In a letter to his brother,Eisenhower described the Tea Party & the possible effects on the country

[Are_grits_groceries]

@BeschlossDC:
Here President Eisenhower argues with brother Edgar's letter saying he is recycling FDR-Truman policies, 1954

Eisenhower would blow a gasket if he was confronted with today's GOP.

[orpupilofnature57]

1. He would of been hurt, to be dubbed a Snowden today .

[yellowcanine]

3. "Their (H.L. Hunt et al) number is negligible and they are stupid."

"They" are still stupid, but unfortunately their number is no longer negligible, at least among the Republican Caucus in Congress.

[Laelth]

2. Excellent letter.

This part, in particular, shows that Ike knew how the law works:

"I should like to point out that the meaning of the Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is."

That's the absolute, legal truth, and I have beaten my head against a number of walls trying to make this point to no avail.

-Laelth

[merrily]

4. Yes, but he was bsing when saying that all actions taken by the federal govt. are approved by

the SCOTUS. That is not how judicial review works.

[Laelth]

7. Did he say that?

That's not how I read the letter.



-Laelth

[merrily]

8. Second paragraph, last sentence.

[Laelth]

9. Ah. I see what you mean.

What Ike wrote is sort-of accurate, in theory. Presumably, the Executive Branch only does what the SCOTUS allows, but, if a case on a particular subject has not been ruled upon by the SCOTUS, then the Executive Branch is free to act as it chooses until such time as the SCOTUS decides that the Executive Branch has exceeded its authority.

With that I would agree.



-Laelth

[merrily]

12. That is not what he said, though.

And, I don't think it was accidental.

I think his brother, whose letter we do not see, was castigating him for being too much like FDR and HST and not ending Social Security and their other policies. Apparently, his brother is saying they are unconstitutional policies.

And Ike is defending himself to his brother by passing the buck to the Supremes.

BTW, I disagree that the Executive Branch can act as it choose unless and until the Supreme Court says otherwise. That was Gonzo's position about Bushco. However, the President takes his own oath to protect and defend the Constitution, the only person in federal government required by the Constitution so to do.

So, IMO, he has to make a good faith determination about the Constitutionality of every action he takes, including every bill he signs. And, by good faith, I don't mean getting the current equivalent of Yoo and Bybee to sign off on it.

[hootinholler]

15. It's funny that when I see HST

I think Hunter S Thompson and I was trying to figure out the link to FDR.

[merrily]

16. Supposedly, there was not much of a link between Truman and FDR.

Yes, Truman was obviously FDR's Vice President, but FDR stonewalled him, even though FDR knew he was very ill and the nation was at war, he supposedly excluded Truman from meetings and kept him in the dark. Truman did not even know about the atom bomb until after FDR died.

or so I've heard.

[merrily]

5. Eisenhower correctly believed that, in his day, no one party could kill OASDI

without killing itself in the process.

But, if both parties advocate for "cuts to entitlements", it can be done and is being done.

Notice as well, that Ike does not say it would be morally wrong to cut "entitlements," only that it would kill his party.

I take it that his brother was complaining that Ike was too similar to FDR and HST and Ike is defending himself.

I wonder why Democrats so often seem to be admiring the Eisenhower administration? IMO, he sucked.

If it is to prove something to today's right, I'd say save the bandwidth.

If it is to show Democrats that Republicans were nice then, I'd say the same thing.

[JaneyVee]

6. Haha. He called the Tea Party "stupid". Him & Teddy, the only decent

Republicans of last century.

[merrily]

11. Not really the Tea Party. It did not exist then. And he was a racist.

Also, the only thing he did to curb McCarthy was to expand Executive Privilege vastly to protect his circle and left the rest of America at the mercy of that loon. (His VP tried to use the EP that Ike expanded vastly to avoid turning over the Watergate tapes, but a federal judge prevented that.)

In this letter, he is defending himself to his brother, who is telling him to end Social Security. He is not saying that it would be wrong to do so, after people paid in to it. He is saying ending it would be political suicide for Republicans. Wrong standard for determining how a President should behave.

No props for his speech on the MIC, either. He was MIC most of his life, from West Point on to CIC for 8 years. And he so called "warns" the American people about the MIC? What the hell were they supposed to do about it, that a CIC for 8 year could not do?

I don't think he was decent at all.

[Whiskeytide]

13. You make good points....

... But Eisenhower was from an era where mainstream republicans generally believed that moderation in government was the ultimate goal. I think that's what he's really saying. He was calling out the fringe that seemed to want to destroy government all together - the Norquist goal of murder in a bathtub, for a more modern example. That fringe has grown into the TP supported cabal today.

This feeds into his views on the MIC. He was a part of it his entire career. That's why his warning has so much impact - its from an insider. He obviously believed the military was necessary, but he was apprehensive that, if left to its own devices, it would become too powerful in the political arena. He wanted a powerful military to enforce civilian policy, not a politically powerful military that shaped civilian policy.

As for whether he was decent, a "decent republican" is really a matter of perspective, I think. I could deal with and even work with people who thought like Eisenhower - even though I might disagree with him on many issues - some fundamental. I can't do that with people like Rove, Cantor, the "Tan Man", et al...

jmo.

[merrily]

14. No matter how much impact his warning about the MIC had, what in hell did he do about

the MIC other than use it to advance himself? Aside from all his years as general, he had 8 years as CIC. What did he even try to do to improve the MIC or limit its power during that time?

What were ordinary Americans in the 1950's supposed to do about it that he could not accomplish as general and POTUS?

Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren, then AG of California, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Warren's biggest career move to that point? "Interning" the Japanese!

Earl Warren wrote the opinion in Brown v. Bd. of Ed. Then, Earl and Ike go to attend some dinner for Southern Republicans. As they walk in, Eisenhower says, "See, Earl? These are good people. They just don't want some big black gorilla sitting next to their little girls in school."

When asked what the biggest mistake of his 8 year administration was, Eisenhower replied, "Appointing Earl Warren."

Maybe that's why Earl Warren put the gorilla story in his autobiography.

After the decision, Eisenhower dragged his feet on enforcing it until the public outcry became too great.
And Eleanor Roosevelt, then one of the most admired women in the US, marched into the White House and begged him to enforce it.

In the past, when I've told that story, people have tried to "educate" me as to how "everyone" was racist then. A couple of seconds of googling brought me the comments of Adlai Stevenson, who ran against Eisenhower, and for whom civil rights was a priority. It's bs that everyone was racist then, or at least that they were so racist they'd refer to a school boy a big black gorilla.

Eisenhower and MacArthur were both brutal to the Bonus Army as well. World War I veterans.

I could work with him, too. I've worked with a lot of assholes who never knew the contempt in which I held them. But I would never describe Eisenhower as decent.

[Berlum]

10. "...they are stupid." - Ike (R - when R meant Honor & Integrity)

...they are stupid and greedy for sure, but also dangerously powerful as we have seen.

[merrily]

17. Please read replies 11 and 14.