Rock, you keep using that word, “Conservative.” This is not a word I would use to describe Ike in the least.
Eisenhower himself was raised by a father who was a Socialist. Not a liberal, not a moderate, not a right-winger, but a Socialist. In 1952, Taft was the reliable Conservative and Republican. Ike could’ve run as Truman’s protégé without having to alter much of his stances. Ike had to destroy a Conservative and biracial coalition that made up Taft’s supporters. The damage that did in the long run was immense, so much so that within a dozen years, there were virtually no Republican Blacks running, let alone winning, office. Taft would’ve brought these folks in a lot earlier and avoided a 90%+ Black Democrat party.
Eisenhower did not curtail spending or shrink the government. This modern American Conservatism you describe wasn’t new, it was tried and true before Hoover/FDR. He just needed to implement it, and he simply did not. I also dismiss the notion that WE won the Cold War. We beat the Soviet Union, but the Communist threat, infiltration of our nation and culture and its thorough and total undermining of us... the left won that decisively, and we live under its madness today. We’re now almost the polar reverse, with Putin ironically serving as the closest to the leader of the free world and Zero serving as a tyrant and threat to international stability.
As to addressing Nixon, and as I already stated, he was never a Conservative. He was a believer in using big government, despite rhetoric to the contrary. He didn’t dismantle Socialist programs, he doubled-down on them and pursued failed policies across the board. He was a Keynesian, which was utter disaster for our nation economically. I’d dare say Nixon, if anything, put himself to the left of both JFK and LBJ in that regard.
As for these strange claims they were “privately Conservative”, that doesn’t particularly wash. It’s as phony and worthless as politicians that claim to be “personally pro-life”, but commit to strong pro-infanticide laws. If you’re not publicly and on the record actively pursuing policies supporting Conservatism, you’re not a Conservative.
In conclusion, I say without hesitation that both Eisenhower and Nixon left us in far worse shape by the time both left office (in 1961 and 1974) than they did when they entered into office. That they passed off their offices to equally left-leaning politicians (JFK/LBJ/Ford/Carter) and left office with 2/3rds of Congress in firm control by the Democrats with a weak and ineffective Socialist/left RINO rump minority is testament to that epic-level failure.
Guarded in public comments, Eisenhower could be revealing in private. On one occasion, a 1954 letter to his brother Edgar (Document #1147; November 8, 1954 To Edgar Newton Eisenhower), Eisenhower revealed that he held conservative views, but that they were tempered by a deep sense of political caution and pragmatism.
As Eisenhower explained, he opposed "too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions" and that "in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one." Yet "the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it. The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything--even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution. This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon "moderation" in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history."
I am sure that Taft would not have disagreed with that assessment. Even today, few conservative political leaders would dare to try to repeal the basic federal safety net that the public is so deeply attached to.
Bravissimo!
Spot-on as usual, DJ... your historical knowledge of political figures never fails to impress me.
Well said.!!!!!