on January 13 he held a quiet dinner for his most senior advisers and cabinet members—except, significantly, Nixon. Ike told Nixon that the dinner was to discuss Eisenhower’s future, and “since you are going to be so much the object of conversation, it would be embarrassing to you” to be present. What Ike really meant was that the dinner guests would likely say that Nixon certainly could not replace Eisenhower in 1956.41
