September 17, 2020 • 37 mins
On September 17, 2020, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial will be dedicated in Washington, D.C. This year marked the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day and the 75th commemoration of the end of World War II. Eisenhower, or “Ike” as he was known, was a West Point graduate, a Five Star General in the Army, served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe in World War II and the 34th President of the United States. In Part 3: Newt’s guest is Ike’s granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of News World pretty odd years ago I left.
I believe since they and I have seen demonstrated in
our own land and in far corners of the earth,
on battlefields and around council tables, in schoolhouse, in factory
and farming community, the indomitable spirit of Americans from this roster.
(00:22):
Looking back on the American record through these years, I
gained personal inspiration and renewed devotion to America. There is
nothing before us that can affright or defeat of people who,
in one man's lifetime have accomplished so much. Ladies and gentlemen,
I believe we can have peace with honor, reasonable security,
(00:44):
with national solids. I believe in the future of the
United States of American than President. Thank President. President. Every
how is the time for all good Americans to come
(01:07):
to the aid of their country. This is new due
to the virus. I'm recording from home, so you may
notice a difference in audio quality. This year we marked
the seventy fifth anniversary of victory in Europe and the
seventy fifth commemoration of the end of World War Two. Eisenhower,
(01:28):
or Eke as he was known, was a West Point graduate,
a five star general in the Army, served as Supreme
Commander the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe in World War Two,
and became the thirty fourth President of the United States.
He is an extraordinary person and one well worth studying
because so much of what he did and what he
(01:49):
understood can be applied to our own lives, in our
own situation. This episode is the last in our three
part The Immortals White David Eisenhower series, and I'm really
pleased to welcome my guest, Susan Eisenhower, Eisenhower's granddaughter and
author of How Ike Led The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions.
(02:21):
In Part three of The Immortals Dwight David Eisenhower, we
take you through Eisenhower's presidential campaign and his presidency and
look at how he made decisions. We're very fortunate at
a time when the Eisenhower Memorial is being dedicated on
the Mall, to have as a special guest Susan Eisenhower,
(02:42):
his granddaughter, who recently wrote a book, How Ike Led
the Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions, looking at her grandfather's
leadership style and what we can learn from him that
we can imply in our lives. Susan, thank you so
much to take the time to be with us. Well,
mister speaker, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. And I'm
(03:06):
very curious. I'm such a huge admirer of your grandfather.
What was life like growing up with Dwight Eisenhower as
both a grandfather and president? Looking back, of course, there's
nothing normal about growing up in an environment like that.
He was, in retrospect, a phenomenally disciplined person. He did
(03:28):
not bring his worries home in the evening, and I
really admire that. It's a challenging thing to do, especially
in a turbulent time as the late forties and fifties were.
You know, so much had changed after the war. The
world's economies were in collapse, and societies were wrecked by
a war that took sixty five million lives. And he
(03:51):
played major roles in the post war period as well
as his wartime leadership. But despite all of these things
that were royaling around him, he managed to come home
and be a very regular kind of grandfather, which I
now look back in retrospect and say, wow, that's a
high level of discipline. They able to turn it on
(04:12):
and turn it off, Like though, what led you to
decide to write how I led the principle behind Eisner's
biggest decision, And it's a great title. He was one
of the most principled managers I've ever seen that he
really thought through over a very long period of time,
would have worked and what didn't work, And I'm curious
would have led you to decide that he wanted to
(04:33):
write that. Well, First of all, a number of things
were happening, the seventy sith anniversary of the day in
May and then the end of the entire war, which
we've just marked. That was an emphasis. The unveiling of
the Eisenhower memorial was another one. But I guess, mister speaker,
at the end of the day, I think Dwight Eisenhower
still has something to say to us. And I wanted
(04:55):
to pull together his wartime presidential leadership because only very
very large books tend to cover both parts of this career.
And I guess the bottom line as I wanted people
to take away the fact that Eisenhower the General and
Eisenhower the President were one and the same person. It's
kind of a remarkable career. There are very few people
(05:17):
in our entire history who have had the range he had,
coming from working at a dairy, then going to West Point,
rising to five star general, then being drafted, and becoming
president for two terms. When you look at it that
for a long period he tried to avoid politics. Is
(05:37):
he yours sense that those just being coy or that
he really did not see himself in the political arena.
I think that's a wonderful question, because there's a lot
of speculation in the scholarly community, and coi is a
great word. I really don't think he was being KOI.
I really think he spent a lot of agonizing time
(05:57):
trying to decide unquote where his duty lay. And that
may sound very strange to civilians, but when he was
at West Point, he took a transformational oath to the
Constitution of the United States, and as a five star
army general, they never retire, they are always on call
to the United States Military, into the president United States.
(06:20):
To go into political life and to assume the candidacy
for president would be to take himself out of a
set of duties. He still retained. And that's why I
think coyness is not what this was. About now. It's
interesting both parties wanted him to be their candidate, but
(06:41):
I think that when he finally became a candidate, he
did so because he wanted to make sure that the
Republican Party assumed an internationalist view of American leadership instead
of some of the forces that wanted to draw us
back into isolationism. It's amazing how popular he was in
(07:03):
that ability to be drafted in New Hampshire and emerge
with such formiddable support. One has always been curious about
the whole notion of eyelike. Do you know where the
slogan came from? It's a great campaign slogan, isn't it.
It was somebody's idea, I think, in the advertising world,
(07:24):
and it's a good thing because it's hard to imagine
somebody with a name as long as Eisenhower finding a
very effective way to campaign. Because something short and sweet
was required. He already had a nickname Mike, so it
just seemed like a good catchy thing to advance, and
whoever came up with it did him a great service.
(07:44):
Did I go all the way back to his childhood?
When did he started being called Ike? Well, that's a
great question. He had an older brother named Edgar, who
had great star power too. But Edgar was originally known
as Big Ike. I think probably when he got to
West Point he started using Ike. It's interesting my great grandmother,
I'd stover Eisenhower, simply did not like the nickname. So
(08:08):
Mamie once throwed her and said, Ike and I've gone
on a road trip. And Ike's mother writes Mamie back
and says, now, who is this Ike you're traveling with?
Wo am I I have to confess I'm old enough
that my first convention in terms of watching it on
TV was Eisenhower in fifty six, and I actually was
(08:31):
in four roy My dad was an army officer, and
so I was actually not far from Mike's home during
his run in fifty six. So I've always had an
affection which Bob Dolan I have talked about over the
years that we who were both so shaped by him.
One of the bold decisions he makes is to announce
that he will go to Korea. Did you think that
(08:52):
came from him or was that staff driven? It was
a remarkable moment when he said that. Well, it was
a remarkable moment. I remember knowing really quite well. One
of Adelais Stevenson's speech writers here in Washington, and he
said to me once, how did that idea emerge? Because
the minute he said I will go to Korea, this
(09:14):
chap said, we knew in the Stevenson camp that we
were done. I really wanted to go there and see
it for himself, which is what he did. He made
a secret visit between his election and the inauguration because
he needed to really get thinking about what to do
in Korea. It was a very unpopular war and I
think what sort of sealed it for him was taking
(09:36):
a helicopter ride over the front, which was probably a
fairly risky thing to do if you think about it,
but he realized between the terrain and the position of
various forces, he concluded it wasn't a winnable war without
escalating things to really a very dangerous level comparable to
World War Three. So then he comes back and settles
(09:58):
down to try and broke her an arm as I remember,
he actually does imply through the Indians to the Chinese
that they don't find a way to get to an armistice,
that he would use tactical nuclear weapons. He was not
going to let them to sit there and bleet us
for five or ten years. I suspect that his military
(10:20):
prestige was such that the Chinese had to take him seriously.
Do you know, I think that's an excellent point. We
sort of forget the impact of his credibility left from
the victory in Europe. He was serious about the choice
and that it wasn't just a bluff. Now, whether it
was a bluff or not, I don't know. We'll never know,
(10:42):
but I think it was definitely that credibility that turned
the tide in those negotiations. My guess is that it
was not a bluff, just because I remember, very late
in his life him being interviewed about why we weren't
winning in Vietnam, and he said, because we're not taking
it seriously. He said, if we have to be there,
(11:05):
we have to be there to win, and if we're
going to be there to win, we have to take
steps that the current team is not prepared to take.
So you either get out or you really get in.
I'm curious it must have been a rare moment, because
when your grandfather goes to Korea, your father is serving there.
What is it like to be the son of a
(11:28):
five star general? And President of the United States serving
in the army, and inevitably, of course, I'm assuming being
recognized as Ike's son. Well, I think it was an
easy position to be in, and my father, as a
matter of fact, was deprived of a normal commencement from
West Point. He graduated coincidentally on D Day. He did
(11:52):
live in his father's shadow. But I'm so glad you
mentioned this particular conundrum because the new commander in chief,
right Eisenhower said to my father John, while I'm commander
in chief now, you should either come home or if
you choose to stay with your unit, you have to
commit to me that you will never be taken prisoner.
(12:12):
And it was known between the two of them, made
it very clear that he needed to keep a handgun
with him. And if you decide who was going to
go back, under certain circumstances, the President United States would
expect him to take his own life. So I don't
know how long it took my father and make that decision.
I suspect no time at all, and he went back
with his unit. That's a pretty sobering story. Actually, Well,
(12:35):
I'm gonna say I've heard of tough love, but this
is really but you've outlined something that is Some of
the basis of Ike's own character is that he was
a clear thinker, and he did not like disorganize thinking. So,
in other words, he made a very clear choice to
(12:57):
my father, just as he made a very clear choice
to the Chinese. My friends, Before I begin the expression
(13:21):
of those thoughts that I deem appropriate to this moment,
would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little
private prayer of my own? And I asked, if you
bow your heads, Almighty God, as we stand here at
(13:42):
this moment, my associates in the my future associates, and
the executive branch of government join me and beseeching that
thou wilt make full and complete our dedication to the
service of the people in this throng and their fellow
citizens everywhere. Give us, we pray, the power to discern
(14:05):
clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and
actions to be governed thereby and by the laws of
this land. Especially, we pray that our concerns shall be
for all the people, regardless of station, race, or calling.
May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of
(14:28):
those who, under the concepts of our constitution hold to
differing political faith, so that all may work for the
good of our beloved country and Thy glory army. Your grandfather.
His inaugural starts with a prayer. I think he has
(14:51):
a significant role in creating the National Prayer Breakfast, and
I think he approved of heading under God to the
pledge of Allegiance. I don't know that he was a
religious person in the way some people might think, but
it did seem to me that he had a deep
sense of God and a reverence for the Supreme Being.
(15:14):
I think that's right, and you're right on all three
of those. He played a big role in the prayer
breakfast and started with a prayer, and also added in
God we trust. I think he was really driven by
a higher cause, and that again may sound odd to
civilian years, but he understood his place in the larger
(15:38):
scheme of things. He committed himself to serving our country
and to serving a higher cause. I think he gets
this from his family. He came from a very religious family.
Though you're completely correct, he did not choose religious denomination
until after he was elected in nineteen fifty two. He
did not think that it was useful to be talking
(16:00):
about his religion all the time. But I think those
things that he brought to our national life by adding
the word God in there would be seen as a
way to unite the country around a higher mission. I
always thought it was telling that his memoir of the
war was Crusade in Europe, and I think he saw
it as a crusade, and he saw the Nazis as
(16:23):
sufficiently evil that crusade was the right word. Well, that's right.
I think the word crusade was used more commonly in
those days. But I think liberating that concentration camp or Driffe,
which was a subcamp of Buchnvaud, within the last weeks
of the war, had a profound effect on his feeling.
As a matter of fact, he says in his memoirs
(16:45):
that he simply didn't have words. The English language didn't
have words they were adequate to describe what he felt
when he saw He used the word beastiality, the savagery
that was commonplace among these camps that were being liberated
as the war came to an end. I think it's
a very dramatic story that tells us a lot about's
(17:09):
attitude to the Nazis. He did believe in the idea
of bringing them to justice. And then in my research
I discovered very interestingly that he had a documentary filmmate
of the Holocaust, which he insisted to be chronicled, and
he issued orders to that effect, and he made the
German population watch this film. He was going to hold
(17:32):
people accountable. While he had enormous respect for George Marshall
in the fifty two campaign, he doesn't really defend him.
Did you ever look into that. It's an odd moment.
It's one of the two places where you see candidateizing
are not stepping up to the plate, but deliberately sidestepping
(17:54):
something that knew was wrong. I'm glad you asked that
question because people still write about it and are still
trying to figure it out. First of all, Eisenhower was
a human being, so he did make mistakes, but this
was one he not only grasped the minute it happened,
but he vowed it would happen again. Eisenhower had to
(18:16):
make a transition from being a military commander to entering
retail politics, and this was one of the mistakes he
made during the campaign that he regretted most deeply. And I,
even as a kid, heard about it long ago and
that is, he had previous two going to Wisconsin, and
against his wishes in the presence of Senator Joseph McCarthy,
(18:40):
he had spoken on at least five occasions about George
Marshall's patriotism, about indispensable role in World War Two, and
his gratitude to Marshal and all of that. But when
he got to Wisconsin, his political advisor felt quite strongly
that one more recitation of General Marshall would be unnecessary
(19:04):
and a mistake. And then what happened was that the
speech draft that had this incruous paragraph about General Marshall
was prematurely without Eisenhower's authority, released to the press. And
I can tell you that when he got sandbagged on
that he was humiliated and infuriated, and you didn't want
(19:31):
to be on the receiving end of emotions like that
when he felt them so strongly. It was a mistake.
But here's the mistakes. A mistake was it never occurred
to him that he'd be sandbagged by his own campaign staff.
I use the word humiliated in the book, and some
people think that's not strong enough. But in eisenhower Land,
where I come from, saying that Dwight Eisenhower was humiliated
(19:53):
by his own mistake is pretty strong stuff. He determined
he would never make a mistake like that again. And
I can tell it's had an effect because my father
made it clear at the Eisenhower Library that they were
not to release speech drafts. I don't know if that's
ever changed. A speech isn't a speech until Dwight eisenhowerd
gives it and had that filtered down to the campaign staff.
(20:16):
No one would have ever known that there had been
this paragraph that was removed. So you can see the problem.
But he ran a very tight ship with his speechwriting
staff after that incident, and I'm happy to say that
it did not affect his relationship with George Marshall. George
Marshall came to the White House any number of times
(20:37):
during Eisenhower's presidency, and I think it's a real measure
of George Marshall, but also the measure of Eisenhower that
he could make a mistake and learn from it and
solve those wounds. They were an amazing team during the war,
absolutely amazing team, and George is just a phenomenal figure
in our history. He did one thing, mister Speaker, that
(21:00):
I think was so incredibly helpful for the war effort
is that he found a team of people he could
rely on and trust and he didn't micromanage. That was
really very helpful. And it was a smart thing too,
which means that if something had gone terribly wrong, he
could have replaced his supreme allied commander. But we never
(21:20):
wanted to see an architect of World War Two be
put in a position where he couldn't protect his own authority.
As interesting he was Marshall, and this was I think,
and I'm a very understudied part of our success. Marshall
both had a little book of people that he had
picked up all through the thirties that he wanted to
(21:43):
make sure he promoted if he was able to position
to do so. But in addition, Marshall retired an entire
generation of senior officers, and people don't realize that the
number of people who were well meaning but over the
hill or didn't quite get it couldn't move at the
piece of modern warfare. And these are personal friends of his,
(22:03):
and he's known for twenty and thirty years, and so
he's creating the space for a much younger guy like
Eisenhower to rise because he is wiping out the generation
of Bob Eisenhower. And it's one of the great management
achievements because it's so hard to do in a big bureaucracy.
I think that is such a profound point, and few
people really realize how tough that might have been. I
(22:26):
think Marshall was also brilliant in convening what was called
the Louisiana Maneuvers before the war, and he got his
military forces out there. It was the largest military war
game in the history of our country, and they took
over the state of Louisiana, literally doing an amphibious landings
(22:47):
on the coast there. And it went on for some time,
and Eisenhower was the chief of staff to the winning
side of that set of maneuvers, and that was one
of the things that cemented him in Marshall's mind. But really,
I so agree with you. I think that George Marshall
is really an extraordinary man, and I certainly wish we
had more about him in our history books. I do
(23:26):
have to ask you about one thing that is a
sign of I think his cleverness that you may know
much more about this than I've ever been able to find.
One he writes Crusade in Europe, which was a huge
bestseller because of course everybody who served in Europe wanted
a copy. The Congress actually passed a special provision that
the income was not taxable, and I'd read somewhere that
(23:48):
that was actually the money by which he bought the
farm at Gettysburg. Talk about planning. That that was a
very methodical way to do something that was very helpful
to him, because of course he'd been in the army
when people were paid virtually nothing. So he came out
of the war with very very little income. But I've
(24:10):
never known to what degree he had a hand in
it and to what had just happened. It's interesting you
should mention that you're absolutely correct about getting paid very
little in the army. I came out of World War
Two and declared that he would not accept any speaking honorariums,
that he would not join any corporate board, that he
(24:30):
would not do any consulting. So he literally kept the
lights on. You might say by his writings, probably not
dissimilar to Winston Churchill. In any case. He once said
when he retired from the army and he and my
grandmother got into their car to drive off. He said
to her, you do realize that we're driving away in
our only asset. They'd only ut to that point lived
(24:55):
in government housing, so they didn't even at that point
have a house. Did he ever to you what it
was like in the interim where he was president of Columbia,
because as so much I always thought that was the
most unusual period of his career. Well, it is an
unusual part of his career. I heard lots of references
to thirty Morningside Drive, which was their residence there, And
(25:16):
of course it's also at Columbia where he takes up
oil painting as a way to center his spirit and
to let his mind rest. But I think what's so
interesting about is that he came out of the most
hierarchical situation one could imagine into a totally horizontal management structure.
(25:38):
And I think he enjoyed his time very much, That's
always what I heard, But he also missed what he
thought he might get more of at Columbia, which was
interaction with the students. I think he survived to the
extent that he did there with a very integrated approach
to the indispensability of everybody's jobs. In my book, I
(25:58):
mentioned a wonderful story where President of Columbia University Eisenhower
calls to Low Library the maintenance staff at Columbia University.
They came in their overalls and there they were in
Low Library, and the President met all of them. He
looked him in the eye and he said, I want
you to know that I regard what you do is
not only indispensable, but part of a community here that
(26:22):
is interdependent. Now, that's the way he approached the situation
during the war. It's the way he talked to the GIS.
And so he made a lot of friends there actually.
And then mister speaker, if I might make one other
point about the Columbia period, and I think this is
critically important for understanding our national security at the time,
he did meet a group of very influential scientists and
(26:46):
he brought them into the White House to report directly
to him after Sputnik, and so he utilized the scientific
community that had been part of Columbia University. And that
was very, very beneficial because he was a great believer
in expertise. You'd have to if you were fighting a war,
(27:07):
I have to ask you just because I think it's
such a great example of Eisenhower. Are you familiar with
the story about his going down to Augusta to see
if they'll cut down the tree that he hates? Oh God, yeah,
well this famous tree. Yes, I think Ike had a
pretty an uneven golf game, shall we put it that way?
(27:30):
He had apparently a big slice and there was a tree.
I can't remember which hole it was on, but the
tree was in a way as far as Ike was concerned,
so I think here jokingly complained about it once, but
this became sort of a mantra at every board meeting
at Augusta. He'd always stand up and with a twinkle
(27:51):
in his eye and demand from the chairman of the
directors of Augusta that this tree had to be cut down.
I must say went an end of the story, because
the tree actually fell down during an ice storm several
years ago, and the Augusta community was heartbroken that this
famous tree was in pieces, and they made some souvenirs
(28:15):
out of the wood, and they have a conference table
made out of the Eisenhower tree. So there's some fun
in that story, there is. You know, I raised the
only because close that I were down a few years
ago and we saw the display that they've made out
of the tree and all the Apparently he actually went
down while he was in office and goes to the
(28:36):
board meeting and at the end of the meeting asked
the head of Augusta, would it be in order to
move that the tree would be cut down? The Head
of Augusta says, no, that is not in order. And
in terms of the rule of law and the idea
that you're not bigger than the system, I can't think
(28:57):
of very many personal stories that captured it better than
I going through that. That's a wonderful way to look
at it. You'll be amused it. After the presidentcy granddad
had to get a driver's license because actually a few
people realize this, but after Eisenhower left office, he had
no secret service detail because former presidents didn't have secret
(29:17):
service details at that point, so he had no official
driver and he had to get a driver's license. So
talk about rule of law. Frankly speaking, no members of
the family really wanted to ride in the car with
him because he had a heavy foot, and he got
stopped plenty of times on Confederate Avenue and was always
managing his speeding tickets. It's tough to go twenty five
(29:41):
miles an hour on Confederate Avenue and get Hissburg too
much of an open road. There's a great story about
him to your point, how much the world has changed,
because nowadays, of course they get Marine one, they get
Air Force one, and all sorts of things are done
to get the president as they leave office to wherever
they're going. But apparently after Kennedy was sworn in, I
(30:03):
got in like a three car convoy. They drive up
to the farm and they're sitting there and nothing's happening. Now,
all of a sudden, he breaks into a big laugh,
gets out, walks up, opens the gate and waves the
group through because of course the person who had been
at the gate as of noon that day was no
(30:24):
longer there, and the world had changed, which is under
our system what it is supposed to do. Exactly what happened.
And the thing is it was my father drove him
up to Getsburg because I didn't yet have his driver's license. Okay, Well,
in terms of the rule of law, he has a
very powerful but in some ways very self limited approach
(30:50):
to civil rights, and in many ways he's decisive in
enforcing the rule of law. On segregation of southers, but
he does so with a kind of caution. What was
your sense of his whole approach to dealing with civil
rights and the kind of challenges were still today facing.
I think it's an excellent question, and I really appreciate
(31:12):
you asking it, because I think this is one of
the areas it is most misunderstood about what was in
his mind and if I may add, in his heart.
If you read his early speeches, including during the campaign,
but most notably in I think it's his first State
of the Union address, he makes it very clear what
his strategy is for civil rights. During the war. He
(31:33):
had desegregated some of the units, especially at the end
of the war, and he had supported the desegregation of
the military. But he had actually a plan, and it's
back to that word you used earlier about planning. He
really believed that if you were dealing with a long
term issue as civil rights, is that you have to
(31:54):
do what you can do in the time you are
allotted in this case is before or eight years, and
you would be and this is typical military thinking, you
would be far and away most successful if you took
care of the things you could control first, and so
in that Day of the Union address he announces that
his strategy for civil rights is to desegregate everything the
(32:16):
federal government controlled. So in nineteen fifty three he starts
with the District of Columbia schools, and then of course
the appointment of Earl Warren to the Supreme Court and
other federal judgeships, where he was very clear that white
supremacists need not apply in any case. It's a misunderstood
approach because he did not ascend what people call the
(32:38):
bully pulpit. However, he did ascend the bully pulpit around
the principles of civil rights, but he didn't call people
out personally. Because of the vote structure, and you'd be
way more aware of this than almost any other American.
The vote structure was such that he needed the support
even of Southerners to pass his nineteen fifty seven Civil
(33:02):
Rights Act. And by the way, those Southerners, some of
them segregationists, were actually leaders in the Democrats who held
six years in Congress to Eisenhower's eight years of presidency.
So it's a more subtle approach. But today the circumstances,
I guess require different approaches. But he did meet his objectives.
(33:25):
By the end, virtually everything that the federal government controlled,
including contracting and a range of other measures, had been desegregated.
By the time I left office. His most enduring contribution,
of course, where the judge ships had continued on. In
that sight. At the time you were about to be
at the dedication of the Eisenhower Memorial, I had a
(33:47):
chance to actually see them in Italy where they were
being stulted. They're huge, and their impressive, and it's going
to be quite immemorial. I'm humbled by it. If he
were alive, he would be humbled by it. I mean,
as he said during the war and his famous Guildhall address,
he said, the humility must be the portion of any
man who earns a claim in the blood of his
(34:09):
followers and the sacrifices of his friends. And I know
that's exactly the way he'd feel about this. I have
to say, mister Speaker, that part of what I really
love about this new memorial is that he's with other people,
and that's the way he would have wanted it. He
always thought in terms of teams. He led teams, but
the success had to be shared among all of us.
(34:32):
I always thought that when his knee was injured and
he couldn't play varsity football, but he ended up being
the coach for his university, that that experience of team
building stayed with him for his whole career. It was
instinct eve and deep in him, and he was as
good at as anybody in the twentieth century. Well, he
certainly believed in teamwork, and if you are going to
(34:56):
empower other people, you have to make sure that they
know that a leader is standing behind them and defending them.
He used to say that a commander or a leader's
job is to accept all of the blame and to
give all the credit to your subordinates. And he didn't
say that in a disappointed or cynical way at all.
On the contrary, he believed in it because this is
(35:18):
how you motivate a team to help move the cause forward. Well,
I want to thank you. I think it's wonderful that
you have done this book, and I think that it
will be something which people will really learn from. How
I led the principles behind Eisnower's biggest decisions. It's a
(35:38):
great thematic for your book, and I think you are
uniquely positioned to share with us from a very personal level,
and this has been a wonderful conversation. I'm just very
honored that you would take some time and chat with
us about it. Well, mister speaker, let me just thank
you again for this wonderful opportunity and to say what
a pleasure it has been to talk to you about
(36:00):
this subject. I'm very moved in thinking about your views
on this subject, So thank you very much. Thank you.
To my guest, Susan Eisenharker. You can read more about
the dedication of the new eisenhow Memorial and her new
book How I Led The Principles behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions
(36:21):
on our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is
produced by Gingwish through sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer
is Debbie Miers and our producer is Garnsey Slow. The
artwork for the show was created by Steve Fenley. Special
thanks to the team at Gingwich three sixty. Please email
(36:41):
me with your questions at Gingwish three sixty dot com
slash questions. I'll answer a selection of questions in future episodes.
If you're want to enjoy Newtsworld, I hope you'll go
to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five stars
and give us a review so others can learn what
it's all about. I'm new language. This is neutral.
This episode of News World pretty odd years ago I left.
I believe since they and I have seen demonstrated in
our own land and in far corners of the earth,
on battlefields and around council tables, in schoolhouse, in factory
and farming community, the indomitable spirit of Americans from this roster.
(00:22):
Looking back on the American record through these years, I
gained personal inspiration and renewed devotion to America. There is
nothing before us that can affright or defeat of people who,
in one man's lifetime have accomplished so much. Ladies and gentlemen,
I believe we can have peace with honor, reasonable security,
(00:44):
with national solids. I believe in the future of the
United States of American than President. Thank President. President. Every
how is the time for all good Americans to come
(01:07):
to the aid of their country. This is new due
to the virus. I'm recording from home, so you may
notice a difference in audio quality. This year we marked
the seventy fifth anniversary of victory in Europe and the
seventy fifth commemoration of the end of World War Two. Eisenhower,
(01:28):
or Eke as he was known, was a West Point graduate,
a five star general in the Army, served as Supreme
Commander the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe in World War Two,
and became the thirty fourth President of the United States.
He is an extraordinary person and one well worth studying
because so much of what he did and what he
(01:49):
understood can be applied to our own lives, in our
own situation. This episode is the last in our three
part The Immortals White David Eisenhower series, and I'm really
pleased to welcome my guest, Susan Eisenhower, Eisenhower's granddaughter and
author of How Ike Led The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions.
(02:21):
In Part three of The Immortals Dwight David Eisenhower, we
take you through Eisenhower's presidential campaign and his presidency and
look at how he made decisions. We're very fortunate at
a time when the Eisenhower Memorial is being dedicated on
the Mall, to have as a special guest Susan Eisenhower,
(02:42):
his granddaughter, who recently wrote a book, How Ike Led
the Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions, looking at her grandfather's
leadership style and what we can learn from him that
we can imply in our lives. Susan, thank you so
much to take the time to be with us. Well,
mister speaker, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. And I'm
(03:06):
very curious. I'm such a huge admirer of your grandfather.
What was life like growing up with Dwight Eisenhower as
both a grandfather and president? Looking back, of course, there's
nothing normal about growing up in an environment like that.
He was, in retrospect, a phenomenally disciplined person. He did
(03:28):
not bring his worries home in the evening, and I
really admire that. It's a challenging thing to do, especially
in a turbulent time as the late forties and fifties were.
You know, so much had changed after the war. The
world's economies were in collapse, and societies were wrecked by
a war that took sixty five million lives. And he
(03:51):
played major roles in the post war period as well
as his wartime leadership. But despite all of these things
that were royaling around him, he managed to come home
and be a very regular kind of grandfather, which I
now look back in retrospect and say, wow, that's a
high level of discipline. They able to turn it on
(04:12):
and turn it off, Like though, what led you to
decide to write how I led the principle behind Eisner's
biggest decision, And it's a great title. He was one
of the most principled managers I've ever seen that he
really thought through over a very long period of time,
would have worked and what didn't work, And I'm curious
would have led you to decide that he wanted to
(04:33):
write that. Well, First of all, a number of things
were happening, the seventy sith anniversary of the day in
May and then the end of the entire war, which
we've just marked. That was an emphasis. The unveiling of
the Eisenhower memorial was another one. But I guess, mister speaker,
at the end of the day, I think Dwight Eisenhower
still has something to say to us. And I wanted
(04:55):
to pull together his wartime presidential leadership because only very
very large books tend to cover both parts of this career.
And I guess the bottom line as I wanted people
to take away the fact that Eisenhower the General and
Eisenhower the President were one and the same person. It's
kind of a remarkable career. There are very few people
(05:17):
in our entire history who have had the range he had,
coming from working at a dairy, then going to West Point,
rising to five star general, then being drafted, and becoming
president for two terms. When you look at it that
for a long period he tried to avoid politics. Is
(05:37):
he yours sense that those just being coy or that
he really did not see himself in the political arena.
I think that's a wonderful question, because there's a lot
of speculation in the scholarly community, and coi is a
great word. I really don't think he was being KOI.
I really think he spent a lot of agonizing time
(05:57):
trying to decide unquote where his duty lay. And that
may sound very strange to civilians, but when he was
at West Point, he took a transformational oath to the
Constitution of the United States, and as a five star
army general, they never retire, they are always on call
to the United States Military, into the president United States.
(06:20):
To go into political life and to assume the candidacy
for president would be to take himself out of a
set of duties. He still retained. And that's why I
think coyness is not what this was. About now. It's
interesting both parties wanted him to be their candidate, but
(06:41):
I think that when he finally became a candidate, he
did so because he wanted to make sure that the
Republican Party assumed an internationalist view of American leadership instead
of some of the forces that wanted to draw us
back into isolationism. It's amazing how popular he was in
(07:03):
that ability to be drafted in New Hampshire and emerge
with such formiddable support. One has always been curious about
the whole notion of eyelike. Do you know where the
slogan came from? It's a great campaign slogan, isn't it.
It was somebody's idea, I think, in the advertising world,
(07:24):
and it's a good thing because it's hard to imagine
somebody with a name as long as Eisenhower finding a
very effective way to campaign. Because something short and sweet
was required. He already had a nickname Mike, so it
just seemed like a good catchy thing to advance, and
whoever came up with it did him a great service.
(07:44):
Did I go all the way back to his childhood?
When did he started being called Ike? Well, that's a
great question. He had an older brother named Edgar, who
had great star power too. But Edgar was originally known
as Big Ike. I think probably when he got to
West Point he started using Ike. It's interesting my great grandmother,
I'd stover Eisenhower, simply did not like the nickname. So
(08:08):
Mamie once throwed her and said, Ike and I've gone
on a road trip. And Ike's mother writes Mamie back
and says, now, who is this Ike you're traveling with?
Wo am I I have to confess I'm old enough
that my first convention in terms of watching it on
TV was Eisenhower in fifty six, and I actually was
(08:31):
in four roy My dad was an army officer, and
so I was actually not far from Mike's home during
his run in fifty six. So I've always had an
affection which Bob Dolan I have talked about over the
years that we who were both so shaped by him.
One of the bold decisions he makes is to announce
that he will go to Korea. Did you think that
(08:52):
came from him or was that staff driven? It was
a remarkable moment when he said that. Well, it was
a remarkable moment. I remember knowing really quite well. One
of Adelais Stevenson's speech writers here in Washington, and he
said to me once, how did that idea emerge? Because
the minute he said I will go to Korea, this
(09:14):
chap said, we knew in the Stevenson camp that we
were done. I really wanted to go there and see
it for himself, which is what he did. He made
a secret visit between his election and the inauguration because
he needed to really get thinking about what to do
in Korea. It was a very unpopular war and I
think what sort of sealed it for him was taking
(09:36):
a helicopter ride over the front, which was probably a
fairly risky thing to do if you think about it,
but he realized between the terrain and the position of
various forces, he concluded it wasn't a winnable war without
escalating things to really a very dangerous level comparable to
World War Three. So then he comes back and settles
(09:58):
down to try and broke her an arm as I remember,
he actually does imply through the Indians to the Chinese
that they don't find a way to get to an armistice,
that he would use tactical nuclear weapons. He was not
going to let them to sit there and bleet us
for five or ten years. I suspect that his military
(10:20):
prestige was such that the Chinese had to take him seriously.
Do you know, I think that's an excellent point. We
sort of forget the impact of his credibility left from
the victory in Europe. He was serious about the choice
and that it wasn't just a bluff. Now, whether it
was a bluff or not, I don't know. We'll never know,
(10:42):
but I think it was definitely that credibility that turned
the tide in those negotiations. My guess is that it
was not a bluff, just because I remember, very late
in his life him being interviewed about why we weren't
winning in Vietnam, and he said, because we're not taking
it seriously. He said, if we have to be there,
(11:05):
we have to be there to win, and if we're
going to be there to win, we have to take
steps that the current team is not prepared to take.
So you either get out or you really get in.
I'm curious it must have been a rare moment, because
when your grandfather goes to Korea, your father is serving there.
What is it like to be the son of a
(11:28):
five star general? And President of the United States serving
in the army, and inevitably, of course, I'm assuming being
recognized as Ike's son. Well, I think it was an
easy position to be in, and my father, as a
matter of fact, was deprived of a normal commencement from
West Point. He graduated coincidentally on D Day. He did
(11:52):
live in his father's shadow. But I'm so glad you
mentioned this particular conundrum because the new commander in chief,
right Eisenhower said to my father John, while I'm commander
in chief now, you should either come home or if
you choose to stay with your unit, you have to
commit to me that you will never be taken prisoner.
(12:12):
And it was known between the two of them, made
it very clear that he needed to keep a handgun
with him. And if you decide who was going to
go back, under certain circumstances, the President United States would
expect him to take his own life. So I don't
know how long it took my father and make that decision.
I suspect no time at all, and he went back
with his unit. That's a pretty sobering story. Actually, Well,
(12:35):
I'm gonna say I've heard of tough love, but this
is really but you've outlined something that is Some of
the basis of Ike's own character is that he was
a clear thinker, and he did not like disorganize thinking. So,
in other words, he made a very clear choice to
(12:57):
my father, just as he made a very clear choice
to the Chinese. My friends, Before I begin the expression
(13:21):
of those thoughts that I deem appropriate to this moment,
would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little
private prayer of my own? And I asked, if you
bow your heads, Almighty God, as we stand here at
(13:42):
this moment, my associates in the my future associates, and
the executive branch of government join me and beseeching that
thou wilt make full and complete our dedication to the
service of the people in this throng and their fellow
citizens everywhere. Give us, we pray, the power to discern
(14:05):
clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and
actions to be governed thereby and by the laws of
this land. Especially, we pray that our concerns shall be
for all the people, regardless of station, race, or calling.
May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of
(14:28):
those who, under the concepts of our constitution hold to
differing political faith, so that all may work for the
good of our beloved country and Thy glory army. Your grandfather.
His inaugural starts with a prayer. I think he has
(14:51):
a significant role in creating the National Prayer Breakfast, and
I think he approved of heading under God to the
pledge of Allegiance. I don't know that he was a
religious person in the way some people might think, but
it did seem to me that he had a deep
sense of God and a reverence for the Supreme Being.
(15:14):
I think that's right, and you're right on all three
of those. He played a big role in the prayer
breakfast and started with a prayer, and also added in
God we trust. I think he was really driven by
a higher cause, and that again may sound odd to
civilian years, but he understood his place in the larger
(15:38):
scheme of things. He committed himself to serving our country
and to serving a higher cause. I think he gets
this from his family. He came from a very religious family.
Though you're completely correct, he did not choose religious denomination
until after he was elected in nineteen fifty two. He
did not think that it was useful to be talking
(16:00):
about his religion all the time. But I think those
things that he brought to our national life by adding
the word God in there would be seen as a
way to unite the country around a higher mission. I
always thought it was telling that his memoir of the
war was Crusade in Europe, and I think he saw
it as a crusade, and he saw the Nazis as
(16:23):
sufficiently evil that crusade was the right word. Well, that's right.
I think the word crusade was used more commonly in
those days. But I think liberating that concentration camp or Driffe,
which was a subcamp of Buchnvaud, within the last weeks
of the war, had a profound effect on his feeling.
As a matter of fact, he says in his memoirs
(16:45):
that he simply didn't have words. The English language didn't
have words they were adequate to describe what he felt
when he saw He used the word beastiality, the savagery
that was commonplace among these camps that were being liberated
as the war came to an end. I think it's
a very dramatic story that tells us a lot about's
(17:09):
attitude to the Nazis. He did believe in the idea
of bringing them to justice. And then in my research
I discovered very interestingly that he had a documentary filmmate
of the Holocaust, which he insisted to be chronicled, and
he issued orders to that effect, and he made the
German population watch this film. He was going to hold
(17:32):
people accountable. While he had enormous respect for George Marshall
in the fifty two campaign, he doesn't really defend him.
Did you ever look into that. It's an odd moment.
It's one of the two places where you see candidateizing
are not stepping up to the plate, but deliberately sidestepping
(17:54):
something that knew was wrong. I'm glad you asked that
question because people still write about it and are still
trying to figure it out. First of all, Eisenhower was
a human being, so he did make mistakes, but this
was one he not only grasped the minute it happened,
but he vowed it would happen again. Eisenhower had to
(18:16):
make a transition from being a military commander to entering
retail politics, and this was one of the mistakes he
made during the campaign that he regretted most deeply. And I,
even as a kid, heard about it long ago and
that is, he had previous two going to Wisconsin, and
against his wishes in the presence of Senator Joseph McCarthy,
(18:40):
he had spoken on at least five occasions about George
Marshall's patriotism, about indispensable role in World War Two, and
his gratitude to Marshal and all of that. But when
he got to Wisconsin, his political advisor felt quite strongly
that one more recitation of General Marshall would be unnecessary
(19:04):
and a mistake. And then what happened was that the
speech draft that had this incruous paragraph about General Marshall
was prematurely without Eisenhower's authority, released to the press. And
I can tell you that when he got sandbagged on
that he was humiliated and infuriated, and you didn't want
(19:31):
to be on the receiving end of emotions like that
when he felt them so strongly. It was a mistake.
But here's the mistakes. A mistake was it never occurred
to him that he'd be sandbagged by his own campaign staff.
I use the word humiliated in the book, and some
people think that's not strong enough. But in eisenhower Land,
where I come from, saying that Dwight Eisenhower was humiliated
(19:53):
by his own mistake is pretty strong stuff. He determined
he would never make a mistake like that again. And
I can tell it's had an effect because my father
made it clear at the Eisenhower Library that they were
not to release speech drafts. I don't know if that's
ever changed. A speech isn't a speech until Dwight eisenhowerd
gives it and had that filtered down to the campaign staff.
(20:16):
No one would have ever known that there had been
this paragraph that was removed. So you can see the problem.
But he ran a very tight ship with his speechwriting
staff after that incident, and I'm happy to say that
it did not affect his relationship with George Marshall. George
Marshall came to the White House any number of times
(20:37):
during Eisenhower's presidency, and I think it's a real measure
of George Marshall, but also the measure of Eisenhower that
he could make a mistake and learn from it and
solve those wounds. They were an amazing team during the war,
absolutely amazing team, and George is just a phenomenal figure
in our history. He did one thing, mister Speaker, that
(21:00):
I think was so incredibly helpful for the war effort
is that he found a team of people he could
rely on and trust and he didn't micromanage. That was
really very helpful. And it was a smart thing too,
which means that if something had gone terribly wrong, he
could have replaced his supreme allied commander. But we never
(21:20):
wanted to see an architect of World War Two be
put in a position where he couldn't protect his own authority.
As interesting he was Marshall, and this was I think,
and I'm a very understudied part of our success. Marshall
both had a little book of people that he had
picked up all through the thirties that he wanted to
(21:43):
make sure he promoted if he was able to position
to do so. But in addition, Marshall retired an entire
generation of senior officers, and people don't realize that the
number of people who were well meaning but over the
hill or didn't quite get it couldn't move at the
piece of modern warfare. And these are personal friends of his,
(22:03):
and he's known for twenty and thirty years, and so
he's creating the space for a much younger guy like
Eisenhower to rise because he is wiping out the generation
of Bob Eisenhower. And it's one of the great management
achievements because it's so hard to do in a big bureaucracy.
I think that is such a profound point, and few
people really realize how tough that might have been. I
(22:26):
think Marshall was also brilliant in convening what was called
the Louisiana Maneuvers before the war, and he got his
military forces out there. It was the largest military war
game in the history of our country, and they took
over the state of Louisiana, literally doing an amphibious landings
(22:47):
on the coast there. And it went on for some time,
and Eisenhower was the chief of staff to the winning
side of that set of maneuvers, and that was one
of the things that cemented him in Marshall's mind. But really,
I so agree with you. I think that George Marshall
is really an extraordinary man, and I certainly wish we
had more about him in our history books. I do
(23:26):
have to ask you about one thing that is a
sign of I think his cleverness that you may know
much more about this than I've ever been able to find.
One he writes Crusade in Europe, which was a huge
bestseller because of course everybody who served in Europe wanted
a copy. The Congress actually passed a special provision that
the income was not taxable, and I'd read somewhere that
(23:48):
that was actually the money by which he bought the
farm at Gettysburg. Talk about planning. That that was a
very methodical way to do something that was very helpful
to him, because of course he'd been in the army
when people were paid virtually nothing. So he came out
of the war with very very little income. But I've
(24:10):
never known to what degree he had a hand in
it and to what had just happened. It's interesting you
should mention that you're absolutely correct about getting paid very
little in the army. I came out of World War
Two and declared that he would not accept any speaking honorariums,
that he would not join any corporate board, that he
(24:30):
would not do any consulting. So he literally kept the
lights on. You might say by his writings, probably not
dissimilar to Winston Churchill. In any case. He once said
when he retired from the army and he and my
grandmother got into their car to drive off. He said
to her, you do realize that we're driving away in
our only asset. They'd only ut to that point lived
(24:55):
in government housing, so they didn't even at that point
have a house. Did he ever to you what it
was like in the interim where he was president of Columbia,
because as so much I always thought that was the
most unusual period of his career. Well, it is an
unusual part of his career. I heard lots of references
to thirty Morningside Drive, which was their residence there, And
(25:16):
of course it's also at Columbia where he takes up
oil painting as a way to center his spirit and
to let his mind rest. But I think what's so
interesting about is that he came out of the most
hierarchical situation one could imagine into a totally horizontal management structure.
(25:38):
And I think he enjoyed his time very much, That's
always what I heard, But he also missed what he
thought he might get more of at Columbia, which was
interaction with the students. I think he survived to the
extent that he did there with a very integrated approach
to the indispensability of everybody's jobs. In my book, I
(25:58):
mentioned a wonderful story where President of Columbia University Eisenhower
calls to Low Library the maintenance staff at Columbia University.
They came in their overalls and there they were in
Low Library, and the President met all of them. He
looked him in the eye and he said, I want
you to know that I regard what you do is
not only indispensable, but part of a community here that
(26:22):
is interdependent. Now, that's the way he approached the situation
during the war. It's the way he talked to the GIS.
And so he made a lot of friends there actually.
And then mister speaker, if I might make one other
point about the Columbia period, and I think this is
critically important for understanding our national security at the time,
he did meet a group of very influential scientists and
(26:46):
he brought them into the White House to report directly
to him after Sputnik, and so he utilized the scientific
community that had been part of Columbia University. And that
was very, very beneficial because he was a great believer
in expertise. You'd have to if you were fighting a war,
(27:07):
I have to ask you just because I think it's
such a great example of Eisenhower. Are you familiar with
the story about his going down to Augusta to see
if they'll cut down the tree that he hates? Oh God, yeah,
well this famous tree. Yes, I think Ike had a
pretty an uneven golf game, shall we put it that way?
(27:30):
He had apparently a big slice and there was a tree.
I can't remember which hole it was on, but the
tree was in a way as far as Ike was concerned,
so I think here jokingly complained about it once, but
this became sort of a mantra at every board meeting
at Augusta. He'd always stand up and with a twinkle
(27:51):
in his eye and demand from the chairman of the
directors of Augusta that this tree had to be cut down.
I must say went an end of the story, because
the tree actually fell down during an ice storm several
years ago, and the Augusta community was heartbroken that this
famous tree was in pieces, and they made some souvenirs
(28:15):
out of the wood, and they have a conference table
made out of the Eisenhower tree. So there's some fun
in that story, there is. You know, I raised the
only because close that I were down a few years
ago and we saw the display that they've made out
of the tree and all the Apparently he actually went
down while he was in office and goes to the
(28:36):
board meeting and at the end of the meeting asked
the head of Augusta, would it be in order to
move that the tree would be cut down? The Head
of Augusta says, no, that is not in order. And
in terms of the rule of law and the idea
that you're not bigger than the system, I can't think
(28:57):
of very many personal stories that captured it better than
I going through that. That's a wonderful way to look
at it. You'll be amused it. After the presidentcy granddad
had to get a driver's license because actually a few
people realize this, but after Eisenhower left office, he had
no secret service detail because former presidents didn't have secret
(29:17):
service details at that point, so he had no official
driver and he had to get a driver's license. So
talk about rule of law. Frankly speaking, no members of
the family really wanted to ride in the car with
him because he had a heavy foot, and he got
stopped plenty of times on Confederate Avenue and was always
managing his speeding tickets. It's tough to go twenty five
(29:41):
miles an hour on Confederate Avenue and get Hissburg too
much of an open road. There's a great story about
him to your point, how much the world has changed,
because nowadays, of course they get Marine one, they get
Air Force one, and all sorts of things are done
to get the president as they leave office to wherever
they're going. But apparently after Kennedy was sworn in, I
(30:03):
got in like a three car convoy. They drive up
to the farm and they're sitting there and nothing's happening. Now,
all of a sudden, he breaks into a big laugh,
gets out, walks up, opens the gate and waves the
group through because of course the person who had been
at the gate as of noon that day was no
(30:24):
longer there, and the world had changed, which is under
our system what it is supposed to do. Exactly what happened.
And the thing is it was my father drove him
up to Getsburg because I didn't yet have his driver's license. Okay, Well,
in terms of the rule of law, he has a
very powerful but in some ways very self limited approach
(30:50):
to civil rights, and in many ways he's decisive in
enforcing the rule of law. On segregation of southers, but
he does so with a kind of caution. What was
your sense of his whole approach to dealing with civil
rights and the kind of challenges were still today facing.
I think it's an excellent question, and I really appreciate
(31:12):
you asking it, because I think this is one of
the areas it is most misunderstood about what was in
his mind and if I may add, in his heart.
If you read his early speeches, including during the campaign,
but most notably in I think it's his first State
of the Union address, he makes it very clear what
his strategy is for civil rights. During the war. He
(31:33):
had desegregated some of the units, especially at the end
of the war, and he had supported the desegregation of
the military. But he had actually a plan, and it's
back to that word you used earlier about planning. He
really believed that if you were dealing with a long
term issue as civil rights, is that you have to
(31:54):
do what you can do in the time you are
allotted in this case is before or eight years, and
you would be and this is typical military thinking, you
would be far and away most successful if you took
care of the things you could control first, and so
in that Day of the Union address he announces that
his strategy for civil rights is to desegregate everything the
(32:16):
federal government controlled. So in nineteen fifty three he starts
with the District of Columbia schools, and then of course
the appointment of Earl Warren to the Supreme Court and
other federal judgeships, where he was very clear that white
supremacists need not apply in any case. It's a misunderstood
approach because he did not ascend what people call the
(32:38):
bully pulpit. However, he did ascend the bully pulpit around
the principles of civil rights, but he didn't call people
out personally. Because of the vote structure, and you'd be
way more aware of this than almost any other American.
The vote structure was such that he needed the support
even of Southerners to pass his nineteen fifty seven Civil
(33:02):
Rights Act. And by the way, those Southerners, some of
them segregationists, were actually leaders in the Democrats who held
six years in Congress to Eisenhower's eight years of presidency.
So it's a more subtle approach. But today the circumstances,
I guess require different approaches. But he did meet his objectives.
(33:25):
By the end, virtually everything that the federal government controlled,
including contracting and a range of other measures, had been desegregated.
By the time I left office. His most enduring contribution,
of course, where the judge ships had continued on. In
that sight. At the time you were about to be
at the dedication of the Eisenhower Memorial, I had a
(33:47):
chance to actually see them in Italy where they were
being stulted. They're huge, and their impressive, and it's going
to be quite immemorial. I'm humbled by it. If he
were alive, he would be humbled by it. I mean,
as he said during the war and his famous Guildhall address,
he said, the humility must be the portion of any
man who earns a claim in the blood of his
(34:09):
followers and the sacrifices of his friends. And I know
that's exactly the way he'd feel about this. I have
to say, mister Speaker, that part of what I really
love about this new memorial is that he's with other people,
and that's the way he would have wanted it. He
always thought in terms of teams. He led teams, but
the success had to be shared among all of us.
(34:32):
I always thought that when his knee was injured and
he couldn't play varsity football, but he ended up being
the coach for his university, that that experience of team
building stayed with him for his whole career. It was
instinct eve and deep in him, and he was as
good at as anybody in the twentieth century. Well, he
certainly believed in teamwork, and if you are going to
(34:56):
empower other people, you have to make sure that they
know that a leader is standing behind them and defending them.
He used to say that a commander or a leader's
job is to accept all of the blame and to
give all the credit to your subordinates. And he didn't
say that in a disappointed or cynical way at all.
On the contrary, he believed in it because this is
(35:18):
how you motivate a team to help move the cause forward. Well,
I want to thank you. I think it's wonderful that
you have done this book, and I think that it
will be something which people will really learn from. How
I led the principles behind Eisnower's biggest decisions. It's a
(35:38):
great thematic for your book, and I think you are
uniquely positioned to share with us from a very personal level,
and this has been a wonderful conversation. I'm just very
honored that you would take some time and chat with
us about it. Well, mister speaker, let me just thank
you again for this wonderful opportunity and to say what
a pleasure it has been to talk to you about
(36:00):
this subject. I'm very moved in thinking about your views
on this subject, So thank you very much. Thank you.
To my guest, Susan Eisenharker. You can read more about
the dedication of the new eisenhow Memorial and her new
book How I Led The Principles behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions
(36:21):
on our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is
produced by Gingwish through sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer
is Debbie Miers and our producer is Garnsey Slow. The
artwork for the show was created by Steve Fenley. Special
thanks to the team at Gingwich three sixty. Please email
(36:41):
me with your questions at Gingwish three sixty dot com
slash questions. I'll answer a selection of questions in future episodes.
If you're want to enjoy Newtsworld, I hope you'll go
to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five stars
and give us a review so others can learn what
it's all about. I'm new language. This is neutral.
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