I Like Ike
Toward the end of our week-long vacation in the Rockies, we realized that as we left the mountains, we would be heading straight into western Kansas during the hottest portion of the day. The high that day was predicted to be 106F. We adjusted our itinerary slightly to put us into Abilene, Kansas, at about noon so we could climb out of our somewhat crowded car (our very tall teens aren't little people any more) and spend the afternoon at...
The Einsenhower Museum.
We had visited this museum sixteen years earlier while staying at my husband's folks' in Lawrence, Kansas. There was much that I had forgotten. And a lot more that had been added to the displays. It was such an enjoyable afternoon. (Well, I admit, my youngest complained that her dad and I took waaaay too long...)
What struck me during this visit was the very grave weight resting on this one man's shoulders as he alone made the decision to invade Europe on D-Day. There on display was the handwritten note he penned on the eve of June 6th, a draft of his message to the world taking full responsibility for the mission, had it failed. His secretary later retrieved the crumpled piece of paper from a wastebasket, imagining that it might become a significant historical artifact one day. He was right.
I stood there, straining mightily to conjure the incongruity of dread mixed with hopefulness after giving those orders. There was no way for General Eisenhower, Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces, to know whether or not the assault on Normandy's beaches would be successful in driving the Nazi army inland. Contemplating the possible failure of taking those beaches, he must have groaned inwardly. He anticipated the possibility of facing the Western World filled with deep remorse, assuming full responsiblity for a grim outcome.
No one else in the world could have felt the magnitude of relief as reports of the Allies' success filtered in. No one else had borne as crushing a burden of responsibility as this man, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He returned stateside a hero. He had demonstrated a rare degree of diplomacy in bringing the Allied Forces together as one unified front. He commanded a rare degree of patience, tactical intelligence, and steely nerves in waiting for just the right moment to give orders. A leader's leader.
I admit it: I like Ike. As President of the United States, this man presided
over a period in our nation's history when not even one American soldier saw battle. His wartime experiences had convicted him that the nations of the world must pursue peace. In his own words, from a speech given before the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1953:
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 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. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
The Einsenhower Museum.
We had visited this museum sixteen years earlier while staying at my husband's folks' in Lawrence, Kansas. There was much that I had forgotten. And a lot more that had been added to the displays. It was such an enjoyable afternoon. (Well, I admit, my youngest complained that her dad and I took waaaay too long...)
What struck me during this visit was the very grave weight resting on this one man's shoulders as he alone made the decision to invade Europe on D-Day. There on display was the handwritten note he penned on the eve of June 6th, a draft of his message to the world taking full responsibility for the mission, had it failed. His secretary later retrieved the crumpled piece of paper from a wastebasket, imagining that it might become a significant historical artifact one day. He was right.
I stood there, straining mightily to conjure the incongruity of dread mixed with hopefulness after giving those orders. There was no way for General Eisenhower, Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces, to know whether or not the assault on Normandy's beaches would be successful in driving the Nazi army inland. Contemplating the possible failure of taking those beaches, he must have groaned inwardly. He anticipated the possibility of facing the Western World filled with deep remorse, assuming full responsiblity for a grim outcome.No one else in the world could have felt the magnitude of relief as reports of the Allies' success filtered in. No one else had borne as crushing a burden of responsibility as this man, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He returned stateside a hero. He had demonstrated a rare degree of diplomacy in bringing the Allied Forces together as one unified front. He commanded a rare degree of patience, tactical intelligence, and steely nerves in waiting for just the right moment to give orders. A leader's leader.
I admit it: I like Ike. As President of the United States, this man presided
over a period in our nation's history when not even one American soldier saw battle. His wartime experiences had convicted him that the nations of the world must pursue peace. In his own words, from a speech given before the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1953: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 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. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Another display in the museum delved into the meaning of the name Eisenhower. It said that long ago, the name Eisenschmidt would have referred to a black smith -- eisen meaning "iron", and schmidt meaning "smith". However, Eisenhower would have referred to a person who makes ornamental iron works -- hower being from the same root as the English word "hewer".
As I considered the significance of this world leader's surname, my thoughts turned to the following verses spoken by the prophet Micah:
Many nations shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Micah 4:2-3 NKJV
posted by Linda at
8:40 PM
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