Eisenhower: Old Thoughts but Forever Truths

"In our hatred of war—in our repudiation of rule by force which means enslavement—we still cannot forget those ennobling traits of human character which alone can carry men forward to victory, when war is thrust upon us. … Weakness cannot cooperate with anything.

"We have got to be strong."

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Words from John Gunther's "Eisenhower: The Man and the Symbol" describing our former President.

• “Eisenhower is extremely deft at handling a group, almost any kind of group. His talent for conciliation, for welding a team, is one of his salient characteristics.”
  
  
• “He sees other points of view. He is commendably quick to modify his own.”
  
  
• “There is nothing static or cramped about Eisenhower. His attitude is always supple and aware.”
  
  
• “He is open-minded and likes to take advice.
  

• “People in lower echelons say, ‘If we can only get this issue to Ike, it will be all right.’ ”

It is this last quote that reminds me of IBM's Open Door policy from the 20th Century. It seems that we IBMers knew that if we could just get the information to one of the Watsons ... everything would be alright. Then again, so did first-line and middle management who made it a point to seriously consider all their actions in the area of human relations.

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Review of John Gunther's Eisenhower