Behind Ike's silence

Ike and McCarthy by David A. Nichols is another in a series of books by various authors making the case that Dwight Eisenhower was a better president than most historians give him credit for.

The beginning of Eisenhower's presidency in 1953 coincided with the peak of Sen. Joe McCarthy's ruthless campaign to root out communists, real or imagined, from American government and culture. Now, perhaps because of Ike's Army background and McCarthy's own White House ambitions, he was attempting to unearth communists in the military. (This is sort of the opposite of what is going on in Washington today, where anti-communists in the military are the ones who are suspect.)

Eisenhower's silence on McCarthy angered many in government and in the press, making critics wonder whether Ike either supported the senator or was afraid of him. In fact, Nichols says, his public silence was a key part of his strategy. The president knew that to so much as mention McCarthy's name would serve to empower him, so he simply ignored him, at least publicly, and even avoided situations where he might have to shake the man's hand.

Behind the scenes, however, Ike plotted with his staff to bring McCarthy down, culminating in Senate hearings where McCarthy himself was the target. Eisenhower managed to schedule speeches out of Washington or play golf somewhere whenever McCarthy made headlines. He always tried to be unavailable for comment. By the end of Eisenhower's first term, McCarthyism was McCarthywasm, as the popular joke of the day went. 

This is an important book, yet a surprisingly dull one, except for some terrific opening pages where Nichols nicely sums up the whole story. After that he gets bogged down in endless details.