The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-07-17
kansas Earn Boy To General
Dwight David Eisenhower
Today's Story
Traces Ke'i
Transition TO
Political Candidate
~ SAUL pErT
PART v

S<Oh pEH
PART v
By what mental process does
q man decide he ought to be Pres
ident Of the United States?
Does he start simply By want
Ing the job because Ii Is the big
gest, the most important and car
ries the most prestige Of any in
the world?
Does he then unconsciously
change the word awant'' to
ought BY rationalizing personal
ambition into a sense Of duty?
Or does he begin thinking Of
the White House purely out of q
sense Of duty. as a patriotic re-
Spouse to The demands Of many
that he serve?
In the case Of Dwight d. Eisen-
hover. his admirers are certain
It was duty alone which finally,
after years Of soul-searching, made
him available for the Republican
nomination.
He had more than enough glory
for one man after liberating Eu-
rope. his admirers say. He did not
need to seek the presidential NOM
nation, they add: il sought him.
Responding to his first presiden-
tial boomlet in 1913, Ike said
Bal0ney." But nine years later
he was . candidate. Why? What
changed his mind?
Eisenhower critics may say he
was merely being coy, waiting for
the right time. But Eisenhower
supporters answer that he had to
wrestle through two convictions.
One was that no military man,
except IN very special conditions,
should serve in the White House.
the other was that no American
should refuse any call to service.
Ike's friends also point to his
action In 194S to prove the sin.
cerity of this reluctance. In that
year. some said, he might have
had the nomination Of either party
or both.
But both friends and critics must
agree that the man from Abilene
went through q fascinating evolu-
ton from general to avowed can
didste.
d April, 1ss speaking, d one
pha1e Of his jos Ii Europe, IKE
wrote a friend. 'Once this war
Is over, hope never again to
hear The word politics. =
In September, 1913, the word
took on different meaning. while
few other people noticed, q Legion
post doomed him for President.
Said Eisenhower:
Baloney. Why cant q simple
soldier be left alone to carry out
his orderss And | furiously object
70 the word 'candidate'--I amt
and won't"
On June =. Is4s. he told ! news
conference Ii Abilene:
All ! want Is to be d citizen
OF the United States, and when
the War Department turns me out
to pasture that's all I want to be.
I want nothing else. II Is silly to
talk about me in politics. !.
There's no use my denying that
III fly TO the moon. because no
one has suggested 1t. =. The same
goes for politics. I'm i soldier and
I'm positive no one thinks Of me
IS . politician. {
The general was never more
wrong. Less than two months later
someone did suggest him for Pres
ident. Someone very important.
After the Potsdam Conference,
President Truman told Ike, Gen
erai. there II nothing that you may
want that | won't try to help You
get. That definitely and specifical.
y includes TIE presidency In is4s.
THE statement later was sub
stantiated b Mr.. Tuman.) .......
Writing IN his Crusade In Eu-
rope, Eisenhower said he told
Mr.. Truman. eMr. President. I
don't know who win be your op-
poncns for Tie presidency. but il
win ncs Be II
There was no doubt about nv
seriousness" the general wrote,
and he emphasized the ..my..
But two years later. Eisenhower
began to wsver ca the question
q duty. On Sept. II. 1877. be wrote
Gen. Waller BedeIl smith. his
friend and iormer CHEZ Al staff.
% not belleve that you or
! or Anyone else has the right 10
state. eaes0rieaily. that be win
nM peFfnrm my duty that his
country msght demand al him. =
u me same lester. Published by
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