When, in the spring of 1954, Democrats in Congress called for significant tax cuts, Eisenhower took his case to the public. In a television address he sympathized with his audience. “I know how burdensome your taxes have been,” he said, but Americans also wanted certain important improvements, like an expansion of social security, unemployment insurance, more public housing, better health care, and more schools. “These things cost money,” and that money would come from taxes.
