In 1962, when historians rated presidential performance, Eisenhower scored near the bottom, barely ahead of Ulysses S. Grant. As president, he had kept a low political profile. His speeches often wandered; at press conferences he sometimes seemed uninformed. Critics complained that he conceived of himself as a mere figurehead, like a constitutional monarch. Certainly, Eisenhower remained more aloof than most presidents. He seldom challenged the aggressive anticommunism of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and as we shall see, he only reluctantly moved to defend the civil rights of African Americans. Critics also attacked Eisenhower's firm belief in letting the business community chart its own course without government interference. Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson, former president of General Motors, best expressed the administration's probusiness creed when he told a Senate committee that he had always believed, "What was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa."

More recently, historians have been inclined to place Eisenhower among the most capable of American presidents. His aloof manner, some argue, disguised a president whose "hidden hand" acted vigorously behind the scenes. While in public Eisenhower let others speak for him (and take the heat), in private he made decisions and set directions. The garbled or rambling answers at press conferences were sometimes an act to bamboozle the press. "Don't worry," he once reassured his press secretary, "if that question comes [up] I'll just confuse them." Ike was not activist in the energetic tradition of either Roosevelt. Then again, the three presidents who followed him took "bold" actions that were quite controversial: John Kennedy's invasion of Cuba, Lyndon Johnson's war in Vietnam, and Richard Nixon's political overreaching. In this light Eisenhower's modern Republicanism no longer seems like inactive government but a mature appreciation of the limits of the presidency.

1			What kind of President was Dwight D. Eisenhower? To begin this evaluation, read these two articles written several decades after his presidency. What did these authors perceive to be Eisenhower's political and personal strengths and weaknesses? How do they rate him as a national leader? On what evidence do they base their judgments? Why do you think that scholar's opinions of certain presidents (such as Eisenhower) improve over time while their perceptions of others decline? http://www.americanpresident.org/history/dwighteisenhower/biography/resources/Articles/KunhardtEisenhowerBio.article.shtml http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/essays/eisenhower.html