Dwight D. Eisenhower (Politician)

When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like . My friend said that he'd like to be president of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

Your task will not be an easy one.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower will

The chief of staff says I'm the guy.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

This is a long tough road we have to travel. The men that can do things are going to be sought out just as surely as the sun rises in the morning. Fake reputations, habits of glib and clever speech, and glittering surface performance are going to be discovered.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower men

Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower time

Kinship among nations is not determined in such measurements as proximity of size and age. Rather we should turn to those inner things — call them what you will — I mean those intangibles that are the real treasures free men possess. To preserve his freedom of worship, his equality before law, his liberty to speak and act as he sees fit, subject only to provisions that he trespass not upon similar rights of others — a Londoner will fight. So will a citizen of Abilene. When we consider these things, then the valley of the Thames draws closer to the farms of Kansas and the plains of Texas.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower friends

Steady Monty. You can't speak to me like that. I'm your boss.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower you

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

The hand of the aggressor is stayed by strength — and strength alone.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower strength

Neither a wise man or a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower history

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

A preventive war, to my mind, is an impossibility today. … That isn't preventive war; that is war. I don't believe there is such a thing; and, frankly, I wouldn't even listen to anyone seriously that came in and talked about such a thing.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

The work of Dr. Salk is in the highest tradition of selfless and dedicated medical research.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower work

We look upon this shaken Earth, and we declare our firm and fixed purpose — the building of a peace with justice in a world where moral law prevails. The building of such a peace is a bold and solemn purpose. To proclaim it is easy. To serve it will be hard.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower people

May the light of freedom, coming to all darkened lands, flame brightly — until at last the darkness is no more. May the turbulence of our age yield to a true time of peace, when men and nations shall share a life that honors the dignity of each, the brotherhood of all.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower life

We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. These basic precepts are not lofty abstractions, far removed from matters of daily living. They are laws of spiritual strength that generate and define our material strength. Patriotism means equipped forces and a prepared citizenry. Moral stamina means more energy and more productivity, on the farm and in the factory. Love of liberty means the guarding of every resource that makes freedom possible--from the sanctity of our families and the wealth of our soil to the genius of our scientists.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

There is one thing about being President — nobody can tell you when to sit down.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower body

From behind the Iron Curtain, there are signs that tyranny is in trouble and reminders that its structure is as brittle as its surface is hard.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower mind

You have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the falling domino principle. You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have the beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower sin

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels—men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower women

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are(you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

The work of Dr.is in the highest tradition of selfless and dedicated medical research. He has provided a means for the control of a dread disease. By helping scientists in other countries with technical information; by offering to them the strains of seed virus and professional aid so that the production of vaccine can be started by them everywhere; by welcoming them to his laboratory that they may gain a fuller knowledge, Dr. Salk is a benefactor of mankind. His achievement, a credit to our entire scientific community, does honor to all the people of the United States.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower knowledge

This is something, eh, that is the kind of thing that must be gone through with what I believe is best not talked about too much until we know whatever answers there will be.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hate

Now I think, speaking roughly, by leadership we mean the art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

I think the women, therefore, must be concerned with these values, and I return to my statement that if a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower women

I tell this story to illustrate the truth of the statement I heard long ago in the Army: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of "emergency" is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower truth

The United States strongly seeks a lasting agreement for the discontinuance of nuclear weapons tests. We believe that this would be an important step toward reduction of international tensions and would open the way to further agreement on substantial measures of disarmament.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

Oh, goddammit, we forgot the silent prayer.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower god

I do have one instruction for you, General. Do something about that damned football team.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower you

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

Speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors(16 April 1953)

— Dwight D. Eisenhower society

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. … We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower men

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the . 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.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

No people on earth can be held, as a people, to be an enemy, for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice. ... No nation's security and well-being can be lastingly achieved in isolation but only in effective cooperation with fellow-nations.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

A nation's hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

The free world knows, out of the bitter wisdom of experience, that vigilance and sacrifice are the price of liberty.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower wisdom

This we do know: a world that begins to witness the rebirth of trust among nations can find its way to a peace that is neither partial nor punitive. With all who will work in good faith toward such a peace, we are ready, with renewed resolve, to strive to redeem the near-lost hopes of our day.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

The hunger for peace is too great, the hour in history too late, for any government to mock men's hopes with mere words and promises and gestures. [...] There is, before all peoples, a precarious chance to turn the black tide of events. If we failed to strive to seize this chance, the judgment of future ages will be harsh and just. If we strive but fail and the world remains armed against itself, it at least would need be divided no longer in its clear knowledge of who has condemned humankind to this fate.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

The purpose of the United States, in stating these proposals, is simple. [...] They aspire to this: the lifting, from the backs and from the hearts of men, of their burden of arms and of fears, so that they may find before them a golden age of freedom and of peace.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower fear

These proposals spring, without ulterior motive or political passion, from our calm conviction that the hunger for peace is in the hearts of all people -- those of Russia and of China no less than of our own country. They conform to our firm faith that God created man to enjoy, not destroy, the fruits of the earth and of their own toil.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower faith

The gravity of the time is such that every new avenue of peace, no matter how dimly discernible, should be explored.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower time

The United States would seek more than the mere reduction or elimination of atomic materials for military purposes. It is not enough to take this weapon out of the hands of the soldiers. It must be put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

Address before the General Assembly of the United Nations on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy(8 December 1953)

— Dwight D. Eisenhower peace

I know that the American people share my deep belief that if a danger exists in the world, it is a danger shared by all; and equally, that if hope exists in the mind of one nation, that hope should be shared by all.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hope

I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new--one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare. The atomic age has moved forward at such a pace that every citizen of the world should have some comprehension, at least in comparative terms, of the extent of this development of the utmost significance to every one of us. Clearly, if the people of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts of today's existence.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower life

The free world, at least dimly aware of these facts, has naturally embarked on a large programme of warning and defence systems. That programme will be accelerated and extended. But let no one think that the expenditure of vast sums for weapons and systems of defence can guarantee absolute safety for the cities and citizens of any nation. The awful arithmetic of the atomic bomb does not permit of any such easy solution. Even against the most powerful defence, an aggressor in possession of the effective minimum number of atomic bombs for a surprise attack could probably place a sufficient number of his bombs on the chosen targets to cause hideous damage.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

Occasional pages of history do record the faces of the "Great Destroyers" but the whole book of history reveals mankind's never-ending quest for peace, and mankind's God-given capacity to build. It is with the book of history, and not with isolated pages, that the United States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be constructive, not destructive. It wants agreement, not wars, among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom, and in the confidence that the people of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing their own way of life. So my country's purpose is to help us move out of the dark chamber of horrors into the light, to find a way by which the minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men every where, can move forward toward peace and happiness and well being.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower life

Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace. The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions. In this Assembly; in the capitals and military headquarters of the world; in the hearts of men every where, be they governors, or governed, may they be decisions which will lead this work out of fear and into peace. To the making of these fateful decisions, the United States pledges before you--and therefore before the world--its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma--to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower life

We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower children

This world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower fear

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts, America is today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

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 peoples and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt, both at home and abroad.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower people

As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. 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."

— Dwight D. Eisenhower children

During the long lane of the history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, 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.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower fear

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower purpose

In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower battle

The Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. … I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hate

I share the sense of shock and dismay that the entire nation must feel at the despicable act that took the life of the nation's president.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower life

Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower responsibility

I am convinced that the French could not win the war because the internal political situation in Vietnam, weak and confused, badly weakened their military position. I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80 per cent of the population would have voted for the Communistas their leader rather than Chief of State . Indeed, the lack of leadership and drive on the part of Bao Dai was a factor in the feeling prevalent among Vietnamese that they had nothing to fight for. As one Frenchman said to me, "What Vietnam needs is another , regardless of all the difficulties the presence of such a personality would entail.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower knowledge

Un-American activity cannot be prevented or routed out by employing un-American methods; to preserve freedom we must use the tools that freedom provides.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

I was against it on two counts. First, the Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower hate

I share the sense of shock and dismay that the entire nation must feel at the despicable act that took the life of the nation's president. On the personal side, Mrs. Eisenhower and I share the grief that Mrs.must now feel. We send to her our prayerful thoughts and sympathetic sentiments in this hour.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower life

One circumstance that helped our character development: we were needed. I often think today of what an impact could be made if children believed they were contributing to a family's essential survival and happiness. In the transformation from a rural to an urban society, children are — though they might not agree — robbed of the opportunity to do genuinely responsible work.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower happiness

Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity. When you delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your responsibility, and he must understand this. You as a leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does. I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower leadership

We are so proud of our guarantees of freedom in thought and speech and worship, that, unconsciously, we are guilty of one of the greatest errors that ignorance can make — we assume our standard of values is shared by all other humans in the world.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

It is my personal conviction that almost any one of the newborn states of the world would far rather embrace Communism or any other form of dictatorship than acknowledge the political domination of another government, even though that brought to each citizen a far higher standard of living.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower knowledge

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower success

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower history

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower people

This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower fear

Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower peace

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower planning

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower justice

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower peace

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower art

In the councils of government, 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.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower people

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower war

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower you

You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower leadership

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower fight

There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower blood

When you put on a uniform, there are certain inhibitions that you accept.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower you

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower freedom

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.

— Dwight D Eisenhower planning

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