IKE: "the Japanese were ready to surrender & it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing"

[PufPuf23]

75. I like Ike.

Ike was inaugurated about a week prior to my birth and the only POTUS I knew until 2rd grade and Kennedy.

My family and extended family liked Ike but were mostly registered and voted Democratic.

The Democratic Party wanted Ike as their candidate but he chose to run GOP.

Ike supported and extended New Deal and Social Security.

Ike was a humane military leader under the circumstances of WWII.

Ike desegregated the military and used Federal troops to force desegregation in the South.

Ike ended the Korean War under terms that have endured into the present. A similar situation exists in regards to Taiwan and China.

Ike offered Khrushchev the mutual option of opening American skies to the USSR aircraft and vice versa for the USA in USSR airspace but the USSR chose not to respond.

Ike probably most institutionalized the domino theory of communism.

Ike did not support Senator McCarthy (and Nixon in part mitigated this flank politically) and his antipathy was not overt, understandable for the times but unfortunate).

Ike was early (set into motion under Truman and Dulles) sponsor of coups in Iran and Guatemala, but also reflected the Domino theory of communism.

Ike brought the Interstate Highway System.

POTUS Ike was to the left of POTUS Obama in most policies, foreign and domestic.

I like Ike for what he did for the USA and World. I do not think Ike perfect at all but he was a fine and low keyed leader, wise and not greatly influenced by special and extremely strong special interests.

I like Ike. He would make a great Democratic Party Candidate now.