If Dwight Eisenhower came back from the dead...
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  If Dwight Eisenhower came back from the dead...
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Author Topic: If Dwight Eisenhower came back from the dead...  (Read 4461 times)
Sol
Junior Chimp
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« Reply #25 on: September 02, 2015, 12:28:09 PM »

Social issues alone might make Dwight a Republican regardless.  We do not know what his views on abortion would have been.  Also, someone born in the nineteenth century is rather likely to be a socon.

I'm pretty sure that people born in the 19th century are Democratic demographic. Tongue
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Rockefeller GOP
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« Reply #26 on: September 02, 2015, 01:55:43 PM »


No, he wouldn't.  He was a moderate Republican until the day he died, and his politics aren't remarkably different in tone than HW.  He'd be a moderate Republican now.

Thinking that HW has any place in the Republican party now, outside of a relic, is kind of cute .

Uh, he's not dead and hasn't changed to a "moderate Democrat," has he?

This forum SEVERELY overrates how many people would switch parties in today's environment.

Could he win a GOP primary on the same platform he ran on in 1988 or 1992?

No, absolutely not.  But that's different than saying he'd be a Democrat.  He is, in today's world, a moderate Republican, just as I believe Ike would be.
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Cassius
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« Reply #27 on: September 02, 2015, 02:10:24 PM »

I think, actually, that Eisenhower would probably have been more likely to have been a Democrat 10-15 years ago, when the likes of Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman were still knocking around politics. I think that the Democratic party's general tone and culture has shifted too far since them for it to be a comfortable fit for Eisenhower. Not that I think he'd fit in particularly well with the current culture of the GOP either, but I think on balance he'd be more likely to be a Republican in this day and age.
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RFayette
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« Reply #28 on: September 02, 2015, 04:15:58 PM »

Social issues alone might make Dwight a Republican regardless.  We do not know what his views on abortion would have been.  Also, someone born in the nineteenth century is rather likely to be a socon.

I'm pretty sure that people born in the 19th century are Democratic demographic. Tongue

Sure, the 3 (I think) of them alive are all female, and 2 are African-American, I believe.   But I think a white male born then would be conservative.
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Хahar 🤔
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« Reply #29 on: September 03, 2015, 10:48:19 AM »

Social issues alone might make Dwight a Republican regardless.  We do not know what his views on abortion would have been.  Also, someone born in the nineteenth century is rather likely to be a socon.

I'm pretty sure that people born in the 19th century are Democratic demographic. Tongue

Sure, the 3 (I think) of them alive are all female, and 2 are African-American, I believe.   But I think a white male born then would be conservative.

You, uh, missed the joke there.
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pbrower2a
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« Reply #30 on: September 03, 2015, 04:17:00 PM »

The definitive moderate Republican may have been Dwight Eisenhower, and I have heard plenty of Democrats praise the Eisenhower Presidency. He went along with Supreme Court rulings that outlawed segregationist practices, stayed clear of the McCarthy bandwagon, and let McCarthy implode.


 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

Two Presidents who had very different backgrounds -- but similar temperaments.
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Horsemask
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« Reply #31 on: September 04, 2015, 08:48:45 PM »

The definitive moderate Republican may have been Dwight Eisenhower, and I have heard plenty of Democrats praise the Eisenhower Presidency. He went along with Supreme Court rulings that outlawed segregationist practices, stayed clear of the McCarthy bandwagon, and let McCarthy implode.


 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

Two Presidents who had very different backgrounds -- but similar temperaments.

Interesting analysis.

Eisenhower is my favorite President, and I think that he would still be a moderate Republican in today's climate due to stances on social issues.

Also...


LOL
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daverep
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« Reply #32 on: September 05, 2015, 03:35:24 PM »

The definitive moderate Republican may have been Dwight Eisenhower, and I have heard plenty of Democrats praise the Eisenhower Presidency. He went along with Supreme Court rulings that outlawed segregationist practices, stayed clear of the McCarthy bandwagon, and let McCarthy implode.
 
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once

Two Presidents who had very different backgrounds -- but similar temperaments.
Would be interesting to do this, but control for percentages - ie: look at Eisenhower combined % - Obama combined %.

Therefore highly positive = Republican then, Republican now, even = Republican then, Democratic now, negative = Democratic both times.

Interesting to see how strong the non-Colorado mountain west has been for the Repubs though.
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Fuzzy Stands With His Friend, Chairman Sanchez
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« Reply #33 on: September 06, 2015, 07:45:36 PM »


No, he wouldn't.  He was a moderate Republican until the day he died, and his politics aren't remarkably different in tone than HW.  He'd be a moderate Republican now.

Thinking that HW has any place in the Republican party now, outside of a relic, is kind of cute .

Uh, he's not dead and hasn't changed to a "moderate Democrat," has he?

This forum SEVERELY overrates how many people would switch parties in today's environment.

Could he win a GOP primary on the same platform he ran on in 1988 or 1992?

No, absolutely not.  But that's different than saying he'd be a Democrat.  He is, in today's world, a moderate Republican, just as I believe Ike would be.

In 2004, Ike's son, John Eisenhower, publicly endorsed John Kerry and stated that he had changed his voter registration from Republican to Independent.
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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #34 on: September 06, 2015, 08:54:27 PM »

Yes... He's not traditional on social issues, which is "O'Reillys" main point.
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H. Ross Peron
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« Reply #35 on: September 07, 2015, 11:13:55 AM »

He'd still be a Republican like Dole and Bush Sr., even if severely marginalized and alienated from to-day's party.
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hopper
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« Reply #36 on: September 13, 2015, 08:53:05 PM »
« Edited: September 13, 2015, 09:14:37 PM by hopper »


No, he wouldn't.  He was a moderate Republican until the day he died, and his politics aren't remarkably different in tone than HW.  He'd be a moderate Republican now.

Thinking that HW has any place in the Republican party now, outside of a relic, is kind of cute .

Uh, he's not dead and hasn't changed to a "moderate Democrat," has he?

This forum SEVERELY overrates how many people would switch parties in today's environment.

Could he win a GOP primary on the same platform he ran on in 1988 or 1992?

No, absolutely not.  But that's different than saying he'd be a Democrat.  He is, in today's world, a moderate Republican, just as I believe Ike would be.

In 2004, Ike's son, John Eisenhower, publicly endorsed John Kerry and stated that he had changed his voter registration from Republican to Independent.
Eisenhowers other family members:

Julie Eisenhower Nixon(granddaughter in-law of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon Daughter:)

2008: Obama(Donated 2,300 dollars)
2012: Romney(Donated Money though "citation" marked in Wikipedia)

Susan Eisenhower(Dwight Eisenhower's Granddaughter) (left the Republican Party to become and Independent and Spoke at DNC Convention in 2008:)

2008: Obama
2012: Obama

I think Dwight Eisenhower would be a Republican in the Fitzpatrick/Katko/Stefinak/Meehan/Diaz-Balart/Ros-Lethien Mold. He could be a Conservative Dem in an idealogical sense though but there is not that many around though in Congress.

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Maxwell
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« Reply #37 on: September 14, 2015, 07:55:56 AM »

Dwight Eisenhower was a Republican entirely by circumstance. He was not a loyal man of the party by any means. I suspect, by the tone of the party now, he'd probably be a moderate Democrat.
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angus
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« Reply #38 on: September 14, 2015, 08:55:05 AM »

And he saw how today's Republican Party functions and what it stands for, what would he be most surprised about?

Hell, you could put in Nixon for this question too.

He was a major power projectionist, and he was deeply interested in foreign policy.  In fact, I think his first inaugural address was devoted entirely to foreign policy, so I think what would surprise him most are two things:  most favored nation trading status of China (although that was accomplished by a Democrat president) and our invasion of Iraq (incited by a Republican administration.)  Domestically, I think he be most surprised by the sad state of the physical infrastructure in the United States (accomplished by both parties.) 

As for the evolution of the Republican party, I'm not sure what he'd think.  I think he'd be dismayed, but not surprised by its intransigence and brinksmanship.  He often had to deal with the Old Guard in his day, so the arrogance in the GOP leadership now probably wouldn't be a huge surprise.  Just a disappointment.  He might be a bit taken aback at the polarization in both parties beginning in about the 1970s.  I'm not sure anyone from the 50s and 60s expected that. 

Then again these things are cyclic, so it depends upon how well Eisenhower reads history.  The Republican party was its most conservative just after the turn of the 20th Century.  Then Roosevelt was elected and throughout the first two-thirds of the 20th century a slow progressive drift ensued.  Eisenhower's presidency was near the end of this period.  He might have assumed that it would continue.  Then, starting in the early 70s, a rightward drift occurred, especially during the 1980s.  This was partly due to the realignment of the southern voters during that period, so that conservatives were replacing more moderate Republicans outside the southern states and conservatives were replacing moderate and conservative Democrats in the South.  (This also had the effect of making Democrats more progressive over that 40-year period, although with democrats the trend is not as marked.  Some academic studies show republican correlations of about 0.95 but only about 0.84 for Democrats.  Still, the trend is there.)  Of course this is all fairly well documented, but the question is how would it strike Eisenhower.  My standing assumption is that if you could wake the dead, just about any former US statesman would be vaguely disappointed at the whole US political culture, but most of them were pretty smart guys, so I doubt that they would be terribly surprised.
 
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ScottieF
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« Reply #39 on: September 14, 2015, 11:05:57 AM »

As for Nixon, I imagine he'd be a Republican but it's hard to say - he lived through Reagan's presidency but died months before the Republican Revolution of '94. He was, as angus said, more interested in foreign policy than anything. As far as domestic policies are concerned, he was a pragmatist above all else, neither liberal nor conservative. I won't reiterate the well-documented activism of his presidency as far as social programs are concerned but I do think the fact that he very much embraced the prevailing attitude of the day - that government existed to solve problems - is certainly worth noting.
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Rockefeller GOP
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« Reply #40 on: September 14, 2015, 11:22:00 AM »

Dwight Eisenhower was a Republican entirely by circumstance. He was not a loyal man of the party by any means. I suspect, by the tone of the party now, he'd probably be a moderate Democrat.

RINO Tom posted a quote from a book one time totally shattering this myth.  Ike was a Republican from birth, and it actually strained his otherwise close friendship with Harry Truman.
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FEMA Camp Administrator
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« Reply #41 on: September 14, 2015, 11:45:54 AM »

As for Nixon, I imagine he'd be a Republican but it's hard to say - he lived through Reagan's presidency but died months before the Republican Revolution of '94. He was, as angus said, more interested in foreign policy than anything. As far as domestic policies are concerned, he was a pragmatist above all else, neither liberal nor conservative. I won't reiterate the well-documented activism of his presidency as far as social programs are concerned but I do think the fact that he very much embraced the prevailing attitude of the day - that government existed to solve problems - is certainly worth noting.

This whole attempt to characterize Richard M. Freaking Nixon of all people by ideology is foolhardy at best.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #42 on: September 16, 2015, 01:04:05 AM »

The "absurdity" of conservative nostalgia for 1950s social norms pales in comparison to the absurdity of liberal idolisation of the structure of the American economy in the 1950s.

The imagined golden age of high wages and 90% top marginal rates was an exceptional period rather than a norm. It was only possible as a result of highly exceptional conditions-- most importantly the fact that the United States accounted for half of global output. To imagine that the economy could be similarly structured in the absence of such conditions is utter folly.
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Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers
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« Reply #43 on: September 16, 2015, 12:15:41 PM »

He would love the Kennedy Crt, and support SSM, and support McCain and Kasich.  He would strongly support immigration reform. 
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The Mikado
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« Reply #44 on: September 18, 2015, 08:02:07 AM »
« Edited: September 18, 2015, 08:14:42 AM by The Mikado »

I suspect he'd be a Republican because he'd have a somewhat tougher time getting Democrats to go along with a plan of massive foreign assassination, coups in multiple countries, and threatening to nuke China over the possession of uninhabitable rocks in the Pacific. Hell, Wednesday Fiorina brought back saber-rattling with China over uninhabitable rocks in the Pacific that are even more absurdly irrelevant than Quemoy and Matsu.

Edit: For some reason people always leave out Ike literally threatening to nuke China over Quemoy and Matsu when talking about how reasonable he was
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All Along The Watchtower
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« Reply #45 on: September 18, 2015, 05:53:45 PM »

Didn't Eisenhower say that the two biggest mistakes of his Presidency were sitting on the Supreme Court (noted liberals Earl Warren and William Brennan)?

Also, any man who appoints the Dulles brothers to top executive posts is a man of the Right.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #46 on: September 18, 2015, 11:07:23 PM »

Did China have nuclear weapons at the time?
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