A Companion to Dwight D. Eisenhower

It is a commonplace of presidential scholarship that Eisenhower’s reputation as Chief Executive is on the way up. The ranking given to him in the poll of 1982 was markedly higher than the one given 20 years earlier. Part of the answer to this may be in the political background of the two dates. In 1962, America’s global dominance in world affairs was assured and at home, the prosperity and rising living standards afforded by America’s expanding economy could still be taken for granted. Times were good. Against this background, Eisenhower’s contribution to the settled and stable 1950s may not...