Dwight D. Eisenhower Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Presidency (1953–1961) == {{Main|Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower}} {{for timeline|Timeline of the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency}} Truman and Eisenhower had minimal discussions about the transition of administrations due to a complete estrangement between them as a result of campaigning.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=14}}</ref> Eisenhower selected [[Joseph Dodge|Joseph M. Dodge]] as his budget director, then asked [[Herbert Brownell Jr.]] and [[Lucius D. Clay]] to make recommendations for his cabinet appointments. He accepted their recommendations without exception; they included [[John Foster Dulles]] and [[George M. Humphrey]] with whom he developed his closest relationships, as well as [[Oveta Culp Hobby]]. His cabinet consisted of several corporate executives and one labor leader, and one journalist dubbed it "eight millionaires and a plumber".<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=24}}</ref> The cabinet was known for its lack of personal friends, office seekers, or experienced government administrators. He also upgraded the role of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] in planning all phases of the Cold War.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=20–25}}</ref> Before his inauguration, Eisenhower led a meeting of advisors at [[Pearl Harbor]] where they set goals for his first term: balance the budget, end the Korean War, defend vital interests at lower cost through nuclear deterrent, and end price and wage controls.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=32}}</ref> He also conducted the first pre-inaugural cabinet meeting in history in late 1952; he used this meeting to articulate his anti-communist Russia policy. His inaugural address was exclusively devoted to foreign policy and included this same philosophy as well as a commitment to foreign trade and the United Nations.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=43}}</ref> [[File:Dwight D. Eisenhower, White House photo portrait, February 1959.jpg|thumb|upright|February 1959 White House portrait]] Eisenhower made greater use of press conferences than any previous president, holding almost 200 over his two terms. He saw the benefit of maintaining a good relationship with the press, and he saw value in them as a means of direct communication with the American people.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=52}}</ref> Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower adhered to a political philosophy of dynamic conservatism.<ref name="allida">{{cite web |editor-last1=Black |editor-first1=Allida |editor-last2=Hopkins |editor-first2=June |display-editors=etal |year=2003 |work=Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site |title=Teaching Eleanor Roosevelt: Dwight Eisenhower |access-date=November 26, 2011 |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/eisenhower-dwight.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105034523/http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/eisenhower-dwight.htm |archive-date=January 5, 2007}}</ref> He described himself as a "[[Progressive conservatism|progressive conservative]]"<ref name="EisenhowerEisenhower2011">{{cite book|first1=David|last1=Eisenhower|author2=Julie Nixon Eisenhower|title=Going Home To Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961–1969|url={{GBurl|id=yawcVhHVwNsC|p=126}}|date=October 11, 2011|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1439190913|page=126}}</ref> and used terms such as "progressive moderate" and "dynamic conservatism" to describe his approach.<ref>{{cite book |url={{GBurl|id=CW3VAwAAQBAJ|p=270}} |title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower |isbn=978-1623768300 |last=Eisenhower |first=Dwight D. |year=1959 |page=270 |publisher=Best Books on }}</ref> He continued all the major [[New Deal]] programs still in operation, especially [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]. He expanded its programs and rolled them into the new Cabinet-level agency of the [[Department of Health, Education and Welfare]], while extending benefits to an additional ten million workers. He implemented [[Integration of the United States military|racial integration in the Armed Services]] in two years, which had not been completed under Truman.<ref name="Miller">{{cite news |author=Miller, James A. |date=November 21, 2007 |title=An inside look at Eisenhower's civil rights record |newspaper=The Boston Globe |url=http://articles.boston.com/2007-11-21/news/29228077_1_civil-rights-nichols-truman-s-executive-order |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107182758/http://articles.boston.com/2007-11-21/news/29228077_1_civil-rights-nichols-truman-s-executive-order |archive-date=January 7, 2012 }}</ref> In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote: {{blockquote|Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things [...] Their number is negligible and they are stupid.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Michael S.|url=https://archive.org/details/eisenhoweryears0000maye|title=The Eisenhower Years|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2|page=xii|publisher=Facts On File }}</ref>}} When the [[1954 United States elections|1954 Congressional elections]] approached, it became evident that the Republicans were in danger of losing their thin majority in both houses. Eisenhower was among those who blamed the Old Guard for the losses, and he took up the charge to stop suspected efforts by the right wing to take control of the GOP. He then articulated his position as a moderate, progressive Republican: "I have just one purpose ... and that is to build up a strong progressive Republican Party in this country. If the right wing wants a fight, they are going to get it ... before I end up, either this Republican Party will reflect progressivism or I won't be with them anymore."<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=220}}</ref> Eisenhower initially planned on serving only one term, but he remained flexible in case leading Republicans wanted him to run again. He was recovering from a heart attack late in September 1955 when he met with his closest advisors to evaluate the GOP's potential candidates; the group concluded that a second term was well advised, and he announced that he would run again in February 1956.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=285–288}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Jean Edward Smith|title=Eisenhower in War and Peace|url={{GBurl|id=jO2gLXNNa2wC|p=674}}|year=2012|publisher=Random House|pages=674–683|isbn=978-0679644293|access-date=June 27, 2015}}</ref> Eisenhower was publicly noncommittal about having Nixon as the Vice President on his ticket; the question was an especially important one in light of his heart condition. He personally favored [[Robert B. Anderson]], a Democrat who rejected his offer, so Eisenhower resolved to leave the matter in the hands of the party, which chose Nixon nearly unanimously.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=321–325}}</ref> In 1956, Eisenhower faced Adlai Stevenson again and won by an even larger landslide, with 457 of 531 electoral votes and 57.6 percent of the popular vote. His campaigning was curtailed out of health considerations.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=297}}</ref> Eisenhower made full use of his valet, chauffeur, and secretarial support; he rarely drove or even dialed a phone number. He was an avid fisherman, golfer, painter, and bridge player.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=25}}</ref> On August 26, 1959, he was aboard the maiden flight of [[Air Force One]], which replaced the ''Columbine'' as the presidential aircraft.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=537}}</ref> === Interstate Highway System === {{Main|Interstate Highway System}} {{listen | filename = Cadillacsquareexcerpt.ogg | title = Remarks in Cadillac Square, Detroit | description = President Eisenhower delivered remarks about the need for a new highway program at Cadillac Square in Detroit on October 29, 1954<br />[http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/audiotext.htm#cadillac Text of speech excerpt] }} Eisenhower championed and signed the bill that authorized the [[Interstate Highway System]] in 1956.<ref name="economist">{{cite news|title=The cracks are showing|newspaper=The Economist|date=June 26, 2008|url=http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8447241|access-date=October 23, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120044855/http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8447241|archive-date=November 20, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> He justified the project through the [[Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956]] as essential to American security during the [[Cold War]]. Eisenhower's goal to create improved highways was influenced by his involvement in the Army's 1919 [[Transcontinental Motor Convoy]]. He was assigned as an observer for the mission, which involved sending a convoy of Army vehicles coast to coast.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=May 23, 2008 |url=http://www.usswashington.com/dl30au39h1.htm |title=The Last Week – The Road to War |publisher=[[USS Washington (BB-56)]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070323225351/http://www.usswashington.com/dl30au39h1.htm |archive-date=March 23, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=May 23, 2008 |url=http://usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/index.htm |title=About the Author |publisher=[[USS Washington (BB-56)]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513084502/http://www.usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/index.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref> His subsequent experience with the German [[Reichsautobahn|autobahn]] convinced him of the benefits of an Interstate Highway System. The system could also be used as a runway for airplanes, which would be beneficial to war efforts. Franklin D. Roosevelt put this system into place with the [[Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944]]. He thought that an interstate highway system would be beneficial for military operations and would support continued economic growth.<ref name=archivesIHS>{{cite web|access-date=August 21, 2012|url=https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/interstate_highway_system.html|title=Interstate Highway System|publisher=[[Eisenhower Presidential Center]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117094324/http://eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/interstate_highway_system.html|archive-date=January 17, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The legislation initially stalled in Congress over the issuance of bonds to finance the project, but the legislative effort was renewed and Eisenhower signed the law in June 1956.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=301, 326}}</ref> === Foreign policy === [[File:Nasser and Eisenhower, 1960.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower with Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] during Nasser's visit to United Nations in New York, September 1960.]] [[File:Indo US.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower with Indian Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]].]] [[File:U.S. President Eisenhower visited TAIWAN 美國總統艾森豪於1960年6月訪問臺灣台北時與蔣中正總統-2.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower visits the Republic of China and its President [[Chiang Kai-shek]] in Taipei.]] {{Excerpt|Foreign policy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration|templates=no}} ==== Space Race ==== {{Further|Space Race}} [[File:1974S Eisenhower Reverse.jpg|thumb|In the 1970s the reverse of the [[Eisenhower dollar]] celebrated America's Moon landings, which began 11 years after NASA was created during Eisenhower's presidency]] Eisenhower and the CIA had known since at least January 1957, nine months before [[Sputnik 1|''Sputnik'']], that Russia had the capability to launch a small payload into orbit and was likely to do so within a year.<ref>John M. Logsdon, "Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program" (NASA; 1995)</ref> Eisenhower's support of the nation's fledgling [[United States space program|space program]] was officially modest until the Soviet launch of [[Sputnik]] in 1957, gaining the Cold War enemy enormous prestige. He then launched a national campaign that funded not just space exploration but a major strengthening of science and higher education. The Eisenhower administration determined to adopt a non-aggressive policy that would allow "space-crafts of any state to overfly all states, a region free of military posturing and launch Earth satellites to explore space".<ref>Logsdon, John M., and Lear, Linda J. Exploring the Unknown:Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program/ Washington D.C.</ref> His [[Treaty on Open Skies|Open Skies]] Policy attempted to legitimize illegal [[Lockheed U-2]] flyovers and [[Project Genetrix]] while paving the way for spy satellite technology to orbit over sovereign territory,<ref>W. D. Kay, Defining NASA The Historical Debate Over the Agency's Mission, 2005.</ref> but [[Nikolai Bulganin]] and [[Nikita Khrushchev]] declined Eisenhower's proposal at the Geneva conference in July 1955.<ref>Parmet, Herbert S. Eisenhower and the American Crusades (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1972)</ref> In response to Sputnik being launched in October 1957, Eisenhower created [[NASA]] as a civilian space agency in October 1958, signed a landmark science education law, and improved relations with American scientists.<ref>Yankek Mieczkowski, ''Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige'' (Cornell University Press; 2013)</ref> Fear spread through the United States that the Soviet Union would invade and spread [[communism]], so Eisenhower wanted to not only create a [[Reconnaissance satellite|surveillance satellite]] to detect any threats but [[ballistic missile]]s that would protect the United States. In strategic terms, it was Eisenhower who devised the American basic strategy of [[Deterrence theory|nuclear deterrence]] based upon the [[Nuclear triad|triad]] of [[strategic bomber]]s, land-based [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs), and [[submarine-launched ballistic missile]]s (SLBMs).<ref>Peter J. Roman, ''Eisenhower and the Missile Gap'' (1996)</ref> NASA planners projected that [[human spaceflight]] would pull the United States ahead in the Space Race; however, in 1960, an Ad Hoc Panel on Man-in-Space concluded that "man-in-space can not be justified" and was too costly.<ref>The Presidents's Science Advisory Committee, "Report of the Ad Hoc Panel on Man-in-Space" December 16, 1960. NASA Historical Collection</ref> Eisenhower later resented the space program and its gargantuan price tag—he was quoted as saying, "Anyone who would spend $40 billion in a race to the moon for national prestige is nuts."<ref>Greg Ward, "A Rough Guide History of the USA" (Penguin Group: London, 2003)</ref> ==== Korean War, Free China and Red China ==== In late 1952, Eisenhower went to Korea and discovered a military and political stalemate. Once in office, when the Chinese [[People's Volunteer Army]] began a buildup in the [[Kaesong]] sanctuary, he considered using nuclear weapons if an armistice was not reached. Whether China was informed of the potential for nuclear force is unknown.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Michael Gordon|date=2005|title=Beyond Brinkmanship: Eisenhower, Nuclear War Fighting, and Korea, 1953–1968|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27552659|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|volume=35|issue=1|pages=52–75|doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2004.00235.x|jstor=27552659|issn=0360-4918}}</ref> His earlier military reputation in Europe was effective with the Chinese communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=51}}</ref> The National Security Council, the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], and the [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC) devised detailed plans for nuclear war against Red China.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Matthew|last=Jones|title=Targeting China: U.S. Nuclear Planning and 'Massive Retaliation' in East Asia, 1953–1955|journal=Journal of Cold War Studies|year=2008|volume=10|issue=4|pages=37–65 |doi=10.1162/jcws.2008.10.4.37|s2cid=57564482 }}</ref> With the death of Stalin in March 1953, Russian support for a Chinese communist hard-line weakened and China decided to compromise on the prisoner issue.<ref name="Ambrose 1984, p. 106–7">{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=106–107}}</ref> [[File:1951 Chung Baik Eisenhower.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower in Korea with General [[Chung Il-kwon]], and [[Baik Seon-yup]], 1952]] In July 1953, an armistice took effect with Korea divided along [[Military Demarcation Line|approximately the same boundary as in 1950]]. The armistice and boundary remain in effect today. The armistice, which concluded despite opposition from Secretary Dulles, South Korean President [[Syngman Rhee]], and also within Eisenhower's party, has been described by biographer [[Stephen E. Ambrose]] as the greatest achievement of the administration. Eisenhower had the insight to realize that unlimited war in the nuclear age was unthinkable, and limited war unwinnable.<ref name="Ambrose 1984, p. 106–7" /> A point of emphasis in Eisenhower's campaign had been his endorsement of a policy of liberation from communism as opposed to a policy of containment. This remained his preference despite the armistice with Korea.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=173}}</ref> Throughout his terms Eisenhower took a hard-line attitude toward China, as demanded by conservative Republicans, with the goal of driving a wedge between China and the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Qiang|last=Zhai|title=Crisis and Confrontations: Chinese-American Relations during the Eisenhower Administration|journal=Journal of American-East Asian Relations|year=2000|volume=9|issue=3/4|pages=221–249|doi=10.1163/187656100793645921|doi-access=free}}</ref> Eisenhower continued Truman's policy of recognizing the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the legitimate government of China, not the Peking (Beijing) regime. There were localized flare-ups when the People's Liberation Army began shelling the islands of [[Quemoy]] and [[Matsu Islands|Matsu]] in September 1954. Eisenhower received recommendations embracing every variation of response; he thought it essential to have every possible option available to him as the crisis unfolded.<ref name="Ambrose 1984, p. 231">{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=231}}</ref> The [[Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty]] with the Republic of China was signed in December 1954. He requested and secured from Congress their "Free China Resolution" in January 1955, which gave Eisenhower unprecedented power in advance to use military force at any level in defense of Free China and the Pescadores. The Resolution bolstered the morale of the Chinese nationalists and signaled to Beijing that the US was committed to holding the line.<ref name="Ambrose 1984, p. 231" /> During the [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis|First Taiwan Strait crisis]], Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons against PRC military targets in [[Fujian]].<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK}}</ref>{{Rp|page=89}} These threats prompted Mao Zedong to launch [[China and weapons of mass destruction|China's nuclear weapons program]].<ref name=":17" />{{Rp|pages=89–90}} He authorized a series of bomb tests labeled [[Operation Teapot]]. Nevertheless, he left the Chinese communists guessing as to the exact nature of his nuclear response. This allowed Eisenhower to accomplish all of his objectives—the end of this communist encroachment, the retention of the Islands by the Chinese nationalists and continued peace.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=245, 246}}</ref> Defense of the Republic of China from an invasion remains a core American policy.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Robert|last=Accinelli|title=Eisenhower, Congress, and the 1954–55 offshore island crisis|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|year=1990|volume=20|issue=2|pages=329–348|jstor=27550618}}</ref> China invited some American reporters to China in 1956, having previously ousted American reporters after the PRC's founding.<ref name=":Minami2">{{Cite book |last=Minami |first=Kazushi |title=People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=9781501774157 |location=Ithaca, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=115–116}} Eisenhower upheld the U.S. ban on travel to China.<ref name=":Minami2" />{{Rp|page=116}} U.S. newspapers, including [[The New York Times|''The'' ''New York Times'']] and [[The Washington Post|''The'' ''Washington Post'']] criticized the Eisenhower's administration decision as antithetical to the free press.<ref name=":Minami2" />{{Rp|page=116}} ==== Southeast Asia ==== {{further|United States in the Vietnam War}} Early in 1953, the French asked Eisenhower for help in [[French Indochina]] against the Communists, supplied from China, who were fighting the [[First Indochina War]]. Eisenhower sent Lt. General [[John W. O'Daniel]] to Vietnam to assess the French forces there.<ref>Dunnigan, James and [[Albert Nofi|Nofi, Albert]] (1999), ''Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War''. St. Martins Press, p. 85.</ref> Chief of Staff [[Matthew Ridgway]] dissuaded the President from intervening by presenting a comprehensive estimate of the massive military deployment that would be necessary. Eisenhower stated prophetically that "this war would absorb our troops by divisions."<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=175}}</ref> Eisenhower did provide France with bombers and non-combat personnel. After a few months with no success by the French, he added other aircraft to drop [[napalm]] for clearing purposes. Further requests for assistance from the French were agreed to but only on conditions Eisenhower knew were impossible to meet – allied participation and congressional approval.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=175–157}}</ref> When the French fortress of [[Dien Bien Phu]] fell to the Vietnamese Communists in May 1954, Eisenhower refused to intervene despite urging from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Vice President and the head of NCS.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=185}}</ref> Eisenhower responded to the French defeat with the formation of the [[SEATO]] (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) Alliance with the UK, France, New Zealand and Australia in defense of Vietnam against communism. At that time the French and Chinese reconvened the Geneva peace talks; Eisenhower agreed the US would participate only as an observer. After France and the Communists agreed to a partition of Vietnam, Eisenhower rejected the agreement, offering military and economic aid to southern Vietnam.<ref name="Nofi Albert p 257">Dunnigan, James and Nofi, Albert (1999), ''Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War'', p. 257</ref> Ambrose argues that Eisenhower, by not participating in the Geneva agreement, had kept the US out of Vietnam; nevertheless, with the formation of SEATO, he had put the US back into the conflict.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=204–209}}</ref> In late 1954, [[J. Lawton Collins|Gen. J. Lawton Collins]] was made ambassador to "Free Vietnam", effectively elevating the country to sovereign status. Collins' instructions were to support the leader [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] in subverting communism, by helping him to build an army and wage a military campaign.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=215}}</ref> In February 1955, Eisenhower dispatched the first American soldiers to Vietnam as military advisors to Diem's army. After Diem announced the formation of the Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as [[South Vietnam]]) in October, Eisenhower immediately recognized the new state and offered military, economic, and technical assistance.<ref>{{cite book|first=David L.|last=Anderson|title=Trapped by Success: The Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam, 1953–1961|url={{GBurl|id=tM88nZNx2J8C}}|year=1991|publisher=Columbia U.P.|isbn=978-0231515337}}</ref> In the years that followed, Eisenhower increased the number of US military advisors in South Vietnam to 900.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm |title=Vietnam War |publisher=Swarthmore College Peace Collection |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803124531/http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm |archive-date=August 3, 2016 }}</ref> This was due to [[North Vietnam]]'s support of "uprisings" in the south and concern the nation would fall.<ref name="Nofi Albert p 257" /> In May 1957 Diem, then [[Leaders of South Vietnam|President of South Vietnam]], [[Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to the United States|made a state visit]] to the United States. Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diem's honor in New York City. Although Diem was publicly praised, in private Secretary of State John Foster Dulles conceded that Diem had been selected because there were no better alternatives.<ref>Karnow, Stanley. (1991), ''Vietnam, A History'', p. 230.</ref> After the election of November 1960, Eisenhower, in a briefing with John F. Kennedy, pointed out the communist threat in Southeast Asia as requiring prioritization in the next administration. Eisenhower told Kennedy he considered Laos "the cork in the bottle" with regard to the regional threat.<ref>Reeves, Richard (1993), ''President Kennedy: Profile of Power'', p. 75.</ref> ==== Legitimation of Francoist Spain ==== {{Main|Pact of Madrid}} [[File:Franco eisenhower 1959 madrid.jpg|thumb|Spanish dictator [[Francisco Franco]] and Eisenhower in [[Madrid]] in 1959]] The Pact of Madrid, signed on September 23, 1953, by [[Francoist Spain]] and the United States, was a significant effort to break [[international isolation]] of Spain, together with the [[Concordat of 1953]]. This development came at a time when other victorious Allies and much of the rest of the world remained hostile{{efn|For the 1946 United Nations condemnation<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.derechoshumanos.net/memoriahistorica/1946-Resolucion-ONU.htm|title=Resolution 39 (I) of the UN General Assembly on the Spanish question.}}</ref> of the Francoist regime, see "[[Spanish Question (United Nations)|Spanish Question]]"}} to a [[Fascism|fascist]] regime sympathetic to the cause of the former [[Axis powers]] and [[German involvement in the Spanish Civil War|established with Nazi assistance]]. This accord took the form of three separate executive agreements that pledged the United States to furnish [[foreign aid|economic]] and [[military aid]] to Spain. ==== Middle East and Eisenhower doctrine ==== [[File:ShahEisenhower.jpg|thumb|upright|Eisenhower with the Shah of Iran, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] (1959)]] Even before he was inaugurated Eisenhower accepted a request from the British government to restore the Shah of Iran (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) to power. He therefore [[1953 Iranian coup d'état|authorized the CIA]] to overthrow Prime Minister [[Mohammad Mosaddegh]].<ref>Eisenhower gave verbal approval to Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] and to Director of Central Intelligence [[Allen Dulles]] to proceed with the coup; Ambrose, ''Eisenhower, Vol. 2: The President'' p. 111; Ambrose (1990), ''Eisenhower: Soldier and President'', New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 333.</ref> This resulted in increased strategic control over Iranian oil by [[Seven Sisters (oil companies)|US and British companies]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=129}}</ref> In November 1956, Eisenhower forced an end to the combined British, French and Israeli invasion of Egypt in response to the [[Suez Crisis]], receiving praise from Egyptian president [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]. Simultaneously he condemned the brutal Soviet invasion of [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]] in response to the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]]. He publicly disavowed his allies at the United Nations and used financial and diplomatic pressure to make them withdraw from Egypt.<ref>Kingseed, Cole (1995), ''Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956'', ch. 6</ref> Eisenhower explicitly defended his strong position against Britain and France in his memoirs, published in 1965.<ref>Dwight D. Eisenhower, ''Waging Peace: 1956–1961'' (1965) p. 99</ref> After the Suez Crisis, the United States became the protector of unstable friendly governments in the Middle East via the "[[Eisenhower Doctrine]]".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lahav|first=Pnina|title=The Suez Crisis of 1956 and Its Aftermath: A Comparative Study of Constitutions, Use of Force, Diplomacy and International Relations|url=https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=faculty_scholarship|journal=Boston University Law Review|volume=95}}</ref> Designed by Secretary of State Dulles, it held the US would be "prepared to use armed force ... [to counter] aggression from any country controlled by international communism". Further, the US would provide economic and military aid and, if necessary, use military force to stop the spread of communism in the Middle East.<ref>Isaac Alteras, ''Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.–Israeli Relations, 1953–1960'' (1993), p. 296.</ref> Eisenhower applied the doctrine in 1957–1958 by dispensing economic aid to Jordan, and by encouraging Syria's neighbors to consider military operations against it. More dramatically, in July 1958, he sent 15,000 [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]] and soldiers to Lebanon as part of [[Operation Blue Bat]], a non-combat peacekeeping mission to stabilize the pro-Western government and to prevent a radical revolution.<ref name="Little 1996 27–54">{{cite journal|last=Little|first=Douglas|title=His finest hour? Eisenhower, Lebanon, and the 1958 Middle East Crisis|journal=Diplomatic History|year=1996|volume=20|issue=1|pages=27–54|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1996.tb00251.x}}</ref> The Marines departed three months later. Washington considered the military intervention successful since it brought about regional stability, weakened Soviet influence, and intimidated the Egyptian and Syrian governments, whose anti-West political position had hardened after the Suez Crisis.<ref name="Little 1996 27–54" /> Most Arab countries were skeptical about the "Eisenhower doctrine" because they considered "Zionist imperialism" the real danger. However, they did take the opportunity to obtain free money and weapons. Egypt and Syria, supported by the Soviet Union, openly opposed the initiative. However, Egypt received American aid until the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hahn|first=Peter L.|title=Securing the Middle East: The Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|year=2006|volume=36|issue=1|pages=38–47|doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2006.00285.x}}</ref> As the [[Cold War]] deepened, Dulles sought to isolate the [[Soviet Union]] by building regional alliances against it. Critics sometimes called it "[[Pactomania|pacto-mania]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Navari|first=Cornelia|year=2000|title=Internationalism and the State in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Routledge|page=316|isbn=978-0415097475}}</ref> ==== 1960 U-2 incident ==== [[File:US Air Force U-2 (2139646280).jpg|thumb|A [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] reconnaissance aircraft in flight]] {{Excerpt|1960 U-2 incident|templates=no|files=no}} === Civil rights === While President Truman's 1948 [[Executive Order 9981]] had begun the process of [[Racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces|desegregating the Armed Forces]], actual implementation had been slow. Eisenhower made clear his stance in his first [[State of the Union address]] in February 1953, saying "I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the [[Federal government of the United States|Federal Government]], and any segregation in the Armed Forces".<ref>State of the Union Address, February 2, 1953, Public Papers, 1953 pp. 30–31.</ref> When he encountered opposition from the services, he used government control of military spending to force the change through, stating "Wherever Federal Funds are expended ..., I do not see how any American can justify ... a discrimination in the expenditure of those funds".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9798|title=Eisenhower Press Conference, March 19, 1953|publisher=The American Presidency Project|access-date=October 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131044238/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9798|archive-date=January 31, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> When [[Robert B. Anderson]], Eisenhower's first [[Secretary of the Navy]], argued that the [[US Navy]] must recognize the "customs and usages prevailing in certain geographic areas of our country which the Navy had no part in creating," Eisenhower overruled him: "We have not taken and we shall not take a single backward step. There must be no second class citizens in this country."<ref>Byrnes to DDE, August 27, 1953, Eisenhower Library"</ref> The administration declared [[racial discrimination]] a [[national security]] issue, as Communists around the world used the racial discrimination and history of violence in the US as a point of propaganda attack.<ref>[[Dudziak, Mary L.]] (2002), ''Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy''</ref> Eisenhower told [[Washington, D.C.]] officials to make the city a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public-school children.<ref>{{harvnb|Eisenhower|1963|p=230}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Parmet|1972|pp=438–439}}</ref> He proposed to Congress the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|of 1960]] and signed those acts into law. The 1957 act for the first time established a permanent civil rights office inside the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] and a [[Civil Rights Commission]] to hear testimony about abuses of voting rights. Although both acts were much weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts [[Civil Rights Act of 1875|since 1875]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Michael S.|last=Mayer|title=The Eisenhower Administration and the Civil Rights Act of 1957|journal=Congress & the Presidency|year=1989|volume=16|issue=2|pages=137–154|doi=10.1080/07343468909507929}}</ref> In 1957 [[Arkansas]] refused to honor a federal court order to integrate their public school system stemming from the ''[[Brown v. Board of Education|Brown]]'' decision. Eisenhower demanded that Arkansas governor [[Orval Faubus]] obey the court order. When Faubus balked, the president placed the [[Arkansas Army National Guard|Arkansas National Guard]] under federal control and sent in the [[101st Airborne Division]]. They protected [[Little Rock Nine|nine black students]]' entry to [[Little Rock Central High School]], an all-white public school, marking the first time since the [[Reconstruction Era]] the federal government had used federal troops in the South to enforce the Constitution.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Nichol|title=A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution|year=2007|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1416541509|url=https://archive.org/details/matterofjusticee00nich}}</ref> [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] wrote to Eisenhower to thank him for his actions, writing "The overwhelming majority of southerners, Negro and white, stand firmly behind your resolute action to restore law and order in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]".<ref>to DDE, September 25, 1957, Eisenhower Library</ref> Eisenhower's administration contributed to the McCarthyist [[Lavender Scare]]<ref>{{cite web|title=An interview with David K. Johnson author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government|url=http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/404811in.html|website=press.uchicago.edu|publisher=The University of Chicago|date=2004|access-date=December 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220210821/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/404811in.html|archive-date=December 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> with Eisenhower issuing [[Executive Order 10450]] in 1953.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Adkins|first1=Judith|title='These People Are Frightened to Death' Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html|website=archives.gov|publisher=The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration|quote=Most significantly, the 1950 congressional investigations and the Hoey committee's final report helped institutionalize discrimination by laying the groundwork for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1953 Executive Order #10450, 'Security Requirements for Government Employment.' That order explicitly added sexuality to the criteria used to determine suitability for federal employment.|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116083139/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html|archive-date=January 16, 2018|url-status=live|date=August 15, 2016}}</ref> During Eisenhower's presidency thousands of [[LGBT|lesbian and gay]] applicants were barred from federal employment and over 5,000 federal employees were fired under suspicions of being homosexual.<ref name=documenting>{{cite book|last1=Sears|first1=Brad|last2=Hunter|first2=Nan D.|last3=Mallory|first3=Christy|title=Documenting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in State Employment|date=September 2009|publisher=The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law|pages=5–3|url=https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/5_History.pdf#page=3|quote=From 1947 to 1961, more than 5,000 allegedly homosexual federal civil servants lost their jobs in the purges for no reason other than sexual orientation, and thousands of applicants were also rejected for federal employment for the same reason. During this period, more than 1,000 men and women were fired for suspected homosexuality from the State Department alone—a far greater number than were dismissed for their membership in the Communist party.|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206215755/http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/5_History.pdf#page=3|archive-date=February 6, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Adkins|first1=Judith|title='These People Are Frightened to Death' Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html|website=archives.gov|publisher=The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration|quote=Historians estimate that somewhere between 5,000 and tens of thousands of gay workers lost their jobs during the Lavender Scare.|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116083139/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html|archive-date=January 16, 2018|url-status=live|date=August 15, 2016}}</ref> From 1947 to 1961 the number of firings based on sexual orientation were far greater than those for membership in the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]],<ref name=documenting /> and government officials intentionally campaigned to make "homosexual" synonymous with "Communist traitor" such that LGBT people were treated as a national security threat.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sears|first1=Brad|last2=Hunter|first2=Nan D.|last3=Mallory|first3=Christy|title=Documenting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in State Employment|date=September 2009|publisher=The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law|pages=5–3|url=https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/5_History.pdf#page=3|quote=Johnson has demonstrated that during this era government officials intentionally engaged in campaigns to associate homosexuality with Communism: 'homosexual' and 'pervert' became synonyms for 'Communist' and 'traitor.'|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206215755/http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/5_History.pdf#page=3|archive-date=February 6, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> === Relations with Congress === [[File:Dwight D. Eisenhower, official Presidential portrait.jpg|thumb|left|Official White House portrait of Eisenhower, {{circa|1960}}]] Eisenhower had a Republican Congress for only his first two years in office; in the Senate, Republicans held the majority by a one-vote margin. Despite being Eisenhower's political opponent for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination, Senator Majority Leader Robert A. Taft assisted Eisenhower a great deal by promoting the President's proposals among the "Old Guard" Republican Senators. Taft's death in July 1953—six months into Eisenhower's presidency—affected Eisenhower both personally and professionally. The President noted he had lost "a dear friend" with Taft's passing. Eisenhower disliked Taft's successor as Majority Leader, Senator [[William Knowland]], and the relationship between the two men led to tension between the Senate and the White House.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=118–119}}</ref> This prevented Eisenhower from openly condemning Joseph McCarthy's highly criticized methods against communism. To facilitate relations with Congress, Eisenhower decided to ignore McCarthy's controversies and thereby deprive them of more energy from the involvement of the White House. This position drew criticism from a number of corners.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=56–62}}</ref> In late 1953, McCarthy declared on national television that the employment of communists within the government was a menace and would be a pivotal issue in the [[1954 United States Senate elections|1954 Senate elections]]. Eisenhower was urged to respond directly and specify the various measures he had taken to purge the government of communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=140}}</ref> Among Eisenhower's objectives in not directly confronting McCarthy was to prevent McCarthy from dragging the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC) into McCarthy's witchhunt, which might interfere with the AEC's work on [[hydrogen bomb]]s and other weapons programs.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=167}}</ref><ref name="y-s-132">{{harvnb|Young|Schilling|2019|p=132}}</ref> In December 1953, Eisenhower learned that nuclear scientist [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] had been accused of being a spy for the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bundy|1988|pp=305–306}}</ref> Although Eisenhower never really believed these allegations,<ref>{{harvnb|Bundy|1988|p=305}}</ref> in January 1954 he ordered that "a blank wall" be placed between Oppenheimer and all defense-related activities.<ref>{{harvnb|Young|Schilling|2019|p=128}}</ref> The [[Oppenheimer security hearing]] later that year resulted in the physicist losing his security clearance.<ref>{{harvnb|Bundy|1988|pp=310–311}}</ref> The matter was controversial at the time and remained so in later years, with Oppenheimer achieving a certain martyrdom.<ref name="y-s-132"/> The case would reflect poorly on Eisenhower, but the president had never examined it in any detail and had instead relied excessively upon the advice of his subordinates, especially that of AEC chairman [[Lewis Strauss]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bundy|1988|pp=316–317}}</ref> Eisenhower later suffered a major political defeat when his nomination of Strauss to be Secretary of Commerce was defeated in the Senate in 1959, in part due to Strauss's role in the Oppenheimer matter.<ref>{{harvnb|Young|Schilling|2019|pp=147, 150}}</ref> In May 1955, McCarthy threatened to issue subpoenas to White House personnel. Eisenhower was furious, and issued an order as follows: "It is essential to efficient and effective administration that employees of the Executive Branch be in a position to be completely candid in advising with each other on official matters ... it is not in the public interest that any of their conversations or communications, or any documents or reproductions, concerning such advice be disclosed." This was an unprecedented step by Eisenhower to protect communication beyond the confines of a cabinet meeting, and soon became a tradition known as [[executive privilege]]. Eisenhower's denial of McCarthy's access to his staff reduced McCarthy's hearings to rants about trivial matters and contributed to his ultimate downfall.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|pp=188–189}}</ref> In early 1954, the Old Guard put forward a constitutional amendment, called the [[Bricker Amendment]], which would curtail international agreements by the Chief Executive, such as the [[Yalta Agreement]]s. Eisenhower opposed the measure.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=154}}</ref> The Old Guard agreed with Eisenhower on the development and ownership of nuclear reactors by private enterprises, which the Democrats opposed. The President succeeded in getting legislation creating a system of licensure for nuclear plants by the AEC.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=157}}</ref> The Democrats gained a majority in both houses in the 1954 election.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=219}}</ref> Eisenhower had to work with the Democratic Majority Leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (later US president) in the Senate and Speaker [[Sam Rayburn]] in the House. [[Joseph W. Martin Jr.|Joe Martin]], the Republican Speaker from 1947 to 1949 and again from 1953 to 1955, wrote that Eisenhower "never surrounded himself with assistants who could solve political problems with professional skill. There were exceptions, [[Leonard W. Hall]], for example, who as chairman of the [[Republican National Committee]] tried to open the administration's eyes to the political facts of life, with occasional success. However, these exceptions were not enough to right the balance."<ref name=martin>Joseph W. Martin as told to Donavan, Robert J. (1960), ''My First Fifty Years in Politics'', New York: McGraw Hill, p. 227</ref> Speaker Martin concluded that Eisenhower worked too much through subordinates in dealing with Congress, with results, "often the reverse of what he has desired" because Members of Congress, "resent having some young fellow who was picked up by the White House without ever having been elected to office himself coming around and telling them 'The Chief wants this'. The administration never made use of many Republicans of consequence whose services in one form or another would have been available for the asking."<ref name=martin /> === Judicial appointments === ==== Supreme Court ==== {{Main|Dwight D. Eisenhower Supreme Court candidates|Dwight D. Eisenhower judicial appointments}} Eisenhower appointed the following [[List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States|Justices]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]: * [[Earl Warren]], 1953 ([[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]]) * [[John Marshall Harlan II]], 1954 * [[William J. Brennan]], 1956 * [[Charles Evans Whittaker]], 1957 * [[Potter Stewart]], 1958 Whittaker was unsuited for the role and retired in 1962, after Eisenhower's presidency had ended. Stewart and Harlan were conservative Republicans, while Brennan was a Democrat who became a leading voice for liberalism.<ref>Newton, ''Eisenhower'' (2011) pp. 356–357</ref> In selecting a Chief Justice, Eisenhower looked for an experienced jurist who could appeal to liberals in the party as well as law-and-order conservatives, noting privately that Warren "represents the kind of political, economic, and social thinking that I believe we need on the Supreme Court ... He has a national name for integrity, uprightness, and courage that, again, I believe we need on the Court".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/460.cfm |last1=Eisenhower |first1=Dwight D. |title=Personal and confidential To Milton Stover Eisenhower |date=9 October 1953 |work=Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower |id=doc. 460 |publisher=Eisenhower Memorial |access-date=January 26, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118180711/http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/460.cfm |archive-date=January 18, 2012 }}</ref> === States admitted to the Union === Two states were [[admitted to the Union]] during Eisenhower's presidency. * [[Alaska]] – January 3, 1959 (49th state) * Hawaii – August 21, 1959 (50th state) === Health issues === Eisenhower began [[chain smoking]] cigarettes at West Point, often three or four packs a day. He joked that he "gave [himself] an order" to stop [[cold turkey]] in 1949. However, [[Evan Thomas]] says the true story was more complex. At first, he removed cigarettes and [[ashtray]]s, but that did not work. He told a friend: <blockquote>I decided to make a game of the whole business and try to achieve a feeling of some superiority ... So I stuffed cigarettes in every pocket, put them around my office on the desk ... [and] made it a practice to offer a cigarette to anyone who came in ... while mentally reminding myself as I sat down, "I do not have to do what that poor fellow is doing."<ref>{{cite book|first=Evan|last=Thomas|title=Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World|url=https://archive.org/details/ikesbluffpreside0000thom|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/ikesbluffpreside0000thom/page/175 175]|year=2012|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0316217279|access-date=April 28, 2017}}</ref></blockquote> He was the first president to release information about his health and medical records while in office, but people around him deliberately misled the public about his health. On September 24, 1955, while vacationing in [[Colorado]], he had a serious heart attack. While [[Convalescence|convalescing]] at [[Fitzsimons Army Medical Center|Building 500]]<ref>Newton, ''Eisenhower'' pp. 196–199.</ref> [[Howard McCrum Snyder]], his personal physician, misdiagnosed the symptoms as [[indigestion]], and failed to call in help that was urgently needed. Snyder later falsified his own records to cover his blunder and to allow Eisenhower to imply that he was healthy enough to do his job.<ref>Clarence G. Lasby, ''Eisenhower's Heart Attack: How Ike Beat Heart Disease and Held on to the Presidency'' (1997) pp. 57–113.</ref><ref>Robert P. Hudson, "Eisenhower's Heart Attack: How Ike Beat Heart Disease and Held on to the Presidency (review)" ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'' 72#1 (1998) pp. 161–162 [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/4010 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429000309/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/4010 |date=April 29, 2017 }}.</ref><ref>R.H. Ferrell, ''Ill-Advised: Presidential Health & Public Trust'' (1992), pp. 53–150</ref> The heart attack required six weeks' hospitalization, during which time Nixon, Dulles, and [[Sherman Adams]] assumed administrative duties and provided communication with the president.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=272}}</ref> He was treated by [[Paul Dudley White]], a [[Cardiology|cardiologist]] with a national reputation, who regularly informed the press of the president's progress. His physician recommended a second presidential term as essential to his recovery.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1984|p=281}}</ref> As a consequence of his heart attack Eisenhower developed a left ventricular [[aneurysm]], which caused a mild stroke during a cabinet meeting on November 25, 1957, when Eisenhower suddenly found himself unable to move his right hand or to speak. The president also suffered from [[Crohn's disease]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Butler Criticizes Illness Reports: Says News Has Been Handled in Terms of Propaganda—Hagerty Denies It |first=Richard J. H. |last=Johnston |work=The New York Times |date=June 13, 1956 |page=32A |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/113576174/ |quote=Paul M. Butler, the Democratic National Chairman, ... declared that the physicians who operated on and attended the President in his most recent illness 'have done a terrific job of trying to convince the American people that a man who has had a heart attack and then was afflicted with Crohn's disease is a better man physically.' He added: 'Whether the American people will buy that, I don't know.' |access-date=December 22, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=President's Heart Reported Sound; Surgery Is Indicated: Inflamed, Obstructed, Intestine Is Blamed |last=Clark |first=Robert E |work=Atlanta Daily World |date=June 9, 1956 |page=1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/491087844/ |access-date=December 22, 2016}}</ref> which necessitated surgery for a bowel obstruction on June 9, 1956.<ref>{{cite news |title=President Undergoes Surgery on Intestine Block at 2:59 A.M.: Doctors Pronounce It Success : Condition Is Good: Operation Lasts Hour and 53 Minutes–13 Attend Him |first=Anthony |last=Leviero |work=The New York Times |date=June 9, 1956 |page=1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/113808030/ |quote=President Eisenhower was operated on at 2:59 A.M. today for relief of an intestinal obstruction. At 4:55 A.M., the operation was pronounced a success by the surgeons. ... The President's condition was diagnosed as ileitis. This is an inflamation of the ileum—the lowest portion of the small intestine, where it joins the large intestine. ... The President first felt ill shortly after midnight yesterday. He had attended a dinner of the White House News Photographers Association Thursday night and had returned to the White House at 11. Mrs. Eisenhower called Maj. Gen. Howard McC. Snyder, the President's personal physician, at 12:45 A.M. yesterday, telling him the President had some discomfort in his stomach. He recommended a slight dose of milk of magnesia. At 1:20 Mrs. Eisenhower called again, saying the President was still complaining of not feeling well. This time she asked Dr. Snyder to come to the White House from his home about a mile away on Connecticut Avenue. He arrived at 2 A.M. and has not left the President's side since. |access-date=December 22, 2016}}</ref> To treat the intestinal block, surgeons bypassed about ten inches of his [[small intestine]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Eisenhower Out Of Danger; Will Be Able To Resume Duties And Seek Reelection: Doctors See Prospect of Full Return to Job in Four to Six Weeks: Operation Performed to Prevent Gangrene of Bowel: Signing of Official Papers Viewed as Likely by Tomorrow or Tuesday | last=Knighton | first=William Jr. |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=June 10, 1956 |page=1 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/541066565/ |access-date=December 22, 2016 }}</ref> His scheduled meeting with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was postponed so he could recover at his farm.<ref>{{cite news |title=Out of Hospital Visit Postponed |work=The New York Times |date=July 1, 1956 |page=E2 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/113842058/ |access-date=December 22, 2016 }}</ref> He was still recovering from this operation during the Suez Crisis. Eisenhower's health issues forced him to give up smoking and make some changes to his diet, but he still drank alcohol. During a visit to England, he complained of dizziness and had to have his blood pressure checked on August 29, 1959; however, before dinner at prime ministerial manor house [[Chequers]] on the next day his physician, General Howard Snyder, recalled that Eisenhower "drank several [[Gin and tonic|gin-and-tonics]], and one or two gins on the rocks ... three or four wines with the dinner".<ref>Williams, Charles ''Harold Macmillan'' (2009) p. 345</ref> Eisenhower's health during the last three years of his second term in office was relatively good. After leaving the White House, he suffered several additional and ultimately crippling heart attacks.<ref name="drzebra">{{cite web|url=http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g34.htm|title=President Dwight Eisenhower: Health & Medical History|publisher=doctorzebra.com|access-date=January 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117084840/http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g34.htm|archive-date=January 17, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> A severe heart attack in August 1965 largely ended his participation in public affairs.<ref name=post/> On December 12, 1966, his [[gallbladder]] was removed, containing 16 [[gallstone]]s.<ref name="drzebra" /> After Eisenhower's death in 1969, an autopsy revealed an undiagnosed adrenal [[pheochromocytoma]],<ref>Messerli F. H., Loughlin K. R., Messerli A. W., Welch W. R.: The President and the pheochromocytoma. ''Am J Cardiol'' 2007; 99: 1325–1329.</ref> a [[benign]] adrenalin-secreting tumor that may have made him more vulnerable to [[Cardiovascular disease|heart disease]]. Eisenhower suffered seven heart attacks from 1955 until his death.<ref name="drzebra" /> === End of presidency === The [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22nd Amendment to the US Constitution]], which set a [[Term limits in the United States|two-term limit]] on the presidency, was ratified in 1951. Eisenhower was the first president constitutionally prevented from serving a third term. Eisenhower was also the first outgoing president to come under the protection of the [[Former Presidents Act]]. Under the act, Eisenhower was entitled to a lifetime pension, state-provided staff and a [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] security detail.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=May 23, 2008|url=https://www.archives.gov/about/laws/former-presidents.html|title=Former Presidents Act|publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614024342/http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/former-presidents.html|archive-date=June 14, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[1960 United States presidential election|1960 election]] to choose his successor, Eisenhower endorsed Nixon over Democrat John F. Kennedy. He told friends, "I will do almost anything to avoid turning my chair and country over to Kennedy."<ref name="time 2008" /> He actively campaigned for Nixon in the final days, although he may have done Nixon some harm. When asked by reporters at the end of a televised press conference to list one of Nixon's policy ideas he had adopted, Eisenhower joked, "If you give me a week, I might think of one. I don't remember." Kennedy's campaign used the quote in one of its campaign commercials. Nixon narrowly lost to Kennedy. Eisenhower, who was, at 70, the oldest president to date, was succeeded by 43-year-old Kennedy, the youngest elected president.<ref name="time 2008" /> It was originally intended for Eisenhower to have a more active role in the campaign as he wanted to respond to attacks Kennedy made on his administration. However, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower expressed concern to Second Lady [[Pat Nixon]] about the strain campaigning would put on his heart, and wanted the president to withdraw, without letting him know of her intervention. Vice President Nixon himself was informed by White House physician Major General Howard Snyder that he could not approve a heavy campaign schedule for the president, whose health problems had been exacerbated by Kennedy's attacks. Nixon then convinced Eisenhower not to go ahead with the expanded campaign schedule and limit himself to the original schedule. Nixon reflected that if Eisenhower had carried out his expanded campaign schedule, he might have had a decisive impact on the outcome of the election, especially in states that Kennedy won with razor-thin margins. Mamie did not tell Dwight why Nixon changed his mind on Dwight's campaigning until years later.<ref>Nixon, Richard, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, 1978, pp. 222–223.</ref> [[File:Eisenhower farewell address.ogg|right|thumb|Eisenhower's farewell address, January 17, 1961]] On January 17, 1961, Eisenhower gave his final televised Address to the Nation from the [[Oval Office]].<ref name=DDEFarewell>{{cite web|access-date=May 23, 2008 |url=http://www.usa-presidents.info/speeches/eisenhower-farewell.html |title=Dwight D. Eisenhower Farewell Address |publisher=USA Presidents |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513222105/http://www.usa-presidents.info/speeches/eisenhower-farewell.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref> In his [[Eisenhower's farewell address|farewell speech]], Eisenhower raised the issue of the Cold War and role of the armed forces. He described the Cold War: "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method ..." and warned about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals. He continued with a warning that "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex."<ref name=DDEFarewell /> Eisenhower elaborated, "we recognize the imperative need for this development ... the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist ... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."<ref name=DDEFarewell /> Because of legal issues related to holding a military rank while in a civilian office, Eisenhower had resigned his permanent commission as [[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]] before assuming the presidency. Upon completion of his presidential term, his commission was reactivated by Congress.<ref name=post/><ref>{{cite web|title=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, A Chronology from The New York Times, March 1961 |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/New+York+Times+Chronology/1961/March.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060503063950/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/New+York+Times+Chronology/1961/March.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 3, 2006 |date=March 23, 1961 |access-date=May 30, 2009 |quote=Mr. Kennedy signed into law the act of Congress restoring the five-star rank of General of the Army to his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower. (15:5) }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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