Eisenhower grew up at a time when America was still putting North and South together. Reconciliation was the political correctness of its day. It was a priority and it was important for the military to contribute. Ike’s whole career took place in an age of historical revisionism (1910 to 1960), when the war was blamed on unreasonable men unwilling to compromise (the abolitionists very much included) and the Southern view of Reconstruction was widely accepted by historians and teachers. Ike was, of course, educated at West Point, where Lee had been an exemplary student and then later superintended. So it was inevitable that President Eisenhower thought as he did. I don’t see any reason why we have to immediately and automatically accept or reject his view (or that of the doctor who wrote to him). Who’s right and who’s wrong is for us to figure out based on what we know now.
Theodore Roosevelt’s mother was a Georgian and his father was of course a New Yorker. His uncles had supported and served the Confederacy. His father had kept out of the war, perhaps out of deference to Teddy’s mother. The reconciliation project c. 1890-1910 was not only a national necessity for Teddy, but it had a very personal meaning for him, so of course he’d do what he could to support it.
TR's insane behavior in 1912 was essential to getting Democrat Woodrow Wilson elected President.
I've long wondered what motivated him to do that, and now think maybe it was something to do with his mother and uncles?