|
 Two
years ago, the
Republican Party
lost control of
both houses of
Congress and a
majority of
governorships.
Last
year, the party
lost the White
House. And
during the past
few years, the
party has lost
the confidence
of the American
people. An
unpopular war
and an economic
collapse will do
that.
But
while the power
of the party has
receded, the
promise of the
party has not.
As
Republicans look
to the future,
perhaps they
should also look
to the past.
And not only to
the 1980s. Too
many Republicans
assume that a
renaissance
begins with
re-creating
Reagan.
But
in large part,
Reagan’s
greatness comes
from having
fought and won
his battles.
The issues
Reagan
confronted no
longer exist:
massive
inflation, 70%
marginal tax
rates,
aggressive
communism-they’re
gone. It’s time
to confront new
issues and new
challenges.
Perhaps it’s
also time to
look back to
another
Republican who
was a
successful,
popular two-term
president.
Yet
Dwight
Eisenhower has
become a man
without a party.
Indeed, much of
the conservative
establishment of
today took root
in the 1950s.
National Review
was first
published in
1955, for
example. And in
the first year
of Ike’s
presidency,
scholar Russell
Kirk exhumed
Edmund Burke
from his grave
and brought him
to life in a
book called
The Conservative
Mind. In it,
Kirk told
American
conservatives
that they should
look to the
eighteenth-century
British
statesman for
inspiration.
One
of the
interesting
attributes of
Burke’s legacy
is that he
espoused a set
of broad
principles, but
refrained from
endorsing a
specific
ideology. Burke
didn’t have a
conservative
philosophy so
much as he had a
conservative
mindset. He saw
conservatism not
as an agenda of
issues but as an
approach with
which to deal
with issues as
they developed.
The
Pragmatic
Warrior
Eisenhower,
though he might
not have been a
political
conservative,
was certainly a
personal one.
Like Burke, he
believed in
organic
evolution, the
idea that change
happens over
time, step by
step. When Burke
spoke of the
“wisdom of the
ancients,” he
cautioned that
decades and
centuries of
tradition and
reverence for
institutions
should not be
disregarded
overnight. Like
a coral reef,
society is built
up over
centuries,
eventually
becoming a
wave-resistant
sanctuary for
life.
He
was also
fundamentally a
Cold War
president who
sought to make
the world safer
and the country
more secure.
This theme
informed all his
policies.
For
starters, Ike
tried to run the
government like
a business.
Many politicians
say this; Ike
lived it. He
balanced the
federal budget
three times in
his eight
years. Yet he
understood the
difference
between spending
and investment.
While he opposed
frivolous
programs, he
invested heavily
in national
defense,
education, space
and
transportation.
These
investments
provided huge
dividends for
the country.
The president
saw all these
programs as part
of his Cold War
strategy. For
example, he had
seen the need
for better roads
in a time of
crisis as a
young Army
officer. The
interstate
highway system
was designed not
just to help
move people
around, but
troops and
equipment, too.
In
world affairs,
Ike wanted to
confront
communist
aggression. But
he knew that in
the nuclear age,
total war meant
annihilation.
Thus, he settled
Korean War and
preserved the
freedom of South
Korea. And he
resisted
enormous
pressure to
intervene with
regular troops
in Vietnam, and
sent a few
military
advisors.
Instead, he
believed the
Cold War and the
nuclear age
required new
ways of
countering the
Soviets. In
particular, he
upgraded the
intelligence
service and made
this a key part
of American Cold
War strategy.
And he
personally
pushed for the
development of
aerial and
satellite-based
reconnaissance
systems.
Eisenhower even
saw the most
difficult
domestic
challenge he
faced—civil
rights—as a
national
security issue.
When speaking of
freedom in his
first inaugural
address, he
said: “whatever
America hopes to
bring to pass in
the world must
first come to
pass in the
heart of
America.” Yet
freedom eluded
an entire race
in America. And
so Ike sought to
change that.
Even though he
preferred the
velvet cords of
persuasion to
the iron bonds
of law, he did
pursue civil
rights.
First, Ike
desegregated the
District of
Columbia.
Second, he
desegregated the
military,
something
started-but not
finished-by
Truman. Third,
he agreed to let
Attorney General
Herbert Brownell
file a brief on
behalf of the
NAACP that
separate schools
were unequal.
When the ruling
came down, he
vowed to enforce
it. Fourth, he
pushed for and
signed the first
major civil
rights
legislation
since
Reconstruction.
Fifth, he
appointed
fair-minded
judges who would
hand the civil
rights movement
its biggest
victories for
years to come.
“The best civil
rights judges in
the South,”
remembered
Andrew Young,
“were the
Eisenhower
appointees…”
Still,
Eisenhower had
long feared that
inflamed
passions on
civil rights
might one day
erupt into a
“conflict of the
police powers of
the states and
of the nation”
and he feared
that when that
day came it
might “set back
the cause of
progress in race
relations…”That
day came in
September 1957
at Little Rock.
When
Arkansas Gov.
Orval Faubus
obstructed a
court-approved
desegregation
plan by posting
Arkansas
National Guard
troops in front
of Central High
School, the
nation faced its
gravest
constitutional
crisis since the
Civil War. All
of Ike’s fears
about “another
civil war”
appeared to be
coming to
fruition.
Yet
he never
wavered. He
allowed Faubus
time and space
to reconsider.
He met with him
in person. He
urged him to do
the right thing.
And at last,
when no other
option was
available, he
sent elements of
the 101st
Airborne to
Little Rock. The
nine
African-American
children
integrated the
school. The
crisis ended.
The civil rights
movement had
scored one of
its greatest
victories ever.
But not before
Ike addressed
the nation and
noted the Cold
War implications
of American
hypocrisy on
race. “Our
enemies are
gloating,” he
said.
A
Consistent
Theme,
A Conservative
Approach
So
what can
Republicans
learn today from
Ike’s
presidency?
They can learn
the importance
of tying all
their policies
together under a
single banner.
For Eisenhower,
national
security
required a
balanced budget,
more
infrastructure,
even civil
rights. This
theme provided a
cohesion to his
policies and his
presidency.
Republicans can
also learn that
conservatism is
an approach, not
an agenda. For
Ike, incremental
change beat
revolutionary
zeal. Too
often,
Republicans have
drunk from the
fount of power
and pursued
grand plans.
Better to walk
the sober path
of modest steps
and gradual
progress.
Republicans can
learn that
realism must be
the foundation
of foreign
policy. The
party must
accept the
realities of
this world
before it can
seek to change
them. Idealism
can help inform
the party’s
philosophical
architecture;
but it must be
built upon the
pier and beam of
hard realism.
Finally,
Republicans can
learn that old
parties need new
ideas.
Certainly in
foreign policy,
Eisenhower
showed
innovation in
how he viewed
the world and
how he fought
the Cold War.
For
today’s
Republican
Party, it might
be time to go
back to the
future…and
become a little
more like Ike.
--###--
Kasey S. Pipes wrote speeches for President Bush and
Governor
Schwarzenegger.
“Ike’s Final
Battle” is his
first book. For
more
information, go
to
www.kaseyspipes.com
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