I like Ike

From the August 1987 Communications Technology

Presidents come and presidents go. We, the average citizens, while under the direct influence of everything political, are not intimately tied to any one administration. In my case, Roosevelt was a minor player, although he did pledge to England—before Pearl harbor—500 radar officers (myself included) to serve in the British armed forces. In contrast, Eisenhower left behind a legacy of good ideas and deeds that have influenced my thoughts and spare time activities ever since.

When I arrived in England in February 1942, we were the first uniformed Americans to serve on detached duty with the British armed forces and our initial superior officers were British. Come June, the American brass arrived in London, and were soon subject to the usual flood of directives from headquarters. One, however, on the 9th of October 1942, caught my attention so vividly that I retain a copy to this day. (Click here to see an HTML version of the original document)

Subject: "Negro Troops." Quoting from Eisenhower, it stated, "The spreading of derogatory statements concerning the character of any United States troops, either white or coloured, must be considered as conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline and offenders must be promptly punished." It continued', "Coloured soldiers will have the same furlough and pass privileges and will have equal rights to places open to white soldiers. General Eisenhower desires that in cases where it is necessary to impose any restrictions that they shall apply to both races." It was no wonder that these sincere lifetime beliefs led to President Eisenhower's sending federal  troops to Little Rock, Ark., in 1957.

Another tribute to Eisenhower's unerring instinct for human foibles was the reason for his visit to a death camp in Ohrdruf, Germany. "The things I saw beggared description . . . I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence if ever in the future there develops a tendency to change these allegations merely to 'propaganda.' "

For a man with a military education that was neither scientific nor business oriented, Eisenhower, in my opinion, was far and away the most perceptive president in his advocacy for science, education, democracy and peace in this century. Look at his strong support for science. Truman in 1947 vetoed the original bill to create the National Science Foundation, which was thus delayed for three years in starting. Eisenhower in 1954 convened a panel of leading scientists, the Technological Capability Panel, chaired by Dr. Killian of MlT, to study the growing Soviet military and technical powers. When the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957, the President responded by creating a permanent committee of science advisers with Killian as chairman and special science advisor to the president. In Killian's own words; "Eisenhower's receptivity to technological innovation and his use of the committee to resolve interservice and interdepartment rivalries was the high water mark in government-science relationships and its invigorating effort on American science and engineering." Soon thereafter Eisenhower signed the Space Act of 1958 that created NASA.

From a publication of People to People International, "The roots of the Citizen Ambassador Program reach back to 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded People to People." Eisenhower said, "I have long believed, as have many before me, that peaceful relations between nations require understanding and mutual respect between individuals." People to People was administered by the State Department until 1961 when it became a private non-profit organization. in April, I joined with other engineers from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in a trip to China organized by the People to People Foundation. We visited four cities, several universities, power plants, shipyards and heavy machinery factories with the primary task of exchanging views on engineering management. There were no restrictions on any subjects for discussion, our criticisms were gracefully received and our hosts were unfailingly open and hospitable.

President Eisenhower was certainly vindicated in his belief that face-to-face meetings lessen the Iikelihood of armed conflict. (Parenthetically, we saw ample evidence of trade with the Western countries, none with the Soviet bloc!)

If we are to preserve our place in history and our status as a nation, it will be through the quality of our science education and our practicing scientists. Eisenhower, a non-scientist, understood this as well as anyone and initiated many major programs to stimulate American science. One of his unpublicized acts, with which I have teen involved since 1970, was his 1958 directive to the Army Research Office in North Carolina to fund and continue a Junior Science contest initiated by Dr. Githens the previous year. The Academy of Applied Science, in which I am a director, now administers this program.

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia provides the opportunity for young people to rub shoulders with noted scientists on college campuses and to present student papers on their own experiments and research. Each year 7,000 high school students compete at 46 Universities throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The winners compete once more at West Point and the finalists compete in London against American students from our worldwide network of military-based civilian schools. Since 1957, 160,000 students have entered these contests.

Your mind and heart would rejoice, as does mine, watching these scientifically gifted youngsters, our hope for the future, receiving the applause and encouragement needed to continue their hard labors to qualify as tomorrow's scientists for a nation able to keep the peace because it is strong and smart.

Thank you, President Eisenhower.