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

by William I. Hitchcock

Actions that might have seemed hypocritical and even schizophrenic in a lesser man appeared, when performed by Eisenhower, to be evidence of a tempered and moderate philosophy that transcended mere politics. He could trumpet the virtues of capitalism and individual success even as he called for Americans to go to church more often and abjure materialism. He insisted on conservative government, demanded tight budgets, and inveighed against the dangers of “statism,” yet he also hailed the beneficial role of government in providing public schools, roads and bridges, airports and public housing, hospitals and old-age pensions to American citizens. The last president born in the 19th century welcomed innovation, modernity, new technologies, the space age, and global travel and communication. Liberal intellectuals like Adlai Stevenson and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., as well as right-wing pundits such as William F. Buckley, found Ike’s political shape-shifting infuriating. But the voters admired his uncanny ability to float above the partisan scrum.