American Experience

In "Quotes"

Below are quotations from the speeches and writings of Dwight Eisenhower. Each is followed by a series of questions you may want to raise with your students.

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity."

Questions to Consider:

• Is this a surprising thing for Eisenhower to have said? Why or why not?
• How was this sentiment reflected in his actions during his presidency?

"There is -- in world affairs -- a steady course to be followed between an assertion of strength that is truculent and a confession of helplessness that is cowardly."

Questions to Consider:

• What does truculent mean?
• What did Eisenhower mean by a "steady course"?
• What does this say about his theory of leadership?

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Questions to Consider:

• How does this quotation reflect Eisenhower's character and concerns?
• Do you agree with what he is saying?
• What do you think should be the ratio between domestic spending and defense spending?
• How important is defense spending versus a strong domestic economy?

"The world moves, and ideas that were good once are not always good."

Questions to Consider:

• What does Eisenhower mean by this?
• What are some attitudes that have changed between the 1950s and the 1990s?
• Do you consider these changes "good"? Why or why not?
• What might Eisenhower have thought of these changes?

"The only way to win World War III is to prevent it."

Questions to Consider:

• What kind of prevention do you think Eisenhower meant?
• Was Eisenhower ahead of his time in his thinking about war? Why or why not?

"The final battle against intolerance is to be fought -- not in the chambers of any legislature -- but in the hearts of men."

Questions to Consider:

• Do you think Eisenhower was correct in this view?
• Can legislation ever force a change "in the hearts of men"?
• What is the responsibility of our leaders in helping to change attitudes such as racial prejudice?
• In a representative government, how far can leaders move ahead of their constituencies to make changes in society?

"If the day comes when we can obey the orders of our courts only when we personally approve of them, the end of the American system will not be far off."

Questions to Consider:

• How does this quotation highlight the constitutional duties of the presidency?
• Why are the decisions of the courts, especially the Supreme Court, so important in our system of government?
• What would happen if a president refused to uphold a Supreme Court decision, even if it was very unpopular?

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it."

Questions to Consider:

• What do you think Eisenhower is saying about government?
• How might government stand in the way of peace?
• Do you think the U.S. government has or has not helped promote peace in recent years? How?

"One of my major regrets is that as we left the White House I had to admit to little success in making progress in global disarmament or in reducing the bitterness of the East-West struggle... But though, in this, I suffered my greatest disappointment, it has not destroyed my faith that in the next generation, the next century, the next millennium these things will come to pass."

Questions to Consider:

• How does this statement reflect Eisenhower's experiences during World War II?
• How could he have wanted to reduce the effects of the Cold War and at the same time been actively waging it?
• How was this "failure" the result of his own beliefs, international events, or public opinion??