President Eisenhower in an Era of Peace

By Mary Beth Smith

Eisenhower was probably the only Republican who could have won the election of 1952. He had been the greatest general in the greatest war there ever was. He was kind, humble and a man of integrity. More than that he was ready to re-organize the executive branch of government. And although it didn't always show, he was a very smart and clever leader.

But he didn't want to be president.

In 1945 he was asked if he wanted to be the next president. He said no.

In mid-1947 he was told it was his duty to run.

When Dewey was defeated in 1948 he was pressured once again and said no. But the Republicans kept calling on him. He was the head of NATO in 1952 when a grass roots movement rose to make him president. When he discovered the likely Republican candidate, Senator Taft, was a nationalist and an isolationist, he decided to run.
Because of his heroic stature he easily won the election.

People loved him. He had a 65 percent approval rating during his eight years as president.

This fatherly man was a simple, natural, and highly ethical person. And in addition to that he was self actualized. Self actualization is, according to Abraham Maslow, "the full use and exploitation of talents."

He did not want people to know how dangerous this "peaceful era" of the 1950s was. So he confused and misspoke during press conferences. His writing however, like his great wartime memoir Crusade in Europe, was clear and logical.

During the campaign he promised to end the Korean war. Forty-five thousand men had been killed or were missing. After the election he flew over the 38th parallel. He saw that the war couldn't be ended without a huge increase in fire power. As president he used pressure on the South Korean president, Rhee, to accept a divided Korea. The Korean war was brought to a halt.

Even though a conservative, he kept in place the New Deal policies, expanded social security and raised the minimum wage. He asked for a national health care system. He pushed forth a civil rights act to protect voting rights and sent Federal troops to desegregate Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas.

He balanced the budget and built thousands of miles of highway.

He added many cabinet positions and put in a chief of staff. He enlarged the National Security Council and had frequent cabinet and NSC meetings. Unless there was some kind of crisis brewing the Federal government ran like a finely tuned machine. All his adult life Eisenhower had been in the Army. He brought the "staff system" to Washington. Each cabinet member was an expert in their field. They would make their recommendations and send them to the president who would make the final decision. This system made it possible for the government to function when the president had a heart attack.

After his heart attack "the team" was able to carry on. Eisenhower quickly regained his health. The question was: would he be healthy enough to serve 4 more years? If so, what changes would he have to make to his lifestyle in order to prevent another heart attack.

Knowing he was the one who could lead the U.S. best for the next four years, he ran again in 1956.

The 1960 race between Kennedy and Nixon was extremely close. It may have been "stolen" from the vice president. Nixon explained why he didn't fight the election results and why a concession speech is important. A section on the smooth transfer of power explains the difficulty of teaching all the topics that the next president needs to know. Eisenhower did his best to hit the important points. Eisenhower offered to be available at any time to answer any further questions. He would be asked to meet Kennedy at Camp David soon enough.

His farewell address foresaw the military-industrial complex. He left the presidency for a hard-won retirement in Gettysburg and California.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Beth Smith
• Release date: Mar 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005322441

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

Introduction

For me to be a saint means to be myself.

- Thomas Merton

Eisenhower, like most psychologically healthy people, was greatly loved. If you have had the privilege of knowing a self actualizing person, you may not have understood them. You may have wondered about their motives because your own motives were not pure.

My self actualizing person was a simple, natural, and highly ethical person like Eisenhower. Self actualization is, according to Abraham Maslow, the full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc.¹

Like other self actualizing people Ike had to use his skills for the greater good. He had a task that he must do, not a task that he wanted to do. And that task was to be President of the United States.

As a Republican he wanted to avoid socialism. Yet he spoke sternly to Congress about the need for some kind of health plan partly paid for by the federal government. He was thwarted by the American Medical Association. He kept all the New Deal policies. He expanded Social Security to include all self-employed people. He increased the minimum wage.

He felt accepted, loved and respected.

Yet he was humble. He was aware of the fact that there was so much he didn’t know. He listened to many friends and advisers. He learned.

This book reflects the current time. It tells of a president who was loved (instead of one who wasn’t). It tells the story of a vice president who came close to being killed during a riot. It uses Richard Nixon’s words to explain why concession speeches are important. It describes Eisenhower’s attempt to explain the presidency to his successor--a tall order. It shows Nixon’s graceful acceptance of defeat even though the election was probably stolen from him. These things are traditions and not required by law. The important thing to remember here is the fact that there was a smooth transition of power.

Richard Nixon said:

I want to say that one of the great features of America is that we have political contests, that they are very hard fought, as this one was hard fought, and once the decision is made, we unite behind the man who is elected…I want Senator Kennedy to know, and I want all of you to know, that certainly if this trend continues, and if he does become our next President, he will have my wholehearted support.

Preface

What he did in the military sphere seemed so easily, almost casually, done that it was easily underrated.

- Kenneth S. Davis

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. If you haven’t been planning, you can’t start to work, intelligently at least.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Eisenhower had been in the Army since he was in his twenties. During World War II he would become the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. During the war he would learn the practicality of having meetings and speaking individually with his generals. He would become expert at sizing his generals up and using their strengths. Once the war was over he learned to make speeches without looking at a paper.

During the war and at NATO he met leaders of many countries. He agreed to run for the presidency because, the likely nominee, Robert Taft, was an isolationist and Ike strongly believed that the West should unite.

World War II

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor Dwight D. Eisenhower thought he might get a promotion. He was called on December 12, 1941 and told to fly to Washington to talk to Chief of Staff General Marshall.

Marshall described his problems. Airplanes had been badly damaged. The Japanese were going to conquer the Philippines. The Navy carriers were intact because they had been out at sea but had few supporting vessels. The Japanese might launch an attack on Hawaii or the mainland. No one knew when the naval vessels would be repaired.

General Marshall looked at him and said, What should be our general line of action?

Ike tried to hide his shock. He said, Give me a few hours.

He was nothing if not a planner. He wrote, I had been forced to examine world-wide military matters and to study concretely such subjects as the mobilization and composition of armies, the role of air forces and navies in war…and the acute dependence of all elements of military life upon the industrial capacity of the nation.¹

He went back to General Marshall with his plan:

1. Don’t abandon the Philippines. The people of China, of the Philippines, of the Dutch East Indies will be watching us. They may excuse failure but they will not excuse abandonment.

2. Russia should attack Japanese troops in Manchuria and provide the U.S. with airfields from which they could bomb the islands of Japan.

3. Australia should be established as a base. We had to have an air life line through Australia, New Zealand, Figi, and Hawaii.²

Later he would plan the invasion of North Africa, the Tunisian Campaign, the invasion of Sicily, the invasion of Italy, the landings on D-Day, the Battle of the Beachhead, Operation COBRA, the Liberation of Paris, the Battle of the Bulge, the crossing of the Rhine, the encircling of the Ruhr and the meeting with the Russians after their attack on Berlin.

He had learned to lead by following the example of others. A group of visiting senators asked, Cunningham commands the naval forces, Tedder commands the air forces, and Alexander commands the ground forces. What does Eisenhower do?

He commands Cunningham, Alexander, and Tedder. He brought this about, not through any structural changes, but by holding weekly meetings with the three British officers, by having frequent casual conversations with them individually, by acting as referee to settle their inter-service disputes, and most of all by the force of his personality, they were told. ³

He always had a smile and a pat on the back for everyone from private to general.

He was an empathetic person, especially to the men willing to die for him and for their country. Late on June 5, 1944 he decided to visit the 101st Airborne Division which was predicted to have many casualties.

David Eisenhower in his book Eisenhower at War describes the scene:

The party arrived unannounced…the stars on the running board of the automobile had been covered, but the troops of the 101st quickly recognized Eisenhower and the word passed. Many have described how Eisenhower wandered through the formless groups of soldiers, stepping over packs and guns. The faces of the men had been blackened with charcoal and cocoa to protect against glare and to serve as camouflage. He stopped at intervals to talk to the thick clusters of soldiers gathering round him. He asked their names and homes:

Where are you from soldier?

Missouri, sir!

And you, soldier?

Kansas, sir.

And you, soldier?

Texas, sir.

Cheers and the roll call of the states went on… affirming an awareness that the General and the men were associated in a great enterprise.⁴

He was a diplomatic person. During the war French General Giraud had told the French North Africans to stop fighting the Allies but they didn’t listen. Eventually Admiral Darlan, a Vichy man, came to Algiers to visit his son who was in the hospital. The French had sworn an oath of loyalty to Marshal Pétain and would only accept his or Darlan’s orders.

When Darlan heard that the Germans had attacked southern France he offered to cooperate fully with the Americans.

London and Washington worried that Eisenhower was making peace with Vichy. Eisenhower nearly lost his job over this. He reacted quickly sending a telegram to Washington. Both Roosevelt and the secretary of war were impressed with the telegram. After reading it they understood the situation completely:

November 14

Completely understand the bewilderment in London and Washington because of the turn that negotiations with French North Africans have taken.…The following facts are pertinent and it is important that no precipitate action at home upset the equilibrium we have been able to establish.

The name of Marshal Pétain is something to conjure with here. Everyone attempts to create the impression that he lives and acts under the shadow of the Marshal’s figure.

Civil governors, military leaders, and naval commanders agree that only one man has the obvious right to assume the Marshal’s mantle in North Africa. He is Darlan.…

The resistance we first met was offered because all ranks believed this to be the Marshal’s wish…All concerned say they are ready to help us provided Darlan tells them to do so, but they are not willing to follow anyone else.…Recognition of Darlan’s position in this regard cannot be escaped.…⁵

He used press conferences where they were most needed. By the time he became president he had already held many. When England was inundated with two million American soldiers, he held press conferences where he asked the British for ideas on how to handle the situation. Press conferences were also held to improve the morale in the United States and England.

He assessed every subordinate’s weaknesses and strengths and used their strengths. Patton, who was snobbish and had marked mood swings, also demonstrated dash and bravery. Eisenhower used him to command forces that had to penetrate boldly into enemy territory.

He also became more used to having and attending meetings. The Army had always had meetings but now they had many more. Sometimes Churchill and others held meetings every day. He frequently attended meetings to discuss problems with the North African attack. They discussed the huge winter swells at Casablanca, the political situation in North Africa, the weather and the lack of supplies.

He was so efficient that journalists underestimated his military skills. Kenneth S. Davis wrote in Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier Of Democracy, What he did in the military sphere seemed so easily, almost casually, done that it was easily underrated. Eisenhower wrote beside this passage, If this is true, it is the highest possible praise--all C.O.’s should strive for it.⁶

1. The Man Who Did Not Want to Be President

The convention was in Chicago. He didn’t think it was necessary for him to be there and didn’t want to go.

Eisenhower was dragged into the presidency reluctantly. Unless he was convinced it was a duty, he would not accept it. And he couldn’t imagine it being presented to him as a duty. ¹

In 1945 as he was touring American cities the press asked him if he would run for president. He said no. At that time he was temporary governor of the American zone in Germany.

He was asked to be chief of staff for two years until General Bradley took over the position.

In mid-1947 he was informed that it was his duty to run for president as a Republican. Only a popular hero like himself could win the election. In January 1948 some friends entered his name in the New Hampshire Primary. He then stated that he would not run in the Primary.

He became president of Columbia University.

When Dewey was defeated in 1948 he began to feel pressured. Dewey ran for the governorship of New York but said he wanted Eisenhower to run as a Republican in the 1952 presidential election. In December of 1950 Truman asked him to command NATO.

Democrats began to pressure him to run. He made a statement saying he would not run. Then the Republicans began to call on him. He refused to take their calls.

He visited several countries as head of NATO. When he returned to the United States he made a televised speech to the public and a speech to Congress. At that time he discovered that the likely Republican candidate for president, Senator Taft, was an isolationist and a nationalist. He still hoped that someone besides himself would run.

In January of 1952 he declared that he had always been a Republican.

Then a grass roots movement arose for his candidacy.

He finally decided to leave his post as NATO commander.

He told his friends on June 1 that if they and the other Republicans saw fit to nominate him, it would be alright with him. Because of this he had to give a number of talks.

The convention was in Chicago. He didn’t think it was necessary for him to be there and didn’t want to go but people wanted to see the great hero of World War II. There he politely received a number of visitors. He was nominated on the first ballot and chose Richard Nixon as the vice presidential candidate. Nixon was much younger. Ike was the oldest president up to that point. He was 62. Nixon was from the far west--California whereas Eisenhower had lived in the mid-west.²

According to William I. Hitchcock, who wrote The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s, the man who did not want to become president accomplished many things:

He ended the Korean war.

He avoided intervention in Indochina.

He stopped the British and French invasion of Egypt.

He befriended Nikita Khrushchev.

He kept in place the New Deal policies.

He expanded social security.

He raised the minimum wage.

He founded the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

He suggested a national health insurance system.

He built thousands of miles of roads paying for it with a gas tax.

He ushered in the Civil Rights Act which was the first civil rights law since Reconstruction.

He ordered federal troops to surround a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas so that desegregation could proceed peacefully.

He spent wisely on defense.

He kept himself at a trim weight and quit his four pack a day smoking habit.

He had regular meetings--Mondays with Congressional leaders; Wednesdays were for press conferences; Thursdays with the National Security Council; Fridays with the Cabinet.

People loved him. He had an average approval rating of 65 percent during his eight years in office. Fifty percent of Democrats approved of his performance.

Despite his earlier desire to