that is, of course, the greatest attribute an individual can have.

And, second, his advice that ours should be the party of the open door, open to all people, all parties, all faiths, all races.

That is the kind of a party he would want and that is the kind of a party we are, and that we shall be in the years ahead.

Thank you.