That's a man

Thanks to an excellent IB history series and a collection of political science courses at WSU, I consider myself fairly well versed in America's 20th Century history. But despite the many courses, somehow I have never learned very much about President Eisenhower. He was casually mentioned in two of my courses this semester and he piqued my interest. I'm looking at his 1952 campaign strategies for one of my final projects. He is quickly becoming my favorite president. Below are the passages that began my fascination.

The first that struck me:

"Upon first encounter," one observer noted, "the man instantly conveyed one quality – strength. ... There was one feature of his face impossible to ignore or to forget – the blue eyes of a force and intensity singularly deep, almost disturbing, above all commanding. ... Always they would speak of the moment and the mood: icy with anger, warm with satisfaction, sharp with concern, glazed with boredom. And always somehow – was it their eloquent explicitness of feeling? – they conveyed an image and a sense of strength."

Then this passage in a different book for a different course a couple days later:

Eisenhower was extremely confident of his own expertise compared to that of Dulles, a point he noted during an interview, commenting: "The fact remains that (Dulles) just knows more about foreign affairs than anybody I know. In fact, I'll be immodest and say that there's only one man I know who has seen more of the world and talked with more people and knows more than he does – and that's me."

And the most recent passage I like from a third book:

Eisenhower then told Brownell that he'd once met with Taft and assured him that he, Eisenhower, would not run for president in 1952 if Taft would support the internationalist view of NATO and the protection of Western Europe. Taft replied that, "in good conscience," he couldn't make such a deal. Eisenhower apparently did not know that as Taft left the meeting at the Pentagon, he told companions, "By God, that's a man."

Being perfectly honest, I think part of my fascination may come from the fact that I often find myself drawn to powerful, confident, blue-eyed males.