“Potato love” was the dismissive phrase Saul Bellow used in the 1960s to describe deep and broad appeal to the American public, who chose him in two presidential elections over the more eloquent and agreeably complex Adlai Stevenson. Historians at the time agreed with Bellow: in a 1962 poll conducted by Arthur Schlesinger Sr., Eisenhower ranked a dismal 22nd out of 31 presidents, right below Gilded Age party hack Chester Arthur.
To say that Eisenhower has since been rehabilitated is an understatement. Nowadays, he is esteemed by political commentators as far right as Pat Buchanan and as far left as Christopher Hedges (who never tires of invoking the famous “military-industrial complex” speech); a recent poll of historians ranks Eisenhower a very respectable 10th out of 40-some presidents; and every year sees the publication of admiring books on Eisenhower the general and Eisenhower the president. The latest of these is a short biography, “Eisenhower: a Life,” by prolific English historian Paul Johnson.
At a slender 123 pages, “Eisenhower: a Life” is essential rather than exhaustive. Johnson gives the basic facts, but always with the aim of illustrating a salient point about Ike’s character. In an account of Eisenhower’s tenure at the Army Staff School at , Johnson lists the virtues that Ike’s superiors saw:
“First was a clear, analytical intelligence. Second, he had the ability to articulate conclusions in excellent English — any kind of paperwork came naturally to him. Third, he could get on well with anyone, especially hard cases — which were common in an army where thrusting individualism was encouraged and promoted. He was, fourth, adept at resolving differences and promoting solutions, especially compromises that worked. Fifth, he had admirable persistence in promoting reason in any military enterprise. Sixth, he concealed his strengths. Seventh, Ike was very hardworking, often for prolonged periods, yet he always appeared relaxed.”
Johnson stresses that throughout his military career, Ike was a staff officer. Though he was discounted by generals like Patton and MacArthur for never having seen combat, Ike was responsible for a number of crucial military tasks: He set budgets and saw that they were adhered to, worked with Congress and mastered the intricacies of legislation, negotiated with suppliers of armaments and raw materials and drew up the plans for industrial mobilization that allowed America to win the war.
In recounting Ike’s wartime tenure, Johnson emphasizes his ability to get along with difficult personalities like Patton and De Gaulle, his openness to new technologies (back in 1917, he was one of the first to understand the potential of the tank), his optimism, his reliance on a strong support staff, and his unwillingness to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers, in marked contrast to Grant.
Eisenhower’s two presidential terms were distinguished by the kind of virtues we no longer associate with Republicanism: fiscal probity, caution when it comes to international engagements, an emphasis on the rule of law and a grasp of the importance of developing infrastructure — the interstate highway system was built during his tenure.
Eisenhower understood that his mandate was not to enact his own party’s agenda at all costs, but to find a compromise that worked. He was no champion of the Negro, but he nonetheless ordered federal troops into of the public schools there. He was no particular fan of the New Deal, but he extended Social Security to include the self-employed.
Johnson sees Eisenhower’s unwillingness to directly confront Joseph McCarthy, which many historians view as one of his greatest failures, as a tactical move:
“Anything he did, by giving [McCarthy] more publicity, would make things worse. .. He exercised patience … and in the end he was proved right. He handed out the rope, and McCarthy hanged himself. Ike knew this would happen once the senator attacked the Army.”
Eisenhower’s career is an illustration of the vanished American virtue of appearing slower and less educated than you really are for tactical advantage. The “potato love” that Bellow saw in Eisenhower hid a well-read and articulate master of manipulation. Ike deliberately garbled his syntax when he didn’t wish to be clear. As his vice president, Richard Nixon, sourly remarked, “Ike was the most devious man I have ever worked with.”
Eisenhower balanced the budget, ended the Korean War, worked with Democrats, lowered tensions with the Soviets and presided over the most prosperous decade in American history. Compared with the number of feckless and underprepared presidents who succeeded him, he looks better than ever.
