
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990                   TAG: 9004030515
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EISENHOWER/ THE SOLDIER WHO BECAME PRESIDENT

DWIGHT DAVID Eisenhower would have been 100 years old this year. American and British leaders met recently in Washington to honor his military and political careers.

Republicans, of course, have every right to be proud and praiseful of him. Those who are less partisan also can admire the 34th president. In the longer view of history, Eisenhower may be seen first as the soldier who defeated Nazi Germany, and second as president. But to those old enough to remember his administration, Ike will always represent the last days of solid stability.

In memory, his eight years in the White House, 1953-61, were a time of clearly delineated good guys and bad guys. This country was at a peak of military, economic and political power. Under Gen. Eisenhower's leadership, America had saved the world from itself; under President Eisenhower, the nation was ready to lead the way toward a bright future. At the beginning of his two terms, that bright future may have been meant primarily for white males, but by the time he left office, the civil-rights movement had established its roots.

Those years were among the chilliest and most confrontational of the Cold War, too. While wild-eyed elements of the far right in both parties found communists lurking behind every book, Eisenhower managed to distance himself from them. He also kept an uneasy, fragile peace in a time when the rapid development of nuclear weapons was making any mistake a potential disaster. And it was Eisenhower who first warned the country about the dan In memory, [Eisenhower's] eight years in the White House . . . were a time of clearly delineated good guys and bad guys. This country was at a peak of military, economic and political power. gers of the "military-industrial complex."

But Eisenhower the president is not remembered for bold accomplishments or eloquent, passionate oratory. He is a more familiar, salt-of-the-earth figure, and it's no accident that he is the only modern president known simply by his nickname: Ike. Perhaps that public perception comes from his thoroughly middle-class origins, his West Point education and his well-publicized fondness for backyard barbecues and the like. Perhaps it had something to do with the casual golf clothes he was seen in so often. Even during his military career, he was identified with the short Eisenhower jacket.

Whatever the reason, the Eisenhower the country remembers today is a man of substance, not the packaged creation of a media adviser. Ike was, indeed, "the good soldier." Even if his accomplishments are tinted with a haze of nostalgia, he still deserves honest affection and admiration.

by CNB