The 34th U.S. President

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Born: October 14, 1890

Died: March 28, 1969

Term in Office: 1953-1961

 

 This guy commanded the Allied forces in Europe during WWII, and even though he had served in the Army from before WWI, he never saw a single day of active combat. I have always appreciated this caution in his 1961 farewell address:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Almost prophetic. But did we heed that warning?

Back in the wonderful days of the 1950s... those glory days for the folks who happened to be male, white, heterosexual, and Protestant... life was as it was meant to be... if you were part of that aforementioned select group. Your wife was subservient to you, other races served you, gays were in the closet and not rainbow-parading in your face (don't ask/don't tell was forty years away), and we trusted in a Christian Judeo God under whom we were "indivisible."

Those are the days in the midst of which I was born. (Could I have possibly constructed a more awkwardly-phrased sentence?) And when I think of the word "Republican," the party to which my parents ascribed, I wonder if this Ike guy was the last one I would consider having a beer with.

Peace, everyone, and watch out for that unwarranted influence.