Did General Eisenhower have any opinions on Truman becoming President? What were they?
Eisenhower was an officer on active duty when Truman became President and his Commander-in-Chief in 1945. Eisenhower was not the type to make critical remarks about his boss. Their relationship did however decline over the next few years and they actively disliked each by the time Eisenhwoer replaced Truman in the White House in 1952.
I think I read somewhere that Mamie had to insist that Ike direct his driver to pick up Harry and Bess for Ike’s inauguration. I seem to recall that Ike wanted to leave them waiting at the White House and that neither man exchanged a word during the drive.
Do you mean the first time, on the death of Roosevelt? Or the second, when he was elected in 1948?
According to John Wukovits’ book Eisenhower, which focuses mainly on Ike’s military career, Truman was “a man about whom Eisenhower knew little” when FDR died in 1945.
When FDR died. I was just wondering what Ike thought.
I don’t remember ever reading about Ike having any particular reaction to Truman’s becoming President in 1945. He respected the chain of command and followed Truman’s orders as readily as he had FDR’s, though. There’s a famous picture of Ike’s reaction when told of Truman’s firing of MacArthur in 1951:
(Ike had served as MacArthur’s aide years before, but had no illusions about him).
Soon after WW2, when Ike’s politics were still unknown, Truman sounded him out as a potential Democratic candidate for President. As Little Nemo said, by 1952, their relationship had become quite icy. Ike was dissatisfied enough with the White House transition in 1952-53 that he made it a point to be much more cooperative with the incoming JFK in 1961.
I’m sure a lot of this had to do with Truman’s staff and cabinet. While in general I respect Truman, that respect doesn’t extend to too many of his people.
If he was like most of the country at that time, he was probably despairing as to the fate of the nation. Truman was looked upon with general scorn as a politician and leader, “a bankrupt haberdasher” from Missouri with a high school education. His first couple of years in office did nothing to belay those notions, as the post-war country was spiraling into another depression. I would think that Ike had his hands full with war and then peace activities, but had his doubts about Truman as president.
Why did their relationship become icy over the years?
First off, Eisenhower revealed himself to be a Republican. Truman didn’t like that much.
And after Ike began running for president, he criticized pretty harshly Truman’s cronyism and the corrupt behavior of some administration officials - not without reason. Moreover, his criticisms of the conduct of the Korean War pissed Truman off big time, as he had felt that Eisenhower had supported him before. Truman thought this was a massive betrayal.
By Inauguration Day, they were barely speaking.
Truman was also mad at Eisenhower by 1952 because he felt Eisenhower should have denounced McCarthy.
And Truman was dead wrong, as he was about so many things. Eisenhower disliked McCarthy greatly, and did a lot behind the scenes to reduce his influence and remove him from power.
McCarthy was a powerful figure in the early 1950s, it should be understood, so popular he drew support even from the Kennedy family. Going after him took some doing, and couldn’t be done all at once.
If things were different McCarthy wouldn’t have had room to go anywhere with his charges, but of course this was the era of Alger Hiss and other cases. I think it is demonstrably true that Truman wasn’t doing enough about obvious security risks and breeches, and sadly this gave political room to McCarthy to make wild accusations that seemed at first blush to some people to be true.
Mr Moto is correct as far as what he says goes, but he misses a few points. Most notably, Ike aooeared with McCarthy at Wisconsin campaign functions, and did not come to the defense of Gen. George C. Marshall, to whom Ike (and Truman) owed a great deal, and whom Truman all but idolized as a man of staunch integrity and patriotism, and on whose character McCarthy had been doing an Ann Coulter.
Very much off topic, but… you are of course the world’s foremost expert at what you think. But “demonstrably true” to me indicates that you think wrong. "Arguable’ might be valid, depending on your criteria – some will take calculated risks regarding possible security issues for the sake of freedom of thought and expression, others will focus on ultra safety as regards security even if it means that anyone to the left of Orrin Hatch is not to be trusted.
Correct as always, but as I said before, what could Ike do? Denouncing McCarthy would likely have doomed his own chances to be president and handed the nomination to Taft. Also, for all of Ike’s popularity, McCarthy was pretty popular at this time himself - his personal breakdown had not yet begun and he was still an engaging and appealing figure to an awful lot of people. He did not yet fully fit the stereotype of himself that has grown since the 1950s.
So Ike got in and worked with like-minded Senate Republicans to undermine McCarthy’s support. When the censure vote came, half of Senate Republicans voted against McCarthy. Without this work, this wouldn’t have happened - it is awfully tough to censure a sitting senator.
Ike wasn’t the dunderhead some believe him to be. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to wind up a political enemy of his.
As for the Truman situation, Polycarp, you can believe what you want to believe. But considering that Truman hoped to quiet critics that he was soft on communism by issuing Executive Order 9835, which investigated the allegiances of government employees, perhaps you ought to reconsider your stance.
Personally, I think that Truman sometimes ignored obvious situations or dismissed them (as he did with Alger Hiss) and used programs like this as political cover.
Interesting that critics considered him soft on communism, as he was the architect of the commie scare of the late 40s, and it’s part of what saved his bid for a second term. Nothing like creating fear in the public mind in order to deflect criticism of failed economic policies.
I’m not saying that Eisenhower didn’t have his reasons to stay silent on McCarthyism. But it’s pretty indisputable that Truman believed he should have spoken up and condemned him for not doing so. The issue we’re discussing is what Truman’s opinions were, not whether or not they were correct.
Back to the OP…
I checked several Eisenhower bios at our local library. The consensus seems to be that Ike didn’t know Truman at all at the time FDR died, and was uncertain what to expect. Truman was “an unknown quantity” to Ike, historian Geoffrey Perret wrote. Carlo D’Este wrote that Patton first heard the news of FDR’s death and awoke Ike and Bradley; all happened to be gathered at Third Army HQ at the time. The three then sat up in their bathrobes discussing the situation until 2am: “All agreed that FDR would be sorely missed at a critical moment of history. No one knew much about their new commander in chief… Truman’s fellow Missourian, Omar Bradley, thought that ‘[f]rom our distance, Truman did not appear at all qualified to fill Roosevelt’s large shoes.’ Eisenhower would later recall, ‘We went to bed depressed and sad.’”
During the Potsdam conference later that year, President Truman met privately with Eisenhower and said, “There is nothing you may want that I won’t try to help you get. That definitely and specifically includes the Presidency in 1948. I’d be glad to serve as your Vice President.” Ike, loathing politics and wearied by the war, declined. Truman renewed the offer before the 1952 campaign began in earnest. By the time Ike declared that he was a Republican, was actively seeking the GOP nomination and criticizing Truman on various issues, their relationship had become quite cool, as noted above.
LouisB, I couldn’t confirm the story of Ike seriously wanting to leave the Trumans behind at the White House, but he declined to come in for refreshments before driving to the inaugural ceremony, and the two were pretty frosty in the limo ride to the Capitol. They did speak, though, including about Truman’s personal order that Ike’s son John, then an Army major, be ordered home for the ceremony. Ike thought it smacked of special treatment, apparently, and Truman was offended that Ike would resent what he meant as a kind gesture. They later reconciled somewhat at JFK’s funeral in 1963.
Consulted:
Ambrose, Stephen E., Eisenhower: Soldier and President (Touchstone 1990)
Burk, Robert F., Dwight D. Eisenhower: Hero and Politician (Twayne Publrs. 1986)
D’Este, Carlo, Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life (Henry Holt & Co. 2002)
Perret, Geoffrey, Eisenhower (Random House 1999)