The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s

by William I. Hitchcock

“We shall never try to placate an aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for security. Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier’s pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner’s chains.” Eisenhower preferred war with honor to peace with dishonor. “We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.” The great task of the second half of the 20th century was to wage freedom’s battle and persuade the world to join in that struggle against tyranny. “This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial,” he concluded. “This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with charity, and with prayer to Almighty God.” Dark and ominous, Eisenhower’s speech conjured a vision of struggle, conflict, and sacrifice. The Great Crusade was off to a cheerless start.13