On other decisions, he retired to his office to consider the issue further. In the days of World War II, Eisenhower had learned the wisdom of nurturing good rapport with the press. He viewed press conferences as an effective method of keeping in touch with the American people.
He would launch into a convoluted, rambling reply that left reporters looking confused. A skilled writer and speaker. Eisenhower used the English language to accomplish specific objectives with a particular audience.
Though an experienced public speaker, looking straight into the lens of a television camera was uncomfortable for him. He even agreed to wear a light blue shirt, but he drew the line at tampering with his usual haircut. Throughout his presidency, he consistently earned a percent approval rating.
Occasionally, it dropped a little below that. Following the election, he faced a Democratic Congress in addition to a split Republican party. The continued respect and high opinion that the American people had for him were essential to his leadership. The Republican presidential contest in had divided the party, but Eisenhower was committed to unifying it once again. If he wished to see his programs become law, he would need Congress. Too, the Senate had the power to approve or reject his presidential appointments.
Senate Majority Leader Royer Taft was gracious and generous with his help. But when Taft died of cancer in the summer of , everything changed. Eisenhower rarely missed one. In addition to the president and vice-president, there were eight permanent NSC members. Eisenhower expected a spirited, factual airing of the issues among the members of the Council; he had little patience for lectures or speeches by its members.
At some point in any discussion, the president would pose the question:. After the formal meeting ended, a select few usually carried the debate into the Oval Office.
Often the president participated with such intensity that his staff worried about his health. In September , Eisenhower was enjoying a well-earned vacation in Denver. Army during World War I. At the time of his victory, Eisenhower was the first Republican president to occupy the White House in 20 years. He was also the oldest president to have never held elected office prior to the presidency. Soon after Eisenhower's first term began, the Korean War ended. The following year saw the beginning of the U.
Civil Rights Movement and the start of the Vietnam War. In , Eisenhower created the interstate highway system, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA was established in to challenge Russia's efforts in the space race.
Eisenhower was re-elected in , again defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson II with 58 percent of the popular vote and electoral votes. He also emphasized a balanced budget and the importance of civil rights for all U. Before leaving office, Eisenhower endorsed vice president Nixon in the presidential race over Democratic candidate John F.
Eisenhower retired to a small farm adjacent to the battlefield outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His commission as a five star general in the U.
Army was reactivated after he left the presidency. Eisenhower remained active in the Republican Party until a heart attack in ended his political involvement. He suffered another heart attack in and spent his remaining months at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D. Eisenhower married Mamie Doud in July Icky died of scarlet fever at the age of three.
The British, the French, and the Israelis were all outraged by this action and demanded retaliation. For Eisenhower this was a complex and difficult situation. He had little desire to alienate his old war time allies but was equally loathe to commit the United States to any type of armed combat in the Middle East. The situation over Suez came to a head at the end of October when at the same time revolution broke out in Hungary.
The days leading up to the election would be tense and uncertain not only for the world but for the United States. In this period of strife, the American people watched and went to the polls. In another landslide, Eisenhower won a second term. The American people had spoken. His leadership was what they felt they needed to ensure peace and prosperity for their nation. You Might Also Like. Loading results Tags: eisenhower presidential elections cold war politics s presidential campaigns president.
As the election year of approached, Truman, who became President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in , seemed to have little chance of winning a full term of his own. In a private meeting, Truman proposed that he and Eisenhower run together on the Democratic ticket, with Eisenhower as the presidential candidate and Truman in second position.
Eisenhower rejected this astonishing offer and probably thought that he would never again have to consider the possibility of a run for the White House. Truman won an upset victory in , but during the Korean War, he became extremely unpopular. Truman's decision to fire General Douglas MacArthur as commander of United Nations forces was an important cause for public disapproval of the President.
So too was the deadlock in the fighting in Korea. Republicans expected to win the presidency in , and Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio became the leading candidate for the GOP nomination. But some prominent Republicans considered Taft an isolationist since he had opposed the formation of NATO and talked instead about building up defenses in the Western Hemisphere.
They tried to interest Eisenhower in the Republican nomination, confident that his popularity would carry him to victory and certain that his internationalist policies were essential to success in the Cold War. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. In public, Eisenhower said he had no interest in politics because he had to devote full attention to his duty as commander of NATO forces in Europe. Finally, in January , Eisenhower announced that he was a Republican and that he would be willing to accept the call of the American people to serve as President.
Soon there was clear evidence that voters preferred Eisenhower. In the New Hampshire primary, Eisenhower won a big victory over Taft. Yet in , there was only a handful of presidential primaries. State conventions and party leaders chose most of the delegates to the nominating convention, and Taft had taken the lead before Eisenhower returned to the United States in June to campaign for the nomination.
Some delegates—enough to make a difference in who got the nomination—were in dispute. At the Republican convention in Chicago, Eisenhower's political managers won a critical battle over the disputed delegates and managed to seat their delegates rather than Taft's in a few key states. As a result, Eisenhower won the nomination on the first ballot. For vice president, Eisenhower chose Senator Richard M.
Nixon of California, who had helped his campaign managers secure votes in the dispute over delegates. Although he was just thirty-nine years old, Nixon had won national attention for his role in a congressional investigation of Alger Hiss, a former state department official accused of spying for the Soviets.
Hiss went to prison after his conviction on a charge of perjury for denying that he had passed secrets to the Kremlin. The Democrats picked Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, a witty and urbane politician whose thoughtful speeches appealed to liberals and moderate Democrats.
His credentials were impressive: he was a Princeton-educated lawyer who had served as special assistant to the Secretary of the Navy during World War II, an influential member of the U. But as a campaigner, he was no match for Eisenhower. Eisenhower inspired confidence with his plain talk, reassuring smiles, and heroic image.
He kept a demanding schedule, traveling to forty-five states and speaking to large crowds from the caboose of his campaign train. The slogan "I like Ike" quickly became part of the political language of America.
Eisenhower also got his message to the American people through second television advertisements, the first time TV commercials played a major role in a presidential election. Yet it was not just Ike's personal charm that mattered, his campaign used a clever strategy of ignoring Stevenson—Eisenhower never mentioned his opponent by name—and attacking Truman.
The stalemated war in Korea, corruption in the Truman administration, and Communist subversion were the issues that Republicans emphasized throughout the campaign. Eisenhower held a clear lead over Stevenson in the polls, as voters looked to Eisenhower to clean up what even Stevenson had called "the mess in Washington. Eisenhower, though, had his own problems to resolve, as unexpected difficulties disrupted his campaign.
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