US Presidents, Day 34: Eisenhower

[Joe Republic]

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican
1953-1961


Discuss his presidency.

[Gabu]

Seems like a very inoffensive presidency.

[MaC]

Seems like a very inoffensive presidency.

seems pretty mediocre, nothing great.  He could've tried harder to undo some New Deal policies and I don't care for his veiws on NAFTA-other than that, meh...

[PBrunsel]

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Part I: The Man from Abilene, 1890-1953

He was the celebrated hero of D-Day. The conqueror of Hitler’s mighty Nazi Army. The savior of European freedom and democracy. When Dwight Eisenhower became President in 1952, everyone really did “like Ike.” As President, many saw Eisenhower as lazy and ineffective. Some laughed at a President who seemed like he would rather golf than govern. “When [Chief of Staff] Sherman Adams dies,” wondered Senator Stuart Symington, “Who will become President?” Eisenhower’s White House was called, “The Tomb of the Well Known Solider.” This was not the Eisenhower Administration. As Secretary of State John Foster Dulles would say in 1958, “This was a hidden hand presidency.” Ike was never the grandfatherly bumbler that the media portrayed him as. He was a powerful, intelligent, and savvy political broker.

Ike was raised by a Quaker mother and strict father in the Wild West town of Abilene, Kansas, where Eisenhower was taught from childhood that he had a duty to serve God, family, and country (though not always in that order). Ike would find success, along with his five brothers.  Ike was an athlete and historian who was quite popular with the girls of Abilene. His younger brother Milton was voted by his high school class “Most Likely to become President”, where as Ike was voted “Most Likely to Become a History teacher.” This proves “most likely” votes in high school are about as reliable as the Gallup Poll. Eisenhower went to West Point in 1911 (the only other president to attend West Point was Ulysses Grant) since he was attracted by its free tuition and foot ball program. When Ida Eisenhower, his mother, begged him not to become a solider (since she was a pacifist) Ike assured her, “I will never fight in a battle.”

After wounding his knee in 1915, Ike’s football career was over. He now had to focus on being a solider. From 1915-1942 Eisenhower would serve as a Major in the Army throughout mostly peace time. Ike served the U.S. Army in Panama, helped organize the Filipino Army, was aide to Secretary of the Army Douglas MacArthur (“Ike was the best damned clerk I ever had”)and even helped found the U.S. tank corps with General George Patton. Patton said of Ike, “Well that #%$$@ Ike was a &^%#$ guy! Now shut the %^%$# up and shine my #$%@! shoes!” However, as 1941 approached Eisenhower was a 51-year old major. At a reception in September 1941 Ike’s brother Milton introduced the Major to Edward R. Murrow. “Ed,” Milton said, “This is my brother Dwight, he’s going places.” “Well,” Murrow said later, “He better get moving, he’s a 51-year old Major.” Ike was soon to e going places that no one would have dreamed he could have gone as December 7th, 1941, dawned.

Pearl Harbor changed America forever, but especially the career of American Major Dwight Eisenhower. Ike fought in Northern Africa, used George Patton to best “The Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel during Operation TORCH, and was the compromise choice to lead Operation Overlord as Supreme Allied Commander. Ike was a political general, he knew how to make compromises and strike deals between British and American commanders. As the greatest invasion in history (D-Day) was planned, Ike’s diplomatic abilities would be needed to keep such hot heads as Bernard Montgomery and George Patton away from each others’ necks. When June 6th, 1944, was a major success, and the Nazi last second surge at the Battle of the Buldge was rebuffed, Ike was hailed as the hero of WWII. People worldwide wanted to see him, to shake his hand, to give him flowers, this man who just five years before was a mere Major. Ike was a world hero, and the White House beckoned.

After turning down attempts by both parties to draft him in 1948 for President, Ike decided to run as a Republican in 1952 to oppose Truman’s corruption and quagmire in Korea. The GOP’s “C2K” formula (“Communism, Corruption, and Korea”) worked like a charm. Ike, already a hero, announced that he would travel to Korea in December 1952 to see firsthand what the conditions were like. This was what Americans wanted to see, eliminating the middle man and going to source without any hesitation. On Election Day 1952 the New Deal coalition of blacks, Jews, Catholics, Union laborers, and skilled workers fell apart, and Ike crushed his hapless opponent, the jovial and wordy Governor of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson. Once Ike visited Korea he knew two things: The war could not be won and a war like that should never be fought again.

[PBrunsel]

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Part II: Waging Peace, 1953-1969

When Ike too office in 1953 he wanted to end two things: The war in Korea and the witch hunts of Joseph McCarthy. In March 1953, a truce ended the Korean War. The Treaty of Panmunjeom established the boundaries of North Korea at the 39th Parallel. The war was not a victory, but it was not a defeat. Defeating Joe McCarthy would not be as easy. “I don’t want to get into the gutter with that man,” Ike had said in 1952, but he now saw McCarthy as a real threat to American prestige. “Rambling Joe” was now accusing the Army of being dominated by Communists.  Ike just sat back and watched McCarthy self destruct. When Ike told McCarthy that he didn't have the support of the White House, McCarthy went on the attack. He began to make false claims against members of the Eisenhower Administration, and this was too much for the Senate. In 1954, McCarthy was censured by his Senate colleagues, thus ending this time of mistrust and suspicion amongst Americans. Eisenhower had made peace at home and abroad.

In the form of domestic affairs, Eisenhower originated “Modern Republicanism.” This form of Moderate Republican ruling included internal improvements and support for free enterprise. The 1956 Interstate Highway Act revolutionized the way Americans traveled. From 1918-1921, Eisenhower was just a regular army sergeant. He had to trek from Virginia to California with his tank corps to tell President Wilson how the nation’s roads were. They were in awful shape.  Ike knew that the only way for people to escape a city quickly in case of a nuclear attack from the USSR (always a fear in the 1950s) would be to have a reliable system of roads. Eisenhower also initiated the first crackdown on illegal immigration, used the national guard to enforce integration in Little Rock Schools, made the (he even said it) mistake of appointing Earl Warren to the Supreme Court, and supported several new Deal policies like Social Security and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Ike’s form of “Modern Republicanism” was what dominated the GOP until the 1964 nomination of Barry Goldwater and then all the way to the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s.

President Eisenhower was most interested in foreign affairs. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and he wrote the “Eisenhower Doctrine” in 1956. This doctrine stated that the United States would send troops to any area of the world where Communism threatened to take over the region. Dulles said that Americans must “go to the brink” to fight Communist expansion. “Brinkmanship” could be seen in Ike’s foreign policy from Asia to the Middle East. In 1953 Ike allowed the CIA to overthrow the pro-Soviet President of Iran and install the pro-U.S. Shah. The Shah would prove to be  loyal ally who supplied the United States with oil and a buffer against Communism in the Middle East, but he also was very oppressive and his tyranny was a slap in the face to the American ideal of liberty and freedom for all. Vietnam was also an area of the world where brinkmanship would play a major role. Ike tripled the number of advisors and supplies sent to the small French colony. After the French were defeated at the Battle of Dien Bein Phu by the Communists under Ho Chi Mihn, Dulles backed the democracy in South Vietnam. American involvement in Vietnam had begun, and no one knew about it. Dulles called this “The Hidden Hand Presidency” of Eisenhower.

The public face Ike gave was one of a grandfather who golfed, fished, and told a good story. Many felt that Chief of Staff Sherman Adams was the real president, or at least Vice-President Richard Nixon was doing a lot of what the President should do. This was not true, and after Ike recovered from a heart attack in 1955, he went back to work overthrowing governments and building roads. Ike’s natural luck and good humor was playing well worldwide. Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev saw Eisenhower as a capitalist he could work with. After Ike’s landslide reelection victory in 1956, it looked like world peace was his for the asking. A Paris Summit was scheduled for May 1960, this is where Ike hoped he could make a lasting peace that would end the arms race, the space race, and the ideological Cold War forever. On the eve of the summit, Ike’s luck abandoned him. A U-2 spy place had crashed in the USSR, and Nikita was pounding his shoes with anger. At the Paris Summit he demanded that Eisenhower apologize and release to him all the information the United States had in their espionage files. Eisenhower refused, and the summit ended. Ike’s quest for peace had failed. The Russians were already winning the space race with Sputnik in 1958 and orbiting the first man in space in 1959, so Ike’s best possibility at ending Russian momentum in the space race was over.

The final two years of Eisenhower’s administration were, as he said, “A living hell.” The economy crashed, the Democrats won a huge victory in the 1958 midterm elections, Cuba fell to Communism, and Senator John F. Kennedy began to say there was a  “missile gap” between the USSR and the U.S., and it was in the Russian’s favor. Ike hated nuclear bombs and war. He said in 1953, “Every bomb made, every rocket launched, every gun fired symbolizes a theft from those who hunger an are not fed and those who are naked and not clothed.” He grew nervous that the “military industrial complex” would grow too powerful, and begin to control Congress and the federal budget. He sought peace and cut the military budget, balanced budgets, and tried his hardest to ensure understanding between the two great global powers.

When Ike left office in 1961 he was considered a failure. This is not true. He left footprints on the sands of time and the presidency forever. His “hidden hand” foreign policy would be modeled by every president since. His interstate highways would be sued by vacationers, commuters, and companies to transport themselves from place to place. His work with “brinkmanship” helped cement America as a foe of Communism. Dwight David Eisenhower’s most lasting legacy was that he was a military hero who as president waged peace.

[Dr. Cynic]

Good guy... Fair President... Did little, but at the time, little needed done... He refused to openly combat with Senators McCarthy or Jenner during the witch hunt, and that is really, in my opinion one of the few blemishes on his Presidency...

[Michael Z]

Dwight David Eisenhower’s most lasting legacy was that he was a military hero who as president waged peace.

That really is a very good one-sentence summary of the man. I think it's telling that people who've actually served in war are usually more likely to be reluctant to expose others to it.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

RINO

[Gabu]

RINO

Not for the 1950s.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Doesn't get nearly as much flak as he deserves.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Doesn't get nearly as much flak as he deserves.

Yes. Especially about his goverment involvement in Iran, which is one of the major reasons why we're in this mess at the moment.

[??????????]

Very positive for creating the Federal Interstate Highway System. Al, what do you dislike about the man other then he showed Montgomery up during WW2.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Al, what do you dislike about the man other then he showed Montgomery up during WW2.

Actually that is one of the better things about him

Basically I dislike him for his numerous (and long lasting) foriegn policy blunders.

[gorkay]

A pretty good president, all told, and definitely one of the best Republican ones. His moderate policies were a good fit for the times. Three things I would fault him for: he didn't surround himself with the best people, he didn't come out forecefully enough against McCarthy and his minions, and he embarrassed the country by lying publicly about the U-2 after it was shot down, claiming it wasn't a spy plane. But he did good things, too. The economy stayed in good shape throughout his presidency, and there were no major foreign-policy blunders in a very dangerous era. His leadership on school integration in the south was one of his finest hours, as was his attempt late in his presidency to warn the public of the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

I think his first term was much better than his second. I don't think he had the energy and enthusiasm for the job the last few years that he did initially, mainly because of all his health problems. But all in all, a fairly good president.