With Tank Corps, Camp Meade, Maryland, 1919
Posted on 02/02/2006 7:18:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Archivists released documents from Dwight Eisenhower's administration that historians say could help refine their understanding of the president's positions on national security and civil rights.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kan., announced Thursday the release of 40,000 pages of previously classified documents on subjects including J. Edgar Hoover's domestic intelligence operation, construction of the Berlin Wall and Middle East policy.
Chester Pach, an Ohio University professor who authored "Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower," said historians have many unanswered questions about the president, including his role in planning the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
"There are always gaps, I think, in our knowledge of a presidency," Pach said.
The library also recently released 7,000 pages specifically related to the Eisenhower administration's civil rights policy.
The two-term Republican led the country from 1953 to 1961, during which the first two civil rights acts since Reconstruction were passed and the president used National Guard troops to uphold the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling in Little Rock, Ark.
Despite that, Eisenhower has not been widely viewed as a strong civil rights advocate.
"Eisenhower's often criticized for not being more forthcoming on civil rights," said Fred Greenstein, a professor emeritus at Princeton University whose book "The Hidden Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader" helped change perceptions of the politician. "We may learn that there are quite different stories."
The civil rights papers acquired by the library were among the collection of Maxwell Rabb, associate counsel and secretary to the cabinet in the Eisenhower administration.
Karl Weissenbach, the library's assistant director and supervisory archivist, said they largely pertain to black and Jewish issues, with a small number of documents related to Native American relations.
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On the Net:
Eisenhower Presidential Library: http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/
With Tank Corps, Camp Meade, Maryland, 1919
Is Mamie still alive ?
If Ike planned the Bay of Pigs invasion, I would say the planning had to be significantly better than his successor's execution of that plan.
Mamie died in 1979 , she was 83.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/me34.html
The Berlin Wall was built when JFK was President (August 1961), so at most Ike may have expressed opinions about what should be done about it...he wasn't in a position of power.
IMO If John and Robert Kennedy had used the same testicles they used in Hollywood with the sluts provided them by Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra in their decision to invade Cuba, the Bay of Pigs would have been fine and we wouldnt have a Castro there now.
IKe's opinion about the Bay of Pigs was that once you appeal to force, you HAVE to win. Because otherwise, you only leave the guy you were trying to oust looking stronger than ever.
So, do what you have to, to insure victory (even if that means committing US troops).
Ike oversaw a US coup against a leftest leader in Guatemala, who finally fled mainly because he said that even though he might be able to defeat the US-sponsored guerillas, he knew that the US government would only send in more stuff to make sure he was defeated.
However, when JFK was in office, the State Dept. demanded that no US troops be committed (it might inflame anti-Yanqui sentiment in Latin America);
so JFK deferred sending in what was necessary,and Castro emerged stronger.
And we've paid for that (and the Cuban people have paid for that) for the past 40 years.
That's a neat picture of Ike; please confirm whether the other guy is Michael Dukakis.
"Is Mamie still alive ?"
That's not a serious question is it?
About ten years ago his Grandaughter was the guest on a local talk-radio show here......when asked about his Farewell (the Military-Industrial Complex speech Jan '60) she said that it started out as Military-Industrial-Government Complex, but that he thought better of being so blatant about it and dropped "Govt" from the phrase........but you can see by reading it carefully and thoughtfully that this was his meaning and intent. Reagan got it, and illuminated it in "A Time for Choosing" in Oct 64.
Just what did JFK, his successor do for civil rights? He wiretapped MLK, for one.
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