Inside Eisenhower

First-Hand Report: The Story of the Eisenhower Administration, by Sherman Adams. Harper, $5.95

Back in December 1951, as Eisenhower-for-President enthusiasts got up steam for the New Hampshire primary, they encountered the delicate problem of having to furnish legal proof that their chosen redemptor of the Republican Party was, in fact, a Republican. So off to Dickinson County, Kansas, went a discreet inquiry. How did the man from Abilene stand? Promptly came the county clerk’s reply: “I don’t think he has any politics.” Did Dwight Eisenhower ever really get any “politics”? The record of his failure to approach the goals he set is conclusive proof that he did not. He brought everything to the White House except the indispensable quality demanded by the modern Presidency—a shrewd understanding of the mechanics of partisanship, and of the leverage his great office could exert.

RW

About the Author

Richard Whalen

First-Hand Report: The Story of the Eisenhower Administration, by Sherman Adams. Harper, $5.95

Back in December 1951, as Eisenhower-for-President enthusiasts got up steam for the New Hampshire primary, they encountered the delicate problem of having to furnish legal proof that their chosen redemptor of the Republican Party was, in fact, a Republican. So off to Dickinson County, Kansas, went a discreet inquiry. How did the man from Abilene stand? Promptly came the county clerk’s reply: “I don’t think he has any politics.” Did Dwight Eisenhower ever really get any “politics”? The record of his failure to approach the goals he set is conclusive proof that he did not. He brought everything to the White House except the indispensable quality demanded by the modern Presidency—a shrewd understanding of the mechanics of partisanship, and of the leverage his great office could exert.