To his everlasting regret, Eisenhower did in fact buckle, allowing his praise of Marshall to be excised from his speech. Why? The answer that is often given is that he was a novice in politics and didn’t understand the significance of the issue. But nothing could be further from the truth. Eisenhower understood exactly what he was doing. To win in November he felt he needed to shore up his support from the Old Guard and the right wing of his party; the moderates would be for him anyway. He would grit his teeth and appease McCarthy.
