Question

Do you think President Eisenhower had a successful presidency?

Answer 1

The legacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower among historians has significantly changed over the past five decades. In 1962, a poll of influential historians ranked Eisenhower 22nd among presidents, a barely average chief executive who was as good as Chester A. Arthur and a little bit better than Andrew Johnson. Two decades later, his ranking had risen to 11th, and by 1994 he was 8th, the same position he held in a presidential historians ' C-SPAN poll in 2009. He ranked behind only Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman among the presidents who held office over the past 75 years.

As more documents and papers are available to research his administration, Eisenhower's legacy has improved. Contemporaries recalled the numerous golf and fishing trips of Eisenhower and wondered whether he left most of the government business to assistants at the White House. We even listened at press conferences to his meandering, garbled answers to questions, asking whether he understood problems and had clear ideas on how to address them.

Eisenhower also refused to adopt policies that hindered strong economic growth in the 1950s, and he took steps that improved the economy, such as promoting the creation of the Interstate Highway System. While national security spending during the Eisenhower years was high, the President did not cede the temptations to spend even more.

Eisenhower remained a gradualist who firmly believed that reforms would remove racial barriers in individual hearts and minds more than passing laws. Notwithstanding this belief, by speaking out in support of civil rights, Eisenhower did not attempt to change public discourse on racial issues. He took steps to end racial segregation, but he was unable to use his moral authority as president to promote the 20th century's most important social justice movement. Though he prevented war, the peace he sought was not achieved by Eisenhower. He wanted to compromise with the Soviet Union, but instead left a heightened Cold War for his successor. He could not obtain a test-ban deal that he hoped would be an important part of his legacy. In Iran and Guatemala, the clandestine actions he approved resulted in short-term success, which led to long-term instability.