Sublime

In a 1967 monograph, Chynoweth recounted a conversation in which Eisenhower acknowledged his “guiding philosophy” for serving under Conner: “I forget my own ideas and do everything in my power to promote what he says is right.” Chynoweth asked: “Right or wrong?” Eisenhower purportedly replied: “The Commanding Officer is never wrong with me.” [Empha

Eisenhower did not always agree with the decisions of the Warren Court, but he accepted his constitutional responsibility to “take care that the laws be faithfully enforced.”

In his first State of the Union address, Eisenhower had promised to carry out Truman’s edict and end segregation in the military and in the District, and he had kept that promise. By the end of 1953, all public facilities in the capital had been desegregated, and he could boast that in the Navy and the Air Force, segregated units were “a thing of t

Ike replied on the twenty-seventh, noting that his “attitude toward possible future duty should be clear.”

Eisenhower was in charge. He not only set the tone, but made the major decisions.

Lying flat on his back, he wrote Gerow a three-page, single-spaced letter wrestling with his desire to remain with troops but not wishing to turn down an opportunity to be at the center of action in Washington. Eisenhower believed the letter to be the most important he had ever written,17 and in the end he left the decision to Gerow.

Ike was always his own harshest critic. In May 1960, his essential decency and personal sense of responsibility had carried the day. “He had this thing about honesty,” said Undersecretary of State Douglas Dillon. “That was the military tradition.”60 d Cynics would argue that such sentiment is out of place in the Oval Office. But it was not out of p

In 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower returned from his inaugural parade and entered the White House for the first time as president late in the evening. As he walked into the Executive Mansion, his chief usher handed Eisenhower two letters marked “Confidential and Secret” that had been sent to him earlier in the day. Eisenhower’s reaction was swift: “Neve