Now to the lecture part of the program, i riskier tonight is william hitchcock, the author of the age of ice and how are in america and the world in the 19 fifties. Doctor hitchcock is the william professor of history in the university of virginia, where he focuses on international and diplomatic history, in particular the areas of the world war and the cold war. In addition to the age of eisenhower, hitchcock is the author of the bitter road to freedom, and you history of the liberation of europe, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. And the winner of the george prize, a financial best seller in the united kingdom. Following dr. Hitchcocks remarks, and compton who you all know will join doctor hitchcock in a conversation on this great biography and the 34th tremendous tour of the interstates. A pioneer of journalism in america, the first woman to cover the white house for network television, and was on the air for 41 years with abc news. Her longevity and impact our unparalleled. And career at abc news spans seven president s in the United States, ten president ial campaigns, she anchored from the white house, capitol hill, and president ial traveled that took to all 50 states and six continents. And, and and this is a very significant part of the white house and american industry, she was with george w. Bush on september 11th in 2001, the only broadcast reported that was allowed to remain on air force one. As you remember the president wasnt allowed to member to washington. This is following the terrorist attack on our country. She was on air force one on behalf of everyone reporting back. She has become a part of white house history and also a friend of the association. She will be monitoring a series of lectures on the series. Follow our website on information on these exciting lectures. It will be a wonderful series. For our feature presentation please welcome dr. Hitchcock. Thank you so much. What a treat this is. Its just a splendid setting of a beautiful room. So many distinguished guests in the audience. Im very overwhelmed and thrilled to talk about eisenhower with you tonight. I hope i will do him justice, hes a great man. I think that we have to work hard to live up to his reputation. I want to thank stewart for inviting me. I think that the White House Historical association put in a lot of work to create this event. A lot of work goes into this. Doctor and put in a lot of work, i want to thank you for your excellent work. Im honored to share the stage later with and compton, and unparalleled presence, someone i watched on tv for many years. I am a little starstruck. I also want to acknowledge the presence of the general, a local hero. He is organizing leading the Eisenhower Commission together to get the memorial built for eisenhower, so that finally washington d. C. Will have a appropriate monument for this very important general and the 34th president. I want to thank you ought for your success. I believe me eight, 2020, may with the day. What a great day that will be. Thank you very much. Lets get to it. I want to start tonight out with a president ial puzzle. Not really a quiz or anything. Just a puzzle. If you look at American History from the years of 1945 until 1961 so Second World War until the election of kennedy, one figure stands out as the most dominant throughout the period. Oops. Not those guys. Not those guys. I see. That guy. Dwight eisenhower was the most popular and respected man, the most admired man of that period. He served the country as president , he garnered massive approval from public, one landslide election. His Approval Rating for eight years was 65 . Average. The next president who comes closest to that was bill clinton at 55 . After that regan at 53. We in the rearview mirror. The puzzle is from the moment he set out to run for president in 1951, all the way through his eight years in the white house, and for the ten years after he left the white house and returned in 69 he was consistently underrated as president. Thats the president ial puzzle. Senator robert taft his opponent in the republican primaries scoffed at eisenhower s get this, in experience. He would never hire a green hornet to be president. The governor of illinois said he was a lightweight. He mocked him and said that he was just a tool of the right wing corporate figures. That was stevensons view. Harry truman campaigning for stevenson and 52 said the voters should send ike back to the army where he belongs. Basically he was just a general and he should stay there. A book in 1958 that came out while i was in office, was given the label, it was called a captive hero. Eisenhower in that view was captured. He was a bit of a dummy and theyll try to quest. That was the view of eisenhower by people who were commenting on him while he was president. While he had won these two elections. Scholars agree. Eisenhower, after he left office, the results of a pull were published. And infamous poll that asked historians to rate president s. All of his friends were harvard professors. Eisenhower in the poll in 63, eisenhower was placed at 22nd out of 31. 22 out of 30. When he was nestled between chest all eight arthur, a figure who, i dont know if or when to have a book top on just chester arthur. Also andrew johnson, widely thought to be one of the worst president we ever had. Go figure, that is the company that put ike in in 60. Two eisenhower was used as a foil, jon kennedy, after all, its harder that it looks. Wouldnt you . If you were kennedys man use ike as a counter ploy, they were playing scrabble and i think that looks very pleasant, very lovely. But they had to work with this guy. So naturally there was a sharp contrast. It worked against eisenhowers memory against the oppression that was given to the public. The time of his death in 1960, nine at the age of 78, the press seemed uninterested, in time magazine, he concluded that eisenhower was more of a figure than a president. Thats what he said about him in 1969 he was out of touch with the people he was a great soldier but he was a mediocre, maybe even a failure starting in the 19 eighties he started to become available, we went up adelaide you could read all kinds of wonderfully juicy details about the eisenhower period. This showed quite a different eisenhower, it showed that eisenhower was deeply involved in day today operations of his National Security councils there is a policy especially he was a master. He was deeply involved in the details of american National Security issues. But the emphasis of the scholarship that started to come out having read all of this, was to attack eisenhower for being a evil genius he couldve overthrown the government in iran and guatemala, what about cuba, what about the cargo . So we had a new branch of scholars that depicted ike as this evil figure. Whereas before he had been a snooze worthy mediocrity, this is history pendulum is constantly swinging, and im not surprised, where is the real consequence. Im a historian, but im not interested in making him into a villain, im want to make figure out what makes him tech, but what impacted, him whats the real meaning of the as an hauer presidency for the country what impact did he have, and also how should be understand his political view . Why was he so popular . People said, i like ike. But why. What was it about him that they liked. I will touch on two big answers to that question. The first, i want to talk briefly about is policy achievements. The substance of his presidency was really significantly. You want to know why he was popular, look what he did, look at his accomplishments in the eight years. Then i want to talk about the man. He was a huge part of his political success heat the kind of man that he was, so let me talk about the substance of his presidency, and give you adjust of what its about, theres much more there but i want to give you adjust of what he accomplished. Eisenhowers proudest accomplishment of president was that the United States didnt go for eight years in office, it didnt just end up happening, a little bit i more colorful than that, he worked hard to keep the United States apiece for eight years the korean war was raging, an unpopular war he was determined, to stop here even before he was sworn for president and what did he find it was an unwinnable war, he actually fought about it he talked to his staff about it obviously he didnt want to do that he got lucky in this one respect Joseph Stalin got that in 1960, three this had a cascading effect with new soviet leadership, theyre not going to win this war, lets agree to this the moment of leadership was that eisenhower said, i will take, that i will take the armistice in, many of his own party, the republican party, criticize him for accepting an armistice that was shorter. We are still living in a timeline where that hasnt been, i think thats the American Public wants this more, im going to give them that, and it was an overly popular decision that they were delighted about. He decided to keep the United States troops out of vietnam in 1954, you will remember some of them were fighting on the defensive empire and indochina trying to hang on to their empire, they had one big battle where they decided it was a disaster, and the french generals and prime ministers came to eisenhower, in 1954, fighting for ten, years eisenhower said, no, he said no, and he said again and again, i cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for americans, heavily involved in an all out war. Many of his advisers, there were two of them disagreed privately coaxed eisenhower to send some troops, there get involved and bad for german of the joined secretary of state, nobody ever wanted to tell eisenhower they wanted to do, they found a way to back channel and get their views heard, and said no, i cannot tell you how bitterly i posed i am to such a course of action, this would not go to war in vietnam eisenhower that built up and led president s to commit that. But eisenhower had a choice to make, despite some of his most powerful important allies, they said were not going to wait until were in the wrong america had a conflict there, so, again in 1956 theres another conflict over the suez canal should the United States join in with the dialyze . Overthrow the strongman. You would think there would be an argument to do, that eisenhower did just the opposite, he said thats an outrageous violation of International Law and put pressure on the french to get out humiliating them in the process, and when the soviets put pressure on berlin, he resorted to diplomacy over berlin rather than going to United States, they had a good time over the United States, they said you can take through the country, see for yourself resort to diplomacy first if you can to avoid war. Mind you, as in power was no doubt on defense, matters on the contrary he was huge sums building up this establishment, in the eisenhowers you, this is a number to take, away i wont give you many numbers, in the eisenhower years the United States had on average 10 of the d. C. Gdp. 10 of gdp on the fence, today we are about 3. 3, obviously the size of the economy is very different, but a huge sum on investing in the fence, the man who did so much of the alerts did a lot to build that complex, the u. S. Nuclear arsenal absolutely soared in the eisenhower years well over 20,000 that could be delivered on a number of bombers. Ever more powerful with these intercontinental missiles. All of these came on in eisenhowers term and he was fascinated by the details. He poured over the. Plans it wasnt something that someone else is doing, he was deeply engaged in pushing the agenda, pushing this forward. Now the purpose of these weapons was to deter the community. It was to keep the peace. This is the beginning of the formation of peace through strength and strategy that won and waged the cold war. We can debate if it was the right choice. Every president since has followed. It ike is a paradox in this regard, he wanted to avoid war, but he invested a lot of money in a war. That is a choice that he made. A second area where i want to talk about the substance of eisenhowers achievements here, this is affecting might not have known, eisenhower balanced three budgets out of eight. He came very close to another, he was really a budget hawk. This is a unmatched level of fiscal discipline all until clinton managed to balance a few budgets in the late 90s. I want to talk about a figure that is held up as a leading conservative figure. If i could get us away from the deterrent. I want to talk about reagan whos held up as a archetypal conservative leader. He added trillions to the debt. He didnt come close to balancing the budget because reagan was much more interested in cutting taxes. Here is a very revealing difference between eisenhower and reagan. They have very different ideas on how to handle taxes. Eisenhower was very short about taxes. He demanded that the u. S. Budget should be balanced before everyone got a tax cut. Boy does that data him. What he said and he said repeatedly, he went on the campaign, trail he gave public addresses about tax. Here is the gist of it. The good american, the good american, i said how are sad, is proud to carry his share of the national burden. I dont think that is going to be on the Bumper Sticker in 2020. Whoever is out there. Its a different world and this was his view. Pay your taxes was part of being a american and it was a patriotic duty. No wonder that bill buckley, when his numb magazine was coming out, the viewed ike negatively, the reaped abuse on him, and they contributed to the negative 50 around his legacy, it wasnt conservative enough for them. Early in his presidency he made his peace with a new deal. He expanded Social Security to include 10 million recipients. He raised the minimum wage. He founded welfare. He invested in a big infrastructure program. The interstate system was also invested in under his reign. He implemented a user fee that would go into the Highway Trust Fund which was a engine that fat itself. The more cars you had the more gasoline you but the more roads you could have. That was the key genius of the plan. So strong on defense, but stronger on diplomacy, a bunch of top. Also a progressive when it came to things like Social Security, and human welfare. Finally, one substance of topic i want to touch on before getting to ikes character is something you might not realize is a great legacy. In the 19 fifties the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum, national attention, African Americans were using the courts to challenge segregation in places across the country. The practice of jim crow was in place across the south. This was a practice that was coming under increasing conflict in protests. Bus boycotts, sedans black americans were demanding an end to racial segregation. Its one of the things that makes the fifties so interesting. So much happened. Cold war, civil rights, its a fascinating. Time ike is a fascinating character to study because didnt know much about black life in america, he didnt know about civil rights, he wasnt that interested before becoming president. His entire career was spent in the segregated United States military. Most of his friends with southerners with southern connections. Where did he go on vacation . He vacationed in georgia which was segregated by race and gender. African americans werent allowed to join until the. Nineties ike didnt have a point of reference how to handle the crisis in the country. Whats interesting to note is that he accumulated a significantly progressive record on human rights. The attorney general helped him to lead on segregation, and in 1953 they appointed five reasonable jurist to the Supreme Court. Warren would write the unanimous decision around education that ordered the end of segregation in public schools. Eisenhower didnt talk about this, but at no point did he publicly denounce the decision or seek to undermine it or try to undermine the power of the Supreme Court for that rule to not be enforced. He didnt dream of doubting. It he signed it into law, first civil rights legislation until the end of the United States civil war. He took a huge risk, very uncharacteristic of eisenhowers history, when he ordered federal troops to surround a school in little rock, arkansas, to ensure that Court Ordered desegregation would proceed, despite the hostility of the fathers. Eisenhower said the issue as a federal versus state power. Issue the federal power had the right to enforce the law. He could have been a reluctant warrior on civil rights, but he was a determined defender of the u. S. Constitution and the authority of federal law. Its true that i didnt publicly embrace civil rights as his own. He did not speak up about civil rights as an issue of justice and equality, he spoke about it only in the terms alone. The law is the following, and me must enforce it. Historians, many predict have criticized us for not putting his shoulder to the wheel you could also see the opposite which is not prepared to deal with this crisis, president s face consequences that theyre not prepared to deal with, i think he managed very love, you have to significant legacy and civil rights. Ladies and gentlemen, i could go out about his policy issues, but the fact of the matter is it wasnt his policy achievements that endeared him to so Many Americans during the 19 fifties. Lets reflect a little bit on his character and then we will go into something else. When americans looked at dwight eisenhower, i love this picture of eisenhower, this is 1946, it was after the chief of staff, it just looks, whats one word that comes to, mind i am thinking of many. Hes confident, relaxed. This guy is a winner. And that is what americans saw when they looked at eisenhower, they saw a man who is playing football in the army and running the Second World War, liberating europe to be the first commander of 8 . The things that struck me in this book was the reports about his personal, physical charisma. He had enormous charisma. He was one of those guys on the room, was a very. Is its star power. He was very forward, he was athletic in his carriage, carried himself like the athlete he, was people loved, him and thats a big part of his early political magic. Another reason for this was his authenticity. Ike knew where he came, from any never forgot. It he knew politically in his story, but we know loved where he came, from abilene kansas. He grew up in abilene, six boys, and eisenhower shared a bed, not just a bedroom, a bed with one of his brothers. And then he left to go to the army. They were for. His father worked at the creamery down the street. One paycheck away from total destitution, he sold vegetables out of a wagon, they knew what it was like to live on a few bills to make it to the end of the week, they lived in a small house. Which i hope some of you have seen, if you go to abilene you can see it. Its lovely. Its tiny. A magic, there are six boys in this place. Im sure there is a lot, of get out of here. Go play in the yard. In that household, at the same time here is the thing i want to emphasize, a ton of glamour who were her mentors. George marshall, who were his friends, millionaires with titans of industry. He was at home and working with churchill and roosevelt, and hed been in moscow, london, hes been all around the world, a was a global citizen, what an interesting contrast. A small town farm boy, and then a five star gentleman who is a friend of world, figures he wrapped up this wonderful story with his own political personality, im an ordinary guy but im not ordinary at all, because thats part of the magic, now let us not forget part of his appeal to the public was his eisenhower grew up in denver and she met eisenhower in san antonio after he had left a 1916 and this is a photo of her at the time i think she is beautiful and i love this picture i think it just has a lot of style and personality do it maybe married in 1961 a sparkling happy color, and devoted or she was, charming and social. A gregarious partner in his life. Anything from choosing menus, to talking and wisecracking with the visiting a state, a person that was comfortable in any setting, to make her gas cup comfortable, a lot of people had forgotten her but she helped shape the role of the modern first lady, and they just adored her, and they also had the sympathy of Many Americans because the public knew perfectly, well that the eisenhowers had suffered through the loss of a young child. Who died of scarlet fever in 1921 at the age of three, we neither of them ever overcame the loss, eisenhower called the death a greatest disappointment and disaster in my life, one i have never been able to forget. It was just another element of their lives that made them feel that much closer to the public, it linked to them to the public in an endearing way. Americans also like eisenhower for his religious faith, and other elements, you will learn about these right now in the details of his life. Eisenhower was raised by parents who were members of an offshoot of the mennonites. They later became jehovahs witnesses. Very interesting. Pacifists, by the way, eisenhower read scripture every night they learned this, after a blunt home he rarely went to church, it was in his mind and his heart but he didnt practice publicly, his faith, until he was elected president while, he had not been i as a child but decided a few weeks after his an operation in the church in washington, and a private ceremony on february 1st 1953, president eisenhower had the reverend he made the only one to the baptized all in office, eisenhower made every effort while he was president for religious favor and the public, mind at the heart of his presidency, now the fifties was an area of religious revivals, there is increasing Church Number comes across the country, eisenhower was fined with that and he started the national prayer, he was the first president to bring beyond evangelical to the white house. And became Close Friends with them, in a spiritual adviser, and went on to serve many president s. He hardly but proved of the and to have the mans in god we trust be placed on the currency, whatever you may make of these americans love that about eisenhower, another aspect of his appeal, and then finally ladies and gentlemen, on the subject of his character, we look back from the stone age, and in fact he was the last president to have been born in the 19th century. So he was a man of the distance passed. But at the time he believed himself and wanted to be associated with innovation with new ideas, with science, with education, and it was during his time in office, his president s, his press conferences would be recorded and broadcast from 1955 onward. He is tv advertisement very effectively. After the sputnik crisis, the resurgence founded nasa. And into science education, and then in 1957 who became the first president did to arrive in a helicopter. A very surprised nikki davis trough. And this is why its a wonderful choice. Featuring the helicopter, i would absolutely love that. Eisenhower may have been the first man to each the ripe old age of 70 while in that white house. Thats true, but he saw himself as the future. The cutting edge of innovative and eager to help with the technological breakthrough, i painted a glowing portrait of ike, so im going to wrap it up and going to keep an eye. But i want to make sure you understand that as a historian, i am aware that theres plenty of questions that we should as scholars and as citizens raise about eisenhower and his presidency i will just name three topics maybe we could turn two and a little bit. I hear lots of zoos and oz. I will just do this really quick, i chair you want to ask some questions yourself. And then we could have a discussion. But the first question i have is why nixon, there is a political answer to why eisenhower chose nixon in 1952. He didnt choose nixon to be his running mate, thomas dewy, the twotime failed andy shows record nixon, they were worlds apart in everything, and their experience, age, attitudes, and i believed as and how are accepted it to have nixon on the ticket, it was a bad decision, and i dont the say that because i think of nixon, later but because as an hauer hasnt used his Vice President as an adviser or counselor, the two men didnt get along, they didnt have a relationship, quite frankly, my opinion, i didnt trust nixon, he didnt think he was grownup enough to do the job of being president , i hope you could go into the job, for eight years he tried, or so he said. But nixon was so intimidated by eisenhower, the two never meshed. In 1956 ike trying to bounce nixon off the ticket, he said you need some experience. And nixon said, i know what you are trying to do. Im not going to running. Im okay. Thank you very much right where i am. And eisenhower refused to tell him directly, im ordering you. But he wouldnt do it. He wanted him to say i think and need some more executive experience. So the two of them were ships passing in the night and i think thats not a great way to use the vice presidency i think its a question we should raise about his legacy. Second, what about mccarthy is them why didnt i could do more save more go to war with mccarthy. Theres a political answer. Joe mccarthy was reasonably popular in the 19 states and 1953 in 1954. Americans didnt necessarily believe everything he said, but there were people who are saying if 10 is what hes saying is true, thats bad enough, and the fact of the matter is there were communists who had been trained in the manhattan project. The rich communist improvisers who have worked in the state department in the treasury. There are only a few of them, the rest of them had done it in the thirties and forties. But eisenhower didnt want to be the president who said i think its lawful baloney, and then have another scandal on his hand when a communist is working in the government. So he approved of the idea of loyalty of votes. He approved of vetting people to work in government. But he hated mccarthys tax tips. Should he have gone to war with mccarthy, elevated this red hunting senator to an equal level of president , eisenhower said no way, im not getting in the gutter with that guy. I wont go to war with him publicly. But many of his friends, and we have the correspondents, wrote to him and said, general, his Close Friends could still call in general, wont you Say Something about this awful man. And eisenhower said, im trying. And he worked very hard behind the scenes, what i will show you in the book, he worked hard behind the scenes, a lot of the information that came out of the army, that led to the mccarthy hearings came from the white house. And so eisenhower played an Important Role in back channeling, creating a damaging dossier of material. That eventually led to his downfall. But it was all out of public view. So the result was that many people felt they never tangled with mccarthy, when he was trying to do just that. And the last thing i think i believe for keep an eye is allen dulles. He was the director for a period of time the kennedy years and entire b of the eisenhower years. President eisenhower significantly expanded the power and responsibilities of the cia and allowed them to conduct coup detats around the world. Eisenhower did improve and helped design the overthrow of the iranian government in 1953, guatemala in 1954, the cia raided rebels in indonesia, and the mid to late fifties, and outlined assassination attempts on foreign leaders in the congo and cuba. Some of these operations, you learn about in the 1970s, but they still are jawdropping leaves a knee. I urge you to see some of the details. These are still controversial today. The truth is eisenhower delegated enormous power and resources to a secret agency,. He let them carry out quite violent operations against sovereign nations in the name of National Security. Spoiler alert, he is not the only president to have done this. But this is part of the eisenhower legacy, as well, and we need to be fair to the past, we need to understand why eisenhower felt those decisions and policies were in the national interest. He believed they were. He can make an argument that they were. Historians have come along and criticize him for this. We need to understand how he viewed the world to explain his decision to give allen us free reign to conduct dirty tricks around the world. Ladies and gentlemen, these controversies are going to continue. I hope they will continue. Its good for eisenhowers legacy that we debate and talk about it. But it seems to me unlikely that they are really going to maher eisenhowers legacy. In 2017, a whole president ial historians, not another pool of historians, but this is a good one. The poll of president ial historians ranked eisenhower our fifth greatest president , right after washington, lincoln, franklin, and teddy roosevelt. This leap up the rankings, 22,. I chester is in the dust. I this leap tells us that eisenhower i ought of moderate governance combined with personal integrity and character, dignity, as something that even today americans admire. And its up to us to make sure that these values are once again playing a part of our political discourse. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. Let me just grab. Wow. So where do you think . Five is a good ranking for eisenhower . Do any of you remember the eisenhower years . But you have your much too young to remember. But i was a kid back then, my parents should remember dwight eisenhower. And i always thought he was really one of the cool ones, cool is not a word they often associate. Great, maybe. Were going to open this up to question him answer, and were going to have microphones in the aisle, coming around to you, that just catch the young ladys eyes, look when youre ready to ask a question, look eisenhower son said that the worst time i in his presidency i was late 1957, when weeks after he had sent federal troops into little rock, just two weeks later sputnik was launched. And then a few weeks after that. Eisenhower is in the oval office waiting for this to get woozy and dizzy, cold, and he is having a stroke. His health at that moment, that was after this big heart attack. How did Dwight David Eisenhower handle the multitasking which today is considered i part of this. How did he is a person handle that kind of onslaught, of unexpected crises. Thats a great question, the multi tasking of the presidency must be so exhausting. Its also hard to write about as a historian, because if you just think about a day of what happens at the president s desk and theres ten and 20 crises that have to happen immediately. So you end up choosing one, and all of those disappear in the past, the trick is imagine trying to look at all. It must be terribly overwhelming. In november 1956, the soviets invade egypt and what is going on. Eisenhower is running in reelection. A tenday period of late october. Where ike is dealing with two international crises, either one of which couldve led to a war, and he is running for reelection, and i can assure you the thing he spent the least amount of time on in that year, in that month, was running for reelection. He wasnt too worried about that. He actually said to his son, lets go to the ball game. Weve had world series today in his pocket, he said im not going to go campaigning, but that is a great question, the sense of all of the things coming up, eisenhowers health suffered a law and that tenday period, he had a doctor by his side in that couple of weeks, he was counseling monitoring him after his heart attack. The sputnik case is one of those wonderful moments which we all recognize his political brilliance, soviets set up a satellite and everybody said this is the end of the world. Russia is just going to run the table on us. As an hour has a press conference, and he says essentially summer, down we are doing fine, whats the big deal. So they have a lot above this. We are going to get one, but we are way ahead of that with things on missiles. Besides that little radio up there, that little toaster oven circling the earth. It has no military value. And he said that. It has absolutely no military value. The press gave him the thumbs down on that press conference, they said, you see, he doesnt get, it he doesnt realize what a crisis this is, look at him, he is out of touch with his people, this is a classic case for the president hear what he was trying to say, eisenhower has to go back and recalibrate his message, and the message he came up with those, okay, i will grant you they had a breakthrough, guess what we are going to do. We are going to redouble our to redo this in january 1930, eight but im also going to create nasa, and im going to get three organizations of this department he figured out the old adage, dont waste the crisis, if that doesnt happen im going to get through this big bill really organizing this giving the defense secretary much more power. So things like that revealed how he understood washington, the idea that i was green, an experienced, didnt really get how washington, where he spent his whole life in washington, he worked in washington the twenties on, he was prepared to deal with this later on. Great questions, we have one way back here. Can we get the microphone here, and the second question is lets bring the other microphone over here, put your hand up here, yes sir, welcome. Hi, i very much enjoyed your presentation. One thing you didnt mention was eisenhowers farewell address, there is a great speeches in president ial history. And if you havent seen it, go to youtube, and listen to it when you go home from this event. He is one of his big messages in that speech was, the warning about the military industrial complex. So what i wanted to ask you was, how do you square his role as a cold warrior without ammunition about the military industrial clump complex . You just wrote about it, i deal with it that is an interesting speech. I urge you to listen to. It its not just about the military industrial complex, what he says, as if there is one thing im sorry about, its that we didnt have better breakthroughs on arm control. Im trying to end the cold war. I pushed forward, as a result we have been compelled to build military industrial complex, that is the tell, what hes saying is to defend our country in the way a life against come unionists we are compelled to build the military industrial complex. Now its on you, the citizens, to be careful, to watch, to keep a watch on. It to make sure that the brass doesnt have the right of the place. Who do you think that message might have been directed towards . January 19th 1961. Hes on the way out. New guys are in the drapes. I believe it is a direct message. Jon kennedy is coming in you has no experience managing the grass. And part of what hes saying is ok america, i understand that, but its on you to hold your leaders to the high standard, its in direct message to the public. Make sure that you keep tabs on your leaders, make sure there have your best interest at heart, so actually it as a cold warrior message which is to say i did it. But at the same time, i want you to be aware that it comes with the burden of responsibility that he wants to place on the public he wants to keep an eye on this inexperienced guy. Question right here, yes, do we have another hand up over here, we will bring the microphone over here in the green, shirt and then i will come down here, high. Good evening. He did bring in a number of senior officers, that he worked with and world war ii and afterwards and veterans of administration, how successful were those appointments compared to the other appointments be made to secretary opposition . Well i think it was pretty successful, we had already run the cia and wed like to have a run the cia, but he couldnt for various reasons, i guess. In the state, department but he was a secretary, i think he was a wonderful advisor robert who is his first National Security adviser. It was a somewhat of a general, Robert Butler really invented the role of National Security adviser, he really defined the purposes of the National Security council, and brought the military ethos eisenhower said again and again, the meetings of National Security councils are the most important meetings of the government. He said that jon kennedy when they were meeting during the handover, so you have to understand this is where everything happens kennedy said, weve got bobby. He didnt pay attention, he didnt use at the same way eisenhower dead. And it reflected very much a military organization system. And he was the man who implemented it. Real quickly, George Marshall, what was his relationship . Thats a lecture in itself, marshall made eisenhower, we know we owe eisenhower to general martial, and its a story with some pesos to it. Because marshall brought him out of relative obscurity, and let him getting command in normandy, which marshall probably wanted, and he said its not up to me. Roosevelt said, okay, im going with ike. During the campaign of 1952, George Marshall had been criticized for many months by senator Joseph Mccarthy who said, hey, that martial guy he was over in china. There must be a connection. Maybe he is a trader, believe it or not, of all the people, you would think that marshals greatest most successful protegee would have stood up and said, anyone who says a bad word about martial ever again will have to deal with me it was just go outside and settle it here, he didnt say anything of the kind thats in part because he was really new to the campaign, hes going going to deliver a he gave this speech with the press, they receive the full speech, hes going to praise martial, when he gave the speech the paragraphs, missing you can see is seen on the campaign train. Wisconsin boys are saying its a bad idea, you can see the paragraph written through this scrapped out. So we gave the speech, the press went crazy, and they never relented. They never forgave eisenhower in a sense, for this act of failing to support his mentor. Then his correspondence between the two, of them marshall and eisenhower after this event, marshal basically through the lines when i went into politics of course you are going to do something dumb every day, i just assume that you once you left the army, i expect knuckle headed things. Im not going to hold it against you, but mrs. Marshall never forgave him. Question right here, turning to the infrastructure, can you share any insight as to eisenhowers inspiration for the interstate advocating for what he hoped his goals were accomplished, i dont, know you may know the answers, sometimes there are people who are really knowledgeable on these topics. A lot of experts gathered here. Its often said that as an are, the families transcontinental convoy was at least in part an inspiration. He was taking a good deal of the mobilized military equipment after world war one, he was assigned to carry this across the country. So it could be mothballed into took three months across the United States. This isnt 1964. He said this is ridiculous, you can drive from cars to the other in this country. We need a system, we have to find ways and it together. He also often said that he is the National Security imperative as an explanation for how to get this through congress. And he didnt do that, he claimed it would be a terrible thing if there was a Nuclear Attack on the United States. And everyone was trying to get to washington or wherever it was. He did say it was a National Defense imperative that we had a system, an integrated system of highways. And they have been trying to pass such a bill for a long time, they hadnt figured out how to pay for, it it was a breakthrough of the Eisenhower Administration for the means to pay for it. We have the questions are, yes or. I was the youngest appointee of eisenhower and i have some interactions with him. One of the things that is not pointed out enough and ive had some personal experience with this, is eisenhowers integration of the white house five years for five years before, you got a lot of publicity by pointing this that when he went in the white house chairman adams the governor of New Hampshire became the chief of staff one of his assistance was a young black woman named lowest lippman. She was various respect helpful in the white house is one of the major groups got in there with the founders she became very significant in the white house, for example, one of the founders was stanley rumbled junior who became the chief of new people coming in and he said with low he developed a system that is still in use today in the white house. This is a fascinating, thank you for raising this because weve already talked about, was eisenhower too timid, did he think twice about the broader issue. Its let me just put it this way. To dodge the question, historians disagree, there are those who feel he was really a very useful story but pointing another figure in the white house fragment more, in a lot of you had never heard of him, he was an easy when i referred to. He came in for five years later. He was a fascinating man, and he repeatedly wrote about his experiences in the white house, he wrote a memo are called black man in the white house. I highly recommend it its about his experiences with the chairman adams, it meets civil rights leaders on one on one, he played an Important Role and along with Martin Luther king and other civil rights leader, he presented a set of concerns to him. It took two years to get that done and he took a lot of pride, and hes an unsung hero of the administration, but it wasnt all that he acknowledged that this is true of every staff person, theyre not getting enough attention, they had a case to be made they didnt act on it aggressively enough i didnt want to ignore questions we have one right now. Do we have another plan. Lets get the microphone right here, and then well come over to you. Thank you, yes, please go ahead. I just wondered if you could offer some observations on the relationships between sherman admins and his influence that all came about. It began quite controversial and particular difficult for eisenhower at a certain point. German adams was chief of staff. He came on the eisenhower campaign earlier, and helped him organize the New Hampshire primary, which as and how are one. It was close. 1952, he was considered the guy. He was going to be the nominee. And there was eisenhower running nato, you havent said he wanted to run, so they needed a team on the ground to help get him on the ballot, he played a crucial role and getting him into New Hampshire top was winning delegates anyone to the 1952, they were deadlocked, it was just that close, there is no guarantee that eisenhower was going to get this in 1952, its actually herman brown now, he played a very important, role but adams was a taciturn, he was known as the abominable no man, typical New Hampshire, guy you know it is like get otto my office, everybody thought he was a terror he was very loyal to you is the chairman of staff. He was the first fulltime chief of staff, very important figure, he was later had to resign over claims that gifts had been given to his wife. A persian carpet, or a mink. At the time, thank you, everyone remembers that. But honestly, when you think about where we have come sense, taking a persian carpet from a rug dealer, the guy was a rub, dealer it doesnt seem like a resigning offense. But that was in 1958 he stepped down, and he went back to New Hampshire and had the life he did. But a very important figure. Well give you this microphone, well bring you up here to the front row, we want to ask about one other figure weve talked a lot so little, about who was the Senate Majority leader . A very big personality. And anna of the personalities, Linda Johnson wants the republicans so he was known for a while, and they didnt like each other but later this couldnt the two of them couldve been more opposite, its a fascinating story, they have this wonderful study of johnson in the senate, its a wonderful compliment studying, ike the signature achievement, they really went at it Lyndon Johnson could just run rings around anybody. He was trying to undercut eisenhower. But there is a fascinating story about getting the 1957 civil rights act, johnson is a southerner and democrat, and he had to deal with his faction of southern democrats who were very hostile to civil rights, to the round decision. And here comes eisenhower, saying im going to strengthen the powers of the justice department, so that the internal general can investigate these irregularities and go down to the south and say things like emmett till murders cannot happen anymore in those guys walking three which is what happened. And johnson said, well see how it goes we will see what we can work on and over a long period of time johnson watered down the bill, and i know youve already given before figures. But im going to ask you for one more. I just have to take this other piece out of the bill. By the end of, it eisenhower went to veto his own signature piece of legislation, he didnt recognize, that johnson is just completely eviscerated. There were just a few pieces left. Eisenhower signed the bill, it became an important steppingstone, to johnsons leader ability to deliver a civil rights legislation in the senate, he said, i shouted not bill that i could control southern democrats. I got them so that they wouldnt veto it. And it passed the passage was more important than what was in the bill. Another example of why the fifties is so amazing, the Young Johnson making his bones work and the senate. Eisenhower was, like wow, this guy is really good, he wanted to work with him but its a fascinating character study, we have one more question. He just preempted the issue, one thing interesting about that was that eisenhower dedicated the push with nixon, but brown day it was often given credit for vetting eisenhower, could you go into that a little bit. He was delegated to talk and try and persuade him wrong, they spent quite a lot of time talking about how it happened and he was part of some liberal new york win, do team they got along very, well i think when eisenhower realized this probe coming from new york saying we can make this work, he wasnt just a, fan he was the real machine, guy very important and making the Campaign Work and getting him in. I dont know about nixon put use vetting eisenhower, he didnt even vet as, everyone knew that he was political gold, just absolute political gold. And that took a very long time, probably the most important figure is close buddy who finally said you have to do this, you have to do this unless the country is going to go to hell, youre the only person who can save the country, and when enough people who you admire tell you this, again, again, and again, hundreds, and thousands, begging him not to. You start saying maybe i am the only person in the country, he did in the never looked back. I have to ask one more question on my own, there are such colorful moments from that era. That are just amazing. And frankly wills book is so beautifully written, it is almost a pulitzer winner, written as a novel, written with the art and elegance of a novel, so give us as our parting gift to us, a description of eisenhower for the trip. What a common see. Someone to do a one act play are short movie, its 1959, its last year. Sputnik has already happened, there are a lot of bad blood and the water, i the question still not known, its not clear, its just all in like figure a comic like figure. Hes got a bald head. Hes like this, they met in 1945 in the geneva, they didnt know, each other he decides to come hes eager to get an invitation, and he tries to ease the berlin crisis, he knows he wants prestige, he wants a quality, he wants to stay with the american president , thats what he wants. He flies the biggest plane ever made do United States, they talk about arriving with a bang. Its this gigantic jet but they land. The usual place to extend the airway. He steps down they drive back in to washington. They are not getting along, he says i have some gets for you and this is an era when they exchange personal gifts and he pulls out a little many flag a little obvious any says, this is a replica of the thing that we sent to the moon, i think many of you may not know, its true the soviets land a little piece, a little doodad on the moon, and they managed to get this little planted in the ground, this is a replica which is basically that the Space Program is a decade behind, us so not a good way to begin. As an hour had this plan, they were going to sit mutiny and they were going to get rid of everybody except translators. And i were like, lets do, it and justice doing this in the cant get through them, eisenhower says this is not working, lets go for a helicopter ride, and quite literally he said lets take crew stow on a tour, and he was like im not getting in this thing. That can be right. They do, it its wonderful, after a number of days of meeting he takes his own tour across the country. Goes to l. A. , goes to hollywood with his delegation. With these big rigs. And they see surely mcclain doing the can can. Certainly maclean. She must have been 15. They do a number of song and dance number for the visiting leaders. The and the dance are slides on his knees, underneath the legs of one of the female dancers, and he pops out of her bloomers with a pair of red underpants in the sand. And thats the end of the number. Soviet delegation is watching this, and just appalled. And disgraceful. This capitalist garbage. This is an outrageous, an insult. And theyre about to leave, theyre about to go back. And they get back on the, train they go to san francisco. Its beautiful, they have a wonderful time, they come back to washington, and they make up they have a concert at the soviet embassy. Its a moment where eisenhower takes kashuv to camp david. They get to know one another. And for a moment it looks like the cold war might soften, it might find a pathway to ease this thing on the cold war. Alas, it didnt happen, and i blame allen dulles and part. Because of the crisis, a separate story will have to read about in the book. We missed a chance to change the nature of the cold war. The diplomacy was so successfully i think they were really getting along but after the missile crisis it was impossible. This is not my, history thank you so much