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

by William I. Hitchcock

In truth Eisenhower was caught between two powerful forces, and he did not know how to resolve the tension between them. On the one hand, he believed that equality between citizens and the rule of law were the bedrock ideals of “Americanism” as he understood that term. Therefore defiance of the Supreme Court was unthinkable. Yet he also believed that the federal government must respect local customs, habits, laws, and desires. His speechwriter Emmet Hughes wrote that Eisenhower was determined not to use federal power to push southern states toward dramatic social change: “His political faith rested on the slow, gradual power of persuasion.” According to Hughes, Eisenhower insisted, “We can’t demand perfection in these moral questions. All we can do is keep working toward a goal and keep it high. And the fellow who tries to tell me that you can do these things by force is just plain nuts.”