One
of the most popular presidents in American history, Dwight David
Eisenhower (1890-1969) was elected to a second term in office in 1956 by
the largest vote ever given to a presidential candidate. Graduated from
West Point in 1915, the Texas-born soldier later became General Douglas
MacArthur’s aide in the Philippines. “General Ike,” or “Ike,” as he was
known to G.I.s, was appointed commander of all Allied armies in World War
II, noted for his success as both a strategist and a diplomat who
fashioned his command into a smoothly functioning machine. At this time
the Eisenhower jacket, a waist-length woolen jacket once worn as part of
the service uniform, was named in his honor. Eisenhower probably could
have been elected to a third term as president, but he was the first
president to be limited to two terms by the 22nd Constitutional Amendment.
After leaving the presidency, he retired to his Gettysburg farm to write
his memoirs. Eisenhower’s great decency manifested itself in everything he
did. Though he was criticized as being too moderate and prosaic, his ideas
were often liberal, progressive ones. When Senator Eugene McCarthy charged
that the U.S. Information Agency had communist books in its European
libraries, for example, Eisenhower counseled students at Dartmouth: “Don’t
join the bookburners . . . Don’t be afraid to go to the library and read
every book.”