ABSTRACT
Quentin Reynolds stated, incorrectly, that a casual "luncheon conversation one day" with Eli Ginzberg and Dean Phil Young prompted Dwight D. Eisenhower to start the human resources project, and that Young "managed to pry loose" General Snyder from the Surgeon General's office. Adrienne Swift reflected that Eisenhower had "no idea what was expected of him and without Jacobs he never could have survived and would have been lost." Eisenhower also announced that Lewis W. Douglas, former Ambassador to Great Britain, had accepted the chairmanship of the Assembly's National Policy Board. Eisenhower's conviction, enthusiasm, and charisma raised the funds for Columbia's American Assembly, and its organization proceeded so smoothly that the first conference was held in May, 1951. Eisenhower had met in his fund-raising for the American Assembly rich and influential persons throughout the country, and he maintained correspondence with the financial and political leaders, many of whom were Republicans.
