Channels, Fall 2020

Page 46 Caldwell • Eisenhower existence of the peace and quiet the nation was experiencing as evidence of a lazy and inattentive president. Some would portray this calm perio d as “ow[ing] little to his leadership,” perceiving Eisenhower as a “bumbling and genial figure.” 2 Others would use this record to accuse him of blundering his way through his two terms or assert that he simply enjoyed “eight long years of golfing and goofing.” 3 Popular opinion and contemporary analysis of Eisenhower during his presidency categorized him largely as a “do - nothing” president, who was content to let his assistants speak and act for him. As history would later begin to see and prove, however, this conception of Eisenhower was flawed. The release of his private papers in the 1970s helped to begin to turn the tide on this negative assessment of him and his presidential administration, as they proved that he was quite the adept politician, and was far more involved in the politics of his position than he portrayed while in office. Since then, the presidency of Dwight David Eisenhower has been subject to in-depth historical study, which has simultaneously served to produce a more accurate version of events and set the historical record straight as it concerns Eisenhower’s presidency, administration, and personal involvement. This paper relies on the efforts and publications of many other historians of similar interest, who have contributed to the reshaping and rebuilding of the character of President Eisenhower in the public eye. The general public remains unaware of the shift that has taken place with reference to this subject, but this paper strives to give a brief, yet thorough, overview of the man, leader, and politician Eisenhower was. It will prove that, contrary to the historically contemporaneous image of Eisenhower as a “do - nothing” or “caretaker” president, the records of various documents and papers, his colleagues, and the legacy of his international and domestic policies and actions testify that Eisenhower was in fact a deft politician and shrewd president. Eisenhower: The Man, The Myth, The Legend Background David Dwight Eisenhower was born in Texas on October 14, 1890, to David and Ida Eisenhower. His names were later reversed by his mother, for two reasons: first, she did not care for nicknames (and Dwight is not a name that can be shortened, try as some might), and second, it was confusing to have two Davids in the family. 4 He was the third of seven sons, and spent his childhood in Abilene, Kansas. He grew up in a family that was 2 Andrew J. Polsky, ed., The Eisenhower Presidency: Lessons for the Twenty-First Century (Maryland: Lexington Books, 2015), xvii. 3 Vincent P. De Santis, “Eisenhower Revisionism,” The Review of Politics 38, no. 2 (1976): 197, accessed March 20, 2020, www.jstor.org/stable/1405936 ; for further support, refer to news publications of that time by either Richard Rovere of The New Yorker or the New York Times’ Arthur Krock. 4 Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower: Volume 1 - Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890-1952 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983), 18.