THE PRESIDENCY: The 77th Conference

On the last day of his third year as President of the U.S., Dwight Eisenhower addressed himself, publicly and frankly, to the prime political question of the U.S. and the world. Before his 77th formal press conference, crowded by 290 reporters, cluttered by the paraphernalia of TV cameras and cables, the President read out a telegram he said he was sending to Harry E. Jackson, the deputy secretary of state of New Hampshire.

"I have your courteous telegram of Jan. 14," the President read, "advising me that petitions have been filed at your office which qualify my name for inclusion on the presidential preference primary ... I am grateful that the petitioners have expressed this kind of personal confidence in me. I do not feel that I should interpose any objection to such entry."

Progress: Normal. The President continued: "However, because I must make clear to all that lack of objection cannot be construed as any final decision on my part relative to a candidacy for a second term in office I now hold, I hope that all who vote in the Republican primaries in 1956 will carefully weigh all the possibilities and personalities that may be involved.

"Freedom to select, nominate and elect a candidate to public office is basic to our American political system. Because I deeply believe that every citizen should have the widest possible choice in expressing his own preference in such matters, I would hope that the accident of my illness and the necessary period for determining the degree of my recovery would not have the effect of interfering with the privilege of every member of our party to express his preference for the presidential candidate of his choice.

"It would be idle to pretend that my health can be wholly restored to the excellent state in which the doctors believed it to be in mid-September. At the same time my doctors report to me that the progress I am making toward a reasonable level of strength is normal and satisfactory. My future life must be carefully regulated to avoid excessive fatigue. My reasons for obedience to the medical authorities are not solely personal; I must obey them out of respect for the responsibilities I carry.

"The personal decision to which I refer will be rendered as soon as it is firmly fixed in my own mind. I shall strive to see that it is based as to my best judgment on the good of our country."

As for how he was bearing up under the stresses of his job, the President noted: "I have had some quite intensive days—yesterday was—and I think that with the —by following closely, as closely as I can, the regime the doctors laid down, that so far I have gotten by very well."

Item: Dulles. The President then underwent some thoroughly intensive questioning on a troublesome issue, the LIFE article about Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' views of how full-scale war was averted.

Said the President: