I've been reading a lot of history lately. Here's an excellent book about Ike and his presidency:



Link to Amazon

Also, here's an excellent presentation given recently at the Virginia Historical Society by the author about this book:

https://vimeo.com/294803679

JALLEN, this should ring your bell.

I was thinking the other day about a ritual phrase used by our Methodist pastor in his Sunday pastoral prayer:

“Bless the president of our great land and those who serve under him in these dark and...troubled days”.

Since we lived through it, it wasn’t so dark after all, and some of us would love to have those kinds of troubles back. There was no talk of “civil war” then.

His reputation has improved a lot with the passing of time.
Many thought of him as an average at best President when he left office.

He was unpopular for two things upon his leaving office: desegregating schools in Arkansas and not stepping in when McCarthy started to get momentum with his hearings. While both didn't necessarily get 'civil war' talk going, it touched a raw nerve in the US that laid some of the bricks to the discord that was to come in the 60's.

As time has passed, his popularity steadily increased as people recognized who he was and what he did in post-WWII/America superpower. While Kennedy was an invigorating shot of youthfulness and vigor, he also brought with him a lot of baggage that Ike would never have carried.