A President's First Term: Eisenhower's Pursuit of "The Middle Way

By Louis Galambos and Daun van Ee

Excerpt:

Eisenhower did not want to roll back history, junking federal policies that in his view had proven successful. As he told his brother Edgar during an unguarded moment, "Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history." He was in fact willing to strengthen those federal programs that had good track records and even to introduce new measures on a selective basis. But at the same time, he wanted to prune programs such as those in public power and agricultural subsidies, whose costs he thought far outweighed their benefits to the nation. If successful, he would slow and perhaps even stop the growth of the administrative state. This was his concept of the "Middle Way."

It is remarkable how the thoughts of persons long gone from us can be remarkably prophetic when these thoughts are read years after their death.  What may have seemed insignificant then becomes the guiding light of truth now.

I urge you to read the entire article to gain insight into the mind of one of the few Presidents that are never mentioned in the same sentence as Ronald Reagan, but Eisenhower is, by far, the most visionary Republican outside of Abraham Lincoln to date.

 

Ronald Reagan was an actor – and not a good one according to Joe Leyden.  He played the part of President of the United States with the same ease with which he marched across the ‘big screen’.  He truly was the first President to have been setup as a puppet by those underlings that ran the government through him.  George W. Bush was the second such President, but he wasn't an actor.

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis