Truth Is, Ike Loved Politics and Being President
Dwight D. Eisenhower often portrayed the image of being above politics. His supposed reluctance to accept the nomination for the presidency and the quiet, dignified way he carried himself while in the White House gave the appearance of a man who didn’t like to get mixed up in political matters. Some would even assume that he didn't really like being president. They would be mistaken.
Politics were in Eisenhower’s blood. So much so that had it not been for the 22nd Amendment, he would have run for a third term. He appeared reluctant to hit the campaign trail for his Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960, but that was because Ike was no fan of Dick, not because he didn't want to get involved in the election. As Geoffrey Perret notes in his biography Eisenhower, when Eisenhower hit the campaign trail, it was not so much in support of Nixon as against Kennedy, “whom he mockingly called ‘the young genius.’” More than anything, Eisenhower wanted to protect his own record, which Kennedy was disparaging in the press.
When Kennedy won, though, Eisenhower did not ignore his request for advice on the issues of the day, particularly in dealing with the Soviets, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was something new in the presidential experience. It had not been practice for presidents to look to their predecessors for advice and counsel. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson after him, wisely recognized that Ike was a wealth of information and ideas; the man who defeated the Nazis and the man who faced down the Soviets and led America through some of the Cold War’s most tumultuous years.
Eisenhower got involved in the 1964 presidential campaign and took to the airwaves in defense of Barry Goldwater. The conservative candidate was having a tough time unifying the party, and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller had labeled Goldwater an extremist. The Goldwater campaign thought that Eisenhower could rally the GOP behind their candidate, but he was initially reluctant to do so. Goldwater had once called the Eisenhower administration a “dime-store New Deal,” which annoyed Ike, who had a long memory and was known to carry a grudge or two. In the spirit of party unity, Eisenhower recorded a television spot for Goldwater, and made an appearance at the 1964 Republican National Convention, but it made no difference. Lyndon Johnson defeated Goldwater in an historic drubbing.
Johnson freely and frequently reached out to Eisenhower for advice, and the two became friends. Eisenhower visited Johnson the day after the Kennedy assassination and gave him two pages of detailed notes on things he could do to get the country through the tragedy and prepare for an orderly transition of power. Johnson asked Eisenhower to represent the U.S. delegation at Winston Churchill’s funeral in 1965. He also spoke with Eisenhower on several extended occasions about Vietnam. Johnson wrote in his memoirs that Ike felt the country needed to be committed to keeping South Vietnam from falling to the communists.
“I always kept the former President fully informed of all major developments and consulted him on major decisions,” Johnson wrote. “His advice was an unfailing source of strength to me.”
Eisenhower’s health deteriorated in the late 1960s. His heavy smoking habit had caught up with him, and he suffered a series of heart attacks that put him in Walter Reed Hospital in 1968. It was from there that he issued the strong endorsement of Nixon for president that his former VP had sought eight years previously. Eisenhower remained at Walter Reed until his death on March 28, 1969, his long term of service to his country finally at an end.
