Democracy/Liberty/Freedom/ETC.
After Robert J. Donovan of the New York Herald Tribune asked the President’s opinion on removing “controversial books”:
After all, I have never known any generalization that did not need some modification when it came to applying it to a specific case. Generally speaking, my idea is that censorship and hiding solves nothing; that is exactly what I believe. But I do say I don’t have to be a party to encouraging my own self-destruction. That is the limit; and the other limit I draw is decency. We have certain books we bar from the mails and all that sort of thing; I think that is perfectly proper, and I would do it now. I don’t believe that standards of essential human dignity ought to be violated in these things, and human decency; also, as I say, this Communist propaganda.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. “The President’s News Conference.” The American Presidency Project. 17 June 1953, paras. 55-57.
Brief Biography on Eisenhower
Eisenhower Interstate System
Both Democrats and Republicans wanted him in their respective parties
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “The President’s News Conference” 17 June 1953
Eisenhower had many news conferences, so this is a snapshot in time of the early part of his presidency (just six months into his first term). Of course, this comes on the heels of Joseph McCarthy’s being censured by the Senate for his antics with the Senate Committee on Un-American Activities. As you read, consider how Eisenhower’s language reflects the rhetoric of most of the other texts we’ve read. I’ll try to fill in the historical context, but you can probably catch many references and allusions to prevailing American values.
We’ll cover the McCarthy stuff below as well as these parts of the transcript:
Making information from the Federal Government available to the public.
Para. 4: “…29 of the existing agencies of Government….will not have the right to classify anything as secret or in any other fashion that keeps it away from the public.”
Para. 5: “It limits the authority to classify in 16 additional departments…”
Para. 6: “…the information may be classified only if required in the interests of the defense of the United States.”
Notice President Eisenhower’s projection of ethos by claiming, “By the way, you don’t need to copy too much. I should have said you will get copies of the letter from the Attorney General….I am sorry if I caused you needless work” (para. 8). He also sounds assuring with, “I don’t by any manner of means promise that your detailed ideas are going to be accepted, but they will certainly be considered…” (para. 11). This is how effective leaders talk: the President is saying he will listen to them but not incorporate all their ideas, but the Press is thankful (this is my opinion as a rhetorician; I have no clue what the reporters in the room felt).
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953—one month left as of this news conference)
Para. 14: “I wrote a letter to Mr. [Syngman] Rhee in which I earnestly tried to express what is my understanding and, I believe, the American understanding of how we got into that war
Para. 15: “the North Koreans and the Chinese Communists….[may have] complete indifference to human life and to the individual, because what would be the purpose of these attacks if they are definitely sincere in wanting an armistice, attacks obviously designed for taking a hill here or a little portion of a position there, and willing to waste the human lives that are involved in such attacks?”
Paras. 32-34: “I don’t pretend to any secret way of interpreting [North Korean and Chinese Communists’] intentions…. we do have some evidence again of how little they value the individual citizen as compared to the state.”
Senator Joseph McCarthy (para. 17- )
Para. 18: He tells the reporter (Merriman Smith) that he’s not going to talk about “personalities.”
Para. 19: Eisenhower claims to be against material “that attempts to persuade or propagandize America into communism.”
“Indeed, our courts found 11 Communists guilty of practically traitorous action; they pointed out that these men were dedicated to the destruction of the United States form of government by force, and that they took orders from a foreign government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act_trials_of_Communist_Party_leaders
para. 20: “I believe the United States is strong enough to expose to the world its differing viewpoints from those of what we call, almost, the man who has Socialist leanings to the man who is so far to the extreme right that it takes a telescope to find him.”
Para. 21: “I am against ‘book burning’ of course–which is, as you well know, an expression to mean suppression of ideas. I just do not believe in suppressing ideas. I believe in dragging them out in the open and taking a look at them.”
Labor and Taft-Hartley Act revision (para. 26-30)
Officially known as The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, this was a symptom of the early stages of the Second Red Scare in the United States. This act, overall, limited the power of Labor Unions but reaffirmed the rights of employees to join unions. The “commerce clause” from the Constitution (Art. 1, sec. 8) was used as a way to allow Congress jurisdiction over regulating unions, especially those engaged in manufacturing goods important to the United States. Think back to our discussion about how after 1937, the Supreme Court started interpreting the commerce clause more broadly to include the inputs of making things and not just the transportation and selling of goods. This act revised The National Labor Relations Act that significantly bolstered Unions.
Para: 27: “…I promised several things: one, that I would, above all things, try to be a friend of every portion of our population. That definitely and specifically included labor.”
Para. 28: “…I promised that there would be a revision of the law, if I could bring it about, that would eliminate that one provision that can be used for union busting…”
Para. 29: “…the Communist oath. I said that I didn’t believe that labor leaders should be required to sign any such thing because I found no evidence that they required manufacturers to sign it; and I still believe in it.”
The Taft-Hartley Act allowed anti-communist oaths, but Eisenhower thought that wasn’t appropriate. It had been upheld by the Supreme Court in American Communications Association v. Douds (1950); however, it was struck down in 1965.
Book Burning/Banning (paras. 35-39 & paras. 52-61) and Libraries/Universities (paras. 82-88 & 98-102)
Para 37: What should be gotten rid of:
“I see no reason for the Federal Government of the United States to be supporting something that advocates its own destruction. That seems to me to be about the acme of silliness.”
Para. 38: If it isn’t treasonous…
“then let’s don’t be afraid of the kind of thinking that goes on in the United States, the kind of writing, the kind of argument. Let’s put it out.”
Para. 58: “…we had failed to read Mein Kampf seriously…”
I do not believe this is an instance of Godwin’s Law or Reductio ad Hitlerum.
Para. 59: “How many of you have read Stalin’s Problems of Leninism? How many of you have really studied Karl Marx and looked at the evolution of the Marxian theory down to the present application?”
Para. 60: “…let’s educate ourselves if we are going to run a free government, and let’s don’t be afraid of its weaknesses as well as its strength.”
Para. 61: “…I am certain in my own mind that the methods of just trying to pretend communism does not exist, or trying to pretend that it does not have a great appeal for people in certain areas and under certain conditions, is silly.”
I see this as Eisenhower’s very pro-education stance. He’s saying learn about ideas to understand the appeal(s) they have and in what specific contexts.
Para. 86: “I insisted that communism, the facts of communism, were going to be taught at Columbia. I insisted likewise that if there were any teacher there who was persuaded of communism and who was trying to induce students to follow communism, I wouldn’t stay there if we couldn’t get rid of that person.
Para. 87: “The facts of communism are one thing. Lay it out in front of us. Do you cure cancer by pretending it does not exist?”
Para. 88: “So, these things that expose to us right from the original source what is communism, I don’t believe we should hide them. We should attempt to show our students the way in which they should approach them…. there is a very great distinction in teaching facts and exhorting, teaching doctrine.”
Para. 98: “Would you remove books by Marx and Lenin from our State Department libraries overseas?”
Para. 99: “…it would seem to me that they have plenty of access to the documents that are definitely communistic.”
Para. 101: “…on the contrary, I hold with the old Frenchman that said, ‘All generalizations are false, including this one.’”
This is often attributed to Mark Twain, but it’s probably just a French proverb used by many French philosophers.
Cold War Arms Race
Para. 51: President Eisenhower admits he’s not sure how to (or if to) inform Americans about the Soviets nuclear testing and capacity.
Paras. 62-63: He’s not talking about the nuclear arsenal of the United States.
Paras. 64-65: Thoughts on a Korean truce and summit.
Creeping Socialism (paras. 66-69) and Support for Social Security (paras. 70-74)
Para. 67: “…the socialistic theory: that we, all of us, provide such cheap power for one region–apparently it is subsidized by taxes from all of us all over the country–but then it can appeal and take away the industries from the other sections of the country.”
Paras 68-69: “…I want the local people to have a greater interest and a greater voice in it. Now, that is what I say–getting on a middle-of-the-road trend and not merely go to the socialistic idea that the central government is the controlling factor in every one of these great economic things.
Para. 72: “…if [workers] haven’t been able during the course of their active life to save up enough money, we have these systems.”
Para 73: “…I am always delighted to see local and State people participating so that again the whole power does not get into the Federal Government.”
Para. 74: “What I am trying to say is that we find a middle-of-the-road basis here…”
Taxes (paras. 75-81)
Para. 80: Here is what I believe to be a sound argument. If we don’t close the gap in our deficits, in the long run there is no tax reduction; because the constant cheapening of your money, as a result of that, finally brings you to the point that your prices go up and everything goes up on you faster than you can catch it. Inflation has a way of galloping away from you. Consequently, unless we close the gap in our budget, I don’t believe that tax reduction in the long term is possible.
Relations with Britain (para. 105- 110)
Para. 108: “…the type of law that we inherited from those people, when we think of our heritage from them of the Magna Carta and other great documents and traditions, I think it is a good thing…”
Butter and Divinity
Para. 117: “…we do believe that we are a product and a representative of the Judaic-Christian civilization, and it does teach some concern for your brother.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (17 Jan 1961)
In this famous address, Eisenhower reflects on his time in public service. Instead of looking at policies, let’s focus on the rhetorical strategies he uses. Consider the context of the occasion here: Eisenhower is expressing his hopes for the Nation and giving grave warnings about communism and militarization in general. In this one, I’m counting the paragraphs (para. as what’s between the ******).
Para. 1: appeal of ethos
“fellow Americans”
“half a century in the service of our country” (patriotism)
Bipartisanship: “to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward.”
Religious references:
Para. 1: “…Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.”
Para. 7: “So-in this my last good night to you as your President-I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace.”
“You and I-my fellow citizens-need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice.”
Final paragraph of the last section:
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
Appeal to Patriotism
Para. 2: “America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence… how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.”
Para. 3: “Throughout America’s adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations.”
Rhetoric of Fear
Para. 3: “We face a hostile ideology-global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration.”
Para. 6: “…another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years-I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.”
Rhetoric of Moderation (notice the repetition of “balance”)
Para. 3: “…the need to maintain balance in and among national programs—balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage—balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between action of the moment and the national welfare of the future.”
Para. 5: “Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time….We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
Technological Revolution
Para. 4: “…we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions….We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations.”
“…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.”
“We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.”
Para. 4: “The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.”
Para. 4: “…the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.”
“For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.”
Stay Informed
Para. 4: “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
“It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.” {your weekly discussion post}
Para. 6: “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”
Debate…?
Preserve the Union regardless of flaws
Para. 6: “America…must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” “Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.”