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Would Ike Be A Republican Today?
As Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich tear away at each other — claiming that each benefited mightily from the government they both claim to despise — Lawrence Martin reminds his readers that there used to be a Republican president who consciously sought a middle way:
Dwight Eisenhower, Martin writes,
didn’t become a Republican until 1952, the year he campaigned for the presidency. He had never been schooled on political partisanship. “My only appeal to you,” he said during the campaign, “my only appeal to America … is to place loyalty to the country above loyalty to a political party.” He forbade his staff to issue personal attacks against opponents. He was dismayed by the primal political instincts of his vice-president, Richard Nixon.
In the end, Eisenhower did not have much praise for Nixon. When asked to name an important decision Nixon had participated in, Eisenhower responded, “If you give me a week I might think of one.” Given what happened during Nixon’s presidency, historians may one day write that Eisenhower’s greatest contribution to his country was keeping Nixon away from the levers of power.
But, most importantly, Ike understood the limits of military power. He kept U.S. troops out of Suez and Vietnam. And he warned his fellow citizens of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. The man who led the D-Day invasion told Americans:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Republicans have come a long way since Ike’s day. One doubts that he would recognize his party, let alone vote for it. He’d probably call himself an independent — which is what he was before he became president.
13 Responses to “Would Ike Be A Republican Today?”
Yea, he is a total RINO and would be run out of the GOP on a rail today.
I think you could ask the same of any politician 40+ years ago.
Just remember, it was the Democrats from the south that resisted equal rights for so many years, Lincoln freed the slaces and Kennedy promotes tax cuts.
Better question…
“Are you a Republican today?”
I was back then, but not today.
Sorry typos.
Lincoln freed the slaves
Kennedy promoted tax cuts
Edit function would not work for “fat fingers”
Most if Ike’s family left the Republican Party in the early 2000′s. Nixon’s daughters supported Obama along with many of Goldwater’s descendents. What does that tell you.
That bit of information is astounding, Ron — and news to me. But it should tell voters a great deal about today’s Republican Party.
It is also true that one can’t see Ike being a Democrat either. The real lesson is how partisanship has abandoned the political center.
Ike was a general. The GOP today seems to think being a CEO is a positive on the resume for President, but in my mind it is not at all the same thing. You have to make decisions to solve problems and unlike a CEO you can’t just “Fire” the people that aren’t working out. A president doesn’t have black and white metrics like “are we making money” to determine if you are doing a good job. Its a lot more complicated than that when you are trying to improve the welfare of an entire nation.
Ike was a member of neither party before he ran for office, that should tell you something. He was a guy who got things, big things, done. He understood consequences in human terms, not financial. The more I write this the more I wish the GOP could have gotten Colin Powell to run.
Lincoln wouldn’t be a Republican either in today’s party- way too much emphasis on federal power for these dudes
I see no GOP heavyweights today who have even a fraction of Ike’s integrity and good sense. If he was still around he would be appalled.
Bluebelle, neither would Teddy R. be a republican in today’s party, too much disdain for the environment and science in general.
I don’t why anyone would want to be a Republican these days. Of course I don’t know why people want to be Democrats either.
Plopping a historical figure into the present day and trying to predict their behavior is a difficult task. How would Ike have felt about gays in the military? How would JFK have felt about Roe v Wade?
If Ike was around today I’m pretty sure he’d charge into the Capitol building all fired up to help out, listen in for about 30 seconds, then slowly back out of the room, never taking his eyes off the jackals in front of him.
I blame the problem on the primary process, Citizen’s United and on redistricting- instead of reasoned debate and compromise we have guerilla warfare fought by rabid extremists — almost guaranteed to bring a nation to its knees.