Dwight D. Eisernhower: Strength in Unity

By Mary Beth Smith

Strength in Unity is a phrase taken from Eisenhower's first inaugural speech. It represents how important NATO was to him.

The interesting thing about Ike's presidency was he usually knew what decision he was going to make before the beginning of any meeting. He gave his opinion right away, and let the cabinet members, NSA members and Joint Chiefs hash it out. He would listen carefully while sketching tea cups and saucers, or the faces of the people in the room. He didn't lose his temper often. If he became angry he would darkly outline the doodles. One time he said, "Are you people crazy. Do you want to bomb Vietnam less than ten years after we bombed other Asian peoples?"

This book covers 1945 to his first inauguration. Another much larger book will cover his presidency, retirement and death.

In 1945 he was head of the American Occupation Zone in Germany. This book discusses the de-Nazification program and the guilt of the Nazis. When General Lucius Clay took over Eisenhower came back to the U. S. to represent the soldiers who had fought in the European Theater.

At this point he wanted to retire but had to follow the orders of his Commander-in-Chief. He became Chief of Staff for two years. Marshall was to take over at that time. Before Marshall took over Ike, at the request of Truman, asked Marshall to become secretary of state in 1947.

When the president of Columbia became ill, Eisenhower was asked to take the job. Columbia wanted a man of distinction, not an educator like his brother, Milton. At this time Ike was asked to write a book about the war from his own perspective. He was paid enough to make him a rich man in 1948. The book sold in the millions and will always be referred to by historians.

He took up painting at Columbia, tried to join both halves of the campus together, gave a scholarly speech, gave lectures on World War II, and balanced the budget.

In 1948 he was asked to spend a lot of time in Washington. This wore on him and in 1949 he collapsed due to a stomach illness that he had had for years. His wife's doctor helped with the problem and he gave up smoking--cold turkey--took metamucil and changed his diet.

He was still a five star general so he obeyed his Commander-in-Chief and became Supreme Commander of NATO. He was able to convince several nations to join NATO. He was afraid that the Communists would try to take over western nations.

He was asked by the Republicans to run for the presidency. He refused, saying that he couldn't give up the important job he had now. But when he discovered that the likely Republican candidate, Robert Taft, was a nationalist--an isolationist, he began to see that he would have to run. And it was just in time. Taft, had begun to win in the South and in the middle of the country.

He ran, promising to end the Korean war. Once president he did.

People were afraid he would be a golf playing president and the tool of the Republicans. They were wrong.

He asked a group of trusted men to pick his cabinet. He had already selected John Foster Dulles as secretary of state, Walter B. Smith as his under secretary of state, Jim Hagerty as his press secretary, Joseph M. Dodge as the liaison with the government before the transition and chief of staff Sherman Adams. He would upgrade the National Security Council. People were criticizing him for over organizing the White House.

The Inaugural Address touched more on foreign policy than on domestic policy. Conservatives feared he was too liberal. He didn't mention the New Deal or the need for tax cuts as Taft had wanted him to. He knew he had to get along with Taft, the leader of the Republican party.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Beth Smith
• Release date: Mar 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463479179

Mary Beth Smith

Mary Beth Smith graduated from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore, Md. She worked as a computer programmer for 20 years. She enjoys cats, flying, motorcycling and lives in Cocoa, Florida with her husband novelist G. Ernest Smith.

Book preview

Preface

Some soldiers had the good fortune to learn the skills they would need as generals while still relatively young. This was partly due to their hard work and intelligence which brought them to the attention of the higher ups. They were also much loved by the troops. This too, set them apart from others. They worried about the welfare and comfort of their troops.

Ike wrote this advice to his son John, Go around and see every man, see that he gets into warm, dry clothing...that he gets a good hot meal and that his weapons are in tip top shape...By pursuing these methods you will not only have a splendidly trained platoon, but one that will follow you anywhere.

Because of his sincerity and because he showed his feelings everybody from the lowest private to President Roosevelt trusted him. General Montgomery said, his real strength lies in his human qualities. He has the power of drawing the hearts of men towards him as a magnet attracts the bits of metal. He merely has to smile at you and you trust him at once. He is the very incarnation of sincerity.

I had been trying to understand my father, a similar type, for years. He was a man of integrity. He wouldn’t tell a lie and wouldn’t cheat or steal. He was very quiet, but loved people and people loved him. Since he wasn’t a talker he drew people out by interviewing them. He also told stories. Stories that were practiced over and over in his head until he got them right. He walked with crutches and sometimes fell which he thought was funny and made a good story. He seemed to love President Eisenhower and never failed to point out his house to me when we were in Gettysburg which we visited often because he was a Civil War buff.

When I read Chapter 11 of Abraham Maslow's Motivation and Personality, I understood my father a little better. He may have been what Maslow calls self-actualizing. It is said that Maslow believed that President Eisenhower was self-actualizing or psychologically healthy.¹

This type of personality is rare.

The person will admit to not being perfect but most of those imperfections are in the past.

They are always honest and always do the right thing. They are considered to be a person of integrity and sincerity. Usually everybody loves them and trusts them.

They are calm and make good decisions. They are simple people and relate well to children for that reason.

Aside from being a self actualized person, which is as near sainthood as most people can get, Ike was a very organized person. His thinking was very structured. For example, he would make endless lists in his diary: which newspapers were helpful, which ones were not; who were his best cabinet members -- sorted by age; what friends were, to his dismay, dying -- he lost several good, helpful civil servants; what his administration accomplished that year, etc. He was proud to say, in 1954, he had kept most of his campaign promises. His diary illuminates how very thoughtful he was.

This book covers Ike's activities after the war until his first inauguration. He did not want to become president but saw no viable alternative. As Abraham H. Maslow says about self-actualizing people they do a job not because they want to but because they have to. Some say it’s possible Adlai Stevenson II was self-actualizing.

General Montgomery

General Eisenhower

Head of the American Occupation Zone in Germany

In 1964 Eisenhower visited Omaha beach and thought of the young men who were cut off in their prime. He cried. He didn't blame himself. But he did blame the Nazis. They were responsible for the death of every young man in the war.

Eisenhower didn't believe that every German had participated in the Holocaust, but he didn't allow former Nazis to be hired. He fired them from well-paying jobs because of the de-Nazification program. He was told he was making a mistake. A great many inexperienced or inefficient people were holding positions in local government because of the de-Nazification program.¹ The Germans are our friends, he was told. Hannah Arendt, who wrote Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil wrote:

It is one thing to ferret out criminals and murderers from their hiding places, and it is another thing to find them prominent and flourishing in the public realm—to encounter innumerable men in the federal and state administrations and, generally, in public office whose careers had bloomed under the Hitler regime. True, if the Adenaur administration had been too sensitive about employing officials with a compromising Nazi past there might have been no administration at all. ²

Banality of evil simply means that mass murderers and serial killers are