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Saturday, March 28, 2020

"WE LIKE IKE, BUT WHO DID IKE NOT LIKE?"

GENERAL EISENHOWER DIES AT 78

New York City (JFK+50) On March 28 1969, Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, passed away here in New York City at the age of 78.

A graduate of West Point,  General Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in Operation Overlord in World War II and successfully led allied armies in landing at Normandy in France.  After the war, Ike served as president of Columbia University and was appointed Supreme Commander of NATO forces in 1951.  

General Eisenhower, elected President of the United States in 1952, was re-elected in 1956 and retired to his home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania one of the most popular chief executives in our history.

The Republican campaign slogan, "We Like Ike," was not only catchy, it was true for the vast majority of Americans during the 1950s. According to the Eisenhower National Historic Site, there were a few men that Ike didn't like.  First on the list was Senator Joseph McCarthy and second was Harry Truman.

JFK made #4 on the list of contemporaries Ike didn't like.*  He thought Kennedy was "too young and inexperienced" and considered JFK's victory over Nixon in 1960 "his own worst defeat."

*#3 was British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery & #5 was General Douglas MacArthur.

SOURCE

"Ike's Top 5 Most Disliked Contemporaries," Eisenhower National Historic Site, www.nps.gov/



Eisenhower Campaign Button (1952)
Graphic by Tyrol5
www.wikimedia.org/