The expectation that Eisenhower would run for a second term was shaken when he suffered a heart attack in September 1955 while vacationing in Colorado. He recovered slowly, but by February 1956 felt well enough to announce his candidacy. Although an operation for ileitis in June 1956 raised fresh doubts about his political future, Eisenhower was again in good health by convention time. (He would also suffer a mild stroke in 1957, but it impaired his strength only briefly.) Yet uncertainty about his ability to survive a second term generated a movement to drop VICE PRESIDENT Nixon from the ticket in 1956 on the ground that he was an abrasive personality and would offend independent voters. Eisenhower did not encourage the dissidents, and Nixon was easily renominated.
The Democrats again selected Adlai Stevenson as their standard-bearer. The campaign was unusually free of issues. Eisenhower retained his image as a selfless public servant and confined his activities to nonpartisan appeals for support. The Democrats were afraid to attack him personally or to express direct doubts about his health. So they pictured the President as an amiable, naïve front man for Nixon and other "Red baiters." Voters were supposed to conclude that McCarthyism would be revived if the President died in office. These tactics failed. Eisenhower won 41 states and 457 electoral votes, while Stevenson won only 7 states and 73 electoral votes. In the popular vote, Eisenhower led Stevenson 35,589,477 to 26,035,504. Unfortunately for the Republicans, Eisenhower was far more popular than his party, which was unable to regain control of either house of Congress.
Presidents seldom look as good in their second term as in their first, and Eisenhower was no exception to the rule. He struggled to maintain friendly personal relations with the Democratic leaders in Congress and largely succeeded. But his cordiality did not prevent them from ignoring some presidential recommendations and amending others. Mindful of his impending retirement and his decreasing ability to retaliate effectively, many Republican congressmen also became obstructive. This unstable coalition spearheaded a drive to increase the scope of welfare programs. Recognizing that he was unable to reduce governmental activities, Eisenhower fought to prevent them from getting larger. He was also embarrassed by congressional investigations of executive departments. The major casualty was Sherman Adams, his chief assistant and an influential adviser, who was forced to resign because he had accepted gifts from a textile manufacturer and lobbyist.
During his second term, Eisenhower also faced increasing repercussions from the 1954 school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court. Inclined to take the legally defensible but morally dubious position of acquiescing in delaying tactics, Eisenhower was obliged to act when a Southern mob obstructed token integration of a high school in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. His initial efforts to get state authorities to enforce a federal court order were fruitless. So he dispatched military units to Little Rock and secured compliance with bayonets. The sullen attitude of local whites discouraged Eisenhower from further efforts at integration either by coercion or any other method. The adverse effect of his indecisiveness on African Americans was compounded by the tactics of Republican senators, many of whom voted with Southern Democrats to retain the rules permitting filibusters against civil rights legislation. Civil rights acts passed in 1957 and 1960 dealt rather ineffectively with voting rights.
Neither African Americans nor any other discontented group were inclined to support the Republicans when Eisenhower's magical name did not head the ticket. The GOP, also handicapped by a recession, suffered a disastrous defeat in the 1958 congressional elections as the Democrats sharply increased majorities in both the Senate and the House.
Eisenhower also encountered increasing frustration after 1957 in his attempts to moderate the Cold War. After a left-wing revolution in Iraq, Eisenhower airlifted a marine detachment to Lebanon in 1958 to forestall a similar uprising there. The immediate crisis soon subsided, and the troops were withdrawn, but the American position in the Middle East continued to deteriorate. In the same year, Vice President Nixon was almost killed by a hostile mob in Caracas, Venezuela, during a goodwill tour. Anti-American feeling erupted still closer to home when the radical Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba. Eisenhower outwardly ignored Castro's increasingly strident attacks on the United States but was criticized for both provoking and tolerating them.
President Dwight Eisenhower congratulates Korean War veteran Army Staff Sgt. Hiroshi H. Miyamura after presenting him the Medal of Honor. Miyamura earned the medal as a corporal during an April 1951 battle that resulted in his capture by Chinese soldiers. His award was kept secret for his safety until after his repatriation in August 1953.
Ill-fortune likewise dogged Eisenhower's final bid for an accommodation with the Russians. Premier Nikita Khrushchev boycotted a projected summit conference at Paris in May 1960. Khrushchev's excuse was the shooting down of an American U-2 plane that had been photographing installations in the USSR. Democrats criticized Eisenhower for jeopardizing peace with spy missions. They also charged that the administration was falling behind the Soviet Union in the development of missiles and other weapons of the space age. The secrecy that shrouded military planning precludes an objective judgment about Eisenhower's stewardship in that area. He did voice concern about the growing power of the Pentagon and of the "military-industrial complex." In any case, the combination of setbacks and partisan complaints about the administration's foreign policy were politically damaging on the eve of the 1960 election.
Long before the Republican convention, Eisenhower had groomed Nixon as his successor, giving the Vice President special assignments designed to command favorable publicity. The delegates enthusiastically ratified the choice. The Democrats nominated John F. KENNEDY, the youthful Catholic senator from Massachusetts, who combined an appealing personal style with an eloquent updating of NEW DEAL doctrines. Fearful that Eisenhower would unintentionally divert the spotlight from his protégé, Nixon's managers limited presidential participation in the campaign to the final weeks. Eisenhower's impact on Republican prospects was favorable but might have been greater had he been encouraged to intervene earlier. Kennedy reunited a large enough percentage of each group in the old New Deal coalition to win the election. Eisenhower transferred enough of his Democratic and independent support to Nixon to produce a close contest. Like the popular Whig generals of the 1840's, Eisenhower could win elections, but he could not convert personal loyalty into durable support for his party.
President Eisenhower became a member of the national Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America in 1948. He had been a staunch supporter of Scouting ever since his son was a Scout.
The casket bearing the remains of the late General Eisenhower rests in state in Bethlehem Chapel at the Washington National Cathedral as members of the Joint Honor Guard maintain a Death Watch. 29 March 1969
During the initial years of his retirement, Eisenhower was healthy, active, and the recipient of many honors. Congress restored his rank as a five-star general, colleges conferred honorary degrees on him, and private organizations showered him with awards. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson treated him as an elder statesman, frequently soliciting his advice on international problems. These friendly relations survived Eisenhower's occasional attacks on Democratic policies and his efforts to rebuild the Republican party. He also established a repository for his papers at Abilene, Kans., and worked on his memoirs. When not traveling, he resided either on his farm at Gettysburg, Pa., or in the vicinity of Palm Springs, Calif. His recreational activities were concentrated on golf, hunting, fishing, and painting.
Funeral Services at the Eisenhower Center, Abilene, Kansas. 2 April 1969
Eisenhower did not endorse any candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964, but encouraged a number whom he regarded as qualified to enter the race. He was disappointed when the delegates selected Sen. Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona because he thought the candidate was identified with an intemperate brand of conservatism. Eisenhower eventually endorsed Goldwater without becoming an active supporter.
Located across from the Eisenhower Home is the final resting place of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States. In November 1979 Mamie Doud Eisenhower was interred in the building. The Eisenhower's first born son, Doud Dwight was interred in 1966. The Place of Meditation was built with private funds under the auspices of the Eisenhower Presidential Library Commission.
A serious heart attack in August 1965 ended Eisenhower's active participation in public affairs. He was hospitalized frequently with a variety of complaints during the next three years and was an invalid after still another heart attack in the summer of 1968. Nevertheless, he endorsed Nixon for president and was gratified by his subsequent victory. His popularity never waned, and he topped the list of most admired Americans in a Gallup poll released in December 1968. Eisenhower died in Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 1969, and was buried at Abilene, Kansas.
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