 Well friends welcome we're gonna get started it is so wonderful to see you this evening. My name is Jeff Hunt I have the wonderful privilege of serving as the director of the Centennial Institute here at Colorado Christian University And this is one of our monthly presidents lectures. I'm filling in for dr. Sweetie this evening Today we're gonna be discussing In honor of presidents day coming up Dwight D. Eisenhower now dr. Mark grow Lucian Will speak on the life of general Dwight D. Eisenhower the 34th president of the United States general Eisenhower Also served as the president of Columbia College. Did you know that the president of a university? It went on to be the president of the United States. I think we'd like to see that here at Colorado Christian University. Why don't we? He was the cheapest staff of the army and supreme allied commander of Europe He was responsible for planning the six the successful invasion of Normandy one of the most important military moments in our American history as a military historian dr. Grot Lucian is eminently qualified to speak about president Eisenhower's Spiritual life and the overall importance of his service to our country now president's day is in about a week It's a week from today. And so this is an important discussion as we highlight the impact the presidents have had on our country Mark Grot Lucian is PhD teaches strategic studies in the Department of Military and strategic studies at the US Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado for those of you that may be watching we're very proud of The Air Force Academy here in Colorado. They do wonderful work and raise up a great generation of soldiers for our country He previously served as professor of history while holding a senior military faculty position in the Department of History During more than a decade of teaching at the US Air Force Academy He has taught on a wide range of Courses covering history strategy military thought Statesmanship in area studies. He is the recipient of the Academy's Outstanding Academy Educator Award the McDermott Award for research excellence in the humanities and the Orison Award for cadet advising and mentoring a 27-year Air Force veteran with numerous overseas deployments He has served as a squadron commander a headquarters staff officer and as a United Nations peacekeeper as part of The UN mission in Liberia. He graduated With academic distinction from the US Air Force Academy earned an MA in military and Diplomatic history from the University of Calgary and holds a PhD in history from Texas A&M University He's the author or editor of many articles Chapters and books including the AEF way of war the American Army and combat in World War one Which has been selected repeatedly by multiple US Army chiefs of staff for their professional reading lists Most recently he authored into the fight April through June or April through June 1918 for the US Army Center of Military history's campaign of World War one series and has edited volume two of the Harman Memorial Lectures in Military 1988 to 2017 he is currently writing a biography on Eisenhower for Oxford University Press We're very grateful to have him with us now. I was doing some research on Dwight D Eisenhower came across a book that he had written just after he had left office called at ease Stories I tell friends 400 pages I guess of stories he shared with friends and colleagues and little anecdotes I came across this one story that really helped shape Dwight D Eisenhower's Personality when it came to bullies, which was important We had dinner talked about how America responds to bullies. Well, how did Dwight D Eisenhower learn about bullies? well, he grew up in rural parts of this country and was about six years old when he attended a family reunion now There was no kids his age and so he's kind of wandering around this farm looking for things to do and he came across this big male turkey and The male turkey got his wings all big and chased after him and young Dwight D Eisenhower is only six years old It takes off running back into the house Well, he goes back out again that turkeys there puffs big up and chases after Dwight D Eisenhower Dwight D Eisenhower runs back into the house This happens about six or seven times. Finally General Eisenhower's Uncle gives him a broom and he says the next time that that turkey acts like that you whack him With your broom and so the turkey puffs up big and Dwight D Eisenhower again grabs his broom and instead of running off He hits the turkey on the back the stunned turkey doesn't know what to do and backs off And that was how Dwight D Eisenhower I guess learned how to deal with bullies now another interesting anecdote You know we pardoned turkeys as presidents right now that didn't happen until Ronald Reagan Dwight D Eisenhower, I guess eight his two turkeys, so Friends, let's please welcome Mark Grove Lucian as he gives us a presentation today on Dwight D Eisenhower. Thank you Thank you Jeff for that introduction Yeah, Dwight learned how to take care of bullies at a young age. It probably didn't make his pacifist mother very happy if he was Whacking the whack in the turkey, but Probably showed that he was gonna be a great soldier someday So I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you tonight Especially because it means I've successfully navigated the I-25 gap construction So I really am glad to safely be here tonight Whether you're here in the room with me at the enchewed student center or watching the video feed from your dorm room Office apartment or home. I thank you for taking some time this evening to learn more about one of our countries and I think it's not unreasonable to say one of the world's greatest modern leaders Dwight D Eisenhower at this time Both here in the United States and even abroad as well When people are tearing down statues of persons previously deemed to be great. I suspect it's worth beginning By asking whether in fact it's appropriate to lift up any historical figure and declare that he or she is worthy of being so None of them has been perfect Our history our theology and even our own experience of so-called good and great people in our day make this point clear And of course, this is true for Dwight Ike Eisenhower as well Eisenhower was a flawed man a flawed general and a flawed political leader and I could spend all of my time tonight Discussing Eisenhower's flaws faults and failures, but the founders of this lecture series were believe rightly. I think That we might nevertheless benefit from looking at some of these admittedly flawed leaders seeing the good that they accomplished and Examining how they achieved so much We should especially be willing to do the hard work of exploring what it was about them their character their personality We might say their heart mind soul and strength that enabled them to achieve so much In doing so we might better understand not only why such individuals are worth honoring But why they are worth emulating This is in fact the path I intend to take in tonight's talk First to briefly discuss Eisenhower's remarkable accomplishments and second to examine his inner character the source of his greatness To be clear. I am not going to offer a full biography of Eisenhower's long and full life There are plenty of 600 page or longer Biographies out there some cover only his presidential years in those 600 pages a few spend over 800 pages Discussing just his military career Of course, there are shorter bios and as you well know Wikipedia To step you through the strict chronology and events of his life, but tonight I will focus or I will discuss a few of Eisenhower's major achievements and then cover Something none of those six or eight hundred page biographies really get into the foundation and source of Eisenhower's Personality his convictions and his worldview So what's so special about Eisenhower? What were his great achievements? Why did so many people then and now like Ike? As the father of five children ranging in age from 12 to 24 and perhaps more relevant As a college professor of undergraduate students myself I know that I should not presume that tonight's audience of CCU undergraduate students possess either a deep or broad knowledge About Eisenhower's life and career I suspect it's safer to assume that most people listening to this presentation know very little about him or his Accomplishments after all he achieved fame during World War two some 75 years ago And then served as US president for two terms in the 1950s, which means he left public office some 60 years ago Anyone my age and older has a distinct advantage here as Eisenhower left office just nine years before my birth a Better comparison for my generation and those older Might be to try to remember what we knew when we were 21 years old about say general John Pershing America's senior overseas commander in the first world war or such now distant political leaders as Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding or Calvin Coolidge. I Suspect very few of us would have impressed anyone with our knowledge of those significant Officials from our country's first World War and then its subsequent decade in the 1920s. I Mentioned this so explicitly for two reasons To warn the older faculty and staff members listening that Much of what I will say tonight, especially in the first part of my talk may seem like common knowledge to those in our generation I beg your indulgence, and I trust you nevertheless will learn something of value in my remarks Unless the audience is filled with a group of Eisenhower scholars Secondly, I want to let the CCU students know that I don't expect them to know a great deal about Eisenhower I can assure you that most people from my generation still don't know much about John Pershing or Calvin Coolidge And if I convince you to spend some time learning more about Eisenhower on your own that will be a very good thing And I do believe we all ought to know more about Dwight Eisenhower and especially about his contributions to our country And even to the entire world He was in many ways a thoroughly normal common American man, but he accomplished extraordinary things in very challenging times In fact, he achieved these remarkable successes with the grace and humility that have at times caused observers to undervalue the trials He overcame And the impact of his influence on those events So who was Ike Eisenhower and why should every american know more about him and his achievements? In short Dwight D. Eisenhower is arguably the greatest soldier statesman Of the 20th century He was first a soldier a graduate of the u.s military academy at west point in the class of 1915 He spent most of the 18 months of american belligerency in world war one training new inexperienced soldiers how to fight with tanks a truly cutting-edge technology in 1918 He also spent those months trying unsuccessfully To get himself over to the american expeditionary forces then fighting on the western front in europe He was a fantastic organizer and trainer of troops Apparently too good to be sent To fight overseas But he feared that failing to get over to france and take part in the fighting as so many colleagues did might ruin his career He then spent the next 20 years of serving in obscurity Preparing himself The army and the country for its next great war Service in the interwar army was tough duty with long hours Low pay that got even lower when the federal government cut military pay during the great depression And with little chance of promotion Eisenhower served in the rank of major for 16 years The current standard is about four to five years for a major in the u.s army today Even though he worked for many of the most famous and high ranking officers in the army such as fox connor john purging and douglas mccarthur providentially His great efforts at personal and professional preparation were not in vain While just a lieutenant colonel when world war two began His remarkable talents and abilities proved to be in high demand and he was rapidly promoted From lieutenant colonel to colonel the brigadier general to major general to lieutenant general to four star general in less than two years Almost immediately after american entry into world war two Eisenhower began working in the headquarters of the u.s army Planning the global american war effort for the wartime chief chief of staff general george c marshall Who increasingly recognized eisenhower's special aptitude Trustworthiness and personality Within just a few months Marshall sent eisenhower to command all americans in the european theater And then appointed him to command the first combined american and british attack Into axis occupied territory in north africa in 1942 and 43 After clearing all italian and german forces out of north africa He then planned and commanded the attack and occupation of sicily As well as the initial invasion of the italian mainland His success is convinced president franklin roosevelt With prime minister winston churchell's full support To name him as commander of all forces in the grand alliance in the european theater american british canadian polish and french His effective management of the european theater of operations included most famously The successful invasion of normandy france on d-day in operation overlord Some of you have seen perhaps saving private ryan the 1998 film or the 2001 minis series band of brothers which depict that invasion That attack involving hundreds of thousands of men Over 11 000 aircraft and more than 6 000 ships Was one of the largest and certainly the most complicated of military operations in all of human history It was also one of the most risky Especially considering the horrible weather in the days surrounding the attack on the 6th of june 1944 Success so critical to the defeat of nazi germany was no foregone conclusion Before the attack britain's chief of the imperial general staff wrote in his diary I am very uneasy about the whole operation at best It will fall so very short of the expectation of the bulk to the people At worst it may well be the most ghastly disaster of the whole war winston churchell Who had witnessed failed attacks as a battalion commander on the western front in world war one And who had seen his own brainchild of a massive coalition amphibious invasion at gallipoli and in senseless slaughter told eisenhower When I think of the beaches of normandy choked with the flowers of american and british youth And when in my mind's eye, I see the tides running red with their blood. I have my doubts I have my doubts ike I have my doubts For his own part on the day before the attack a burdened eisenhower admitted I hope to god. I know what i'm doing And then he took the time to hand write a brief in case of failure press release Announcing the failure of the attack Accepting all responsibility for it and praising the troops for doing all that could have been done One respected german historian a former german admiral no less Rated eisenhower's bold decision to attack during the brief break in the bad weather One of the truly great decisions in military history But that brilliant success A product in part of many specific controversial command decisions made by eisenhower Only put allied forces onto the continent Then his armies which ultimately grew to more than four million men Repeatedly defeated more experienced german forces throughout france belgium than netherlands and germany itself And they did so in ways that attempted to minimize allied casualties In contrast to the massive campaigns of the soviet forces beating back the germans on the eastern front Where victories typically were achieved with atrocious human losses Eisenhower's ability to keep the allied armies working together was truly an extraordinary feat of military leadership He routinely demonstrated statesmanship of the highest order Especially when we remember some of the difficult personalities he had to work with such as winston churchell The free french leader charles de gall the senior british commander bernard montgomery And the mercurial american army commander george s patent At a distance of 75 years, we may be tempted to take for granted the creation of a truly integrated coalition war effort And even more so the maintenance of that allied effort throughout the twists and turns of events and the strategic and operational Disagreements that accompany coalition operations eisenhower deserves credit for the organizational creation and the functional success of his command in europe One study on the topic concludes that the truly allied command Never would have worked without eisenhower for he virtually Invented the concept of allied unity of command and persuaded the british to accept it in lieu of the committee system To which they were accustomed After receiving the german surrender general marshall a reserved man Not given to hyperbole or flattery Sent a congratulatory message to eisenhower that stated You have completed your mission with the greatest victory in the history of warfare You have commanded with outstanding success the most powerful military force that has ever been assembled You have made history great history for the good of mankind Indeed eisenhower's accomplishments had not only made great history They made him an international hero. He was celebrated from london to new york To abilene kansas his hometown But eisenhower had no desire to be a celebrity He understood the honors heaped upon him were really meant For everyone in the war effort including his entire command And he said so repeatedly When he was fetid in london, he said Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives a claim Earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends He took every opportunity to give honor and praise to others from his superiors FDR and churchell whom he called The two god-given men who were his joint commanders in chief To the members of his own staff and principal commanders Of whom he said he had often thanked a divine a kind providence To his battle leaders of whom he asserted that Without exception their first care has been for the welfare Spiritual and physical of their men To the workers on the home front who he said shared a spiritual unity with the troops at the front After rejecting immediate offers of support for any political aspirations He might have after the war eisenhower initiated the successful allied occupation of the defeated and destroyed access countries Then returned to the u.s. To serve as the chief of staff of the u.s. Army from late 1945 to 1948 In which capacity he had to manage the challenge of the largest military demobilization in american history All while the cold war was emerging He then took a leave of absence from the army five star generals never officially retired To serve as president of columbia university in 1948 eisenhower led the university through a challenging period of change and growth And left it in excellent shape in terms of student and faculty enrollment curriculum and financial health He initiated such innovative programs as the institute of war and peace studies The american assembly which was a gathering of academics Men and labor leaders who looked for ways To protect democracy from its enemies and finally a citizen education project because eisenhower believed that Every student who comes to this place must leave it first A better citizen and only second a better scholar From late 1950 to mid 1952 eisenhower took a leave of absence from his duties at columbia To fulfill president truman's request that he returned to active service with the army And become the first supreme allied commander of europe for the new NATO alliance In this position, which icke called the most important military job in the world He had to assess the threat posed by the communist bloc And the potential capabilities of the new nato alliance In order to determine what kinds of forces could be assembled as well as how they ought to be organized and led He then traveled throughout the initial 12 nato countries to encourage their populations and governments to make the required commitments With the korean war raging in east asia the challenges of creating a sufficient military command in europe to deter And if necessary defeat a communist attack on the free world were more than just theoretical Still reeling from the traumas of world war two eisenhower's initial tour of nato countries noted The weakness almost the defenselessness of western europe But he also saw what he called the spiritual vigor of the people who were struggling to rebuild their societies finding in nato A new hope in their fight against the creeping paralysis of communism While in europe many prominent americans including politicians businessmen and religious figures Visited eisenhower and attempted to convince him to seek the nomination of the republican party for president in the 1952 election After refusing the call to enter politics for the previous seven years He let the petitioners convince him that his country needed him To end the virtual one party rule that had dominated the federal government since 1933 To clean up washington dc They didn't say drain the swamp, but that's what they were thinking And to ensure that america maintained its position as the fully engaged leader of the free world eisenhower agreed to run Returned from europe left the act of duni army and won the 1952 election in a landslide As president elect he traveled to korea to learn more about the war there firsthand Within six months of his first term. He successfully brought the fighting there to an end Perhaps by threatening to expand the war For a nation and a world that was beginning to fear that the fighting in korea might drone on interminably This was a major achievement During his two terms as president He led the us through eight years of peace And prosperity he successfully kept the country out of war Especially in southeast asia while simultaneously resisting communist expansion and attempting to reduce cold war tensions with the soviet union A tough path to navigate But eisenhower was committed Both to human freedom And to preserving peace As he later said He hated war as only a soldier who has lived it can Only as one who has seen its brutality its futility its stupidity And as a president he announced That the pursuit of peace is at once our religious obligation And our national policy His domestic achievements were equally impressive While maintaining a conservative view of constitutional authority He has only recently been receiving credit for his important actions in advancing the cause of civil rights In his first inaugural address He spoke of The abiding creed of our fathers Our faith in the deathless dignity of man governed by eternal moral and natural laws Which established beyond debate Those gifts of the creator That are man's inalienable rights And that make all men equal in his sight And to be clear he explicitly noted that this equality existed regardless of station Race or calling He even connected this conviction with the great moral struggle of the cold war by stating Any man who seeks to deny equality among all his brothers Betrays the spirit of the free and invites the mockery of the tyrant In office he hired a pro-civil rights attorney general Desegregated washington dc including its schools as well as all federal agencies Completed desegregation of the u.s. Military And appointed pro-civil rights judges at all levels of the federal judiciary Including the supreme court He worked with political figures and religious leaders to encourage voluntary desegregation at the state and local levels throughout the south And when state authorities in little rock arkansas refused to abide by the supreme court's decision to desegregate schools He sent in the 101st airborne division to ensure that the law was peacefully enforced He also shepherded through congress the first civil rights act since reconstruction These were impressive achievements He also secured funding for the country's massive interstate highway system that we all drive on Ensured steady growth of the american economy along with rising worker income And he successfully balanced the budget multiple times despite having to deal with democrat control of congress When his second term ended he left office with strong public approval ratings 60 percent For comparison truman had left office with an approval rating of just 30 percent Of course eisenhower had his his detractors during and after office Especially among the political journalistic and academic elite Less than two years after leaving office the famous harvard historian arthur slesinger jr Asked a group of 75 historians to rank the american presidents They ranked eisenhower 22nd out of just 31 Placing him behind chester arthur. There's a name most of us don't think of very often and just ahead Of the impeached andrew johnson He was well below his predecessor truman And even below the previous republican president herbert hoover who had been saddled with blame for the great depression In some while most of the people still liked ike Many of the elite did not The common critique was that he was an overly traditional indecisive do-nothing president who spent his time grinning and cussing While golfing painting fishing often here in colorado and playing bridge however As the years have gone by and as historians and other scholars have looked closer At eisenhower's record. They have found more reason to appreciate his achievements in c spans 2017 presidential historian survey eisenhower was rated fifth behind lincoln fdr and teddie roosevelt Regarding his general ship in world war two russel weigly one of america's greatest military historians Ranked eisenhower among the top three military commanders in all of american history In the elite top group with two other soldier statesmen Ulysses grant And george washington While these rankings may tell us much more about those doing the voting as about eisenhower The fact remains that an appreciation for eisenhower's significance and his accomplishments has been on the rise for many years If you agree with me now and an increasing number of others that eisenhower was a special man and arguably even a great man Then perhaps you will also agree with me that it's worth asking What enabled him to be such a man such a leader and achieve so much What was at the core of eisenhower's being what was the foundation of his beliefs and worldview Where was the center of his personality? Despite nearly 75 years of interest and investigation into eisenhower and his achievements We are only just now beginning to ask those questions Of course the answer is going to be complicated It must include an assessment of his impressive intelligence His great work ethic his ever-increasing knowledge of the military profession His generally good-natured disposition His courage to speak his mind to peers and superiors alike His understanding of human nature And his related ability Honed via lifelong study and activity to include playing cards to understand the minds and emotions of others And perhaps especially his personal charisma and winsomeness Ike's difficult british subordinate bernard montgomery Said of him that his real strength lies in his human qualities He has the power of drawing the hearts of men toward him as a magnet attracts the bit of metal He has merely to smile at you and you trust him at once But if we want to understand the man and the leader we must move beyond those important external traits And be willing to look deeply into his mind heart and soul and be honest about what we find there The answer to those questions from my perspective comes from eisenhower's firm biblical view of humanity and human nature And his strong faith in the god of the bible And this core of eisenhower's being is the part of him that we have least understood thus far Now i don't want to spend too much time describing the historiography of eisenhower's religious and spiritual life Historiography is a fancy academic word that means what historians have written about a given topic But for you to understand the surprising nature of what i'm going to tell you tonight about the core of eisenhower's being You need to know just a bit about what his leading biographers Many of them excellent historians have written about it Now to be fair the fullness of eisenhower's professional life and accomplishments as a soldier and a statesman Means that biographers have had a great deal to cover when describing eisenhower's life and times Perhaps because of this No leading biographer has given sufficient attention to eisenhower's spiritual life Despite the remarkable fact that he is still the only president to be baptized while in office His major biographers Those who have written multi volume or 600 page single volume biographies Generally have either ignored Minimized or mischaracterized his religious practices and his spiritual beliefs None of them despite their great detail in other areas have adequately captured what eisenhower himself referred to as his deeply felt spiritual convictions Or his increasingly active religious life When they do mention his religious life and their accounts they typically present it as a form of political expediency Or at best a politically motivated effort to lead the country by example Back to some kind of religious based morality While there may be some elements of truth in those interpretations. They fail to tell the full story Of his major biographers Only one refers to eisenhower's baptism early in his first term And only after asserting that eisenhower heated political advice and joined the presbyterian church Now it is true that a number of friends advised eisenhower to join a church But those recommendations came before and during his first presidential campaign And some of the friends suggested that he joined a church in order to win votes eisenhower refused to even consider doing such a thing and he only joined a church after his first inauguration in 1953 None of these major biographers mentioned the weak of religious instruction He and his wife mainy accomplished with the presiding presbyterian minister reverend Edward elson which culminated in clear affirmations of a thoroughly orthodox christian faith And in addition to the baptism a commitment to official church membership And regular attendance at national presbyterian church in washington dc When these biographers mentioned eisenhower's standard practice of beginning cabinet meetings with a prayer Often silent occasionally spoken They focus on the humorous and oft told story of the time He supposedly opened the meeting and accidentally went straight into business When reminded by an aid or in some versions and the versions always Are differ by his secretary of state That he had inadvertently skipped the prayer eich reportedly exclaimed gosh darn it, but he didn't say gosh darn it if you know what i mean We forgot the silent prayer This story is commonly told in a way that suggests eisenhower's faith was superficial at best and only for show at worst With the added unstated assumption that no true christian would ever forget to pray Or use vulgar language not to mention want to play golf or go fishing on a sunday None of the leading biographers discuss eisenhower's remarkably consistent church attendance in dc Or his financial support of his local congregation They ignore that he typically attended church Even while away at his regular vacation spots in august of georgia Denver colorado where may me was from palmed or palm desert california And that he not only continued to attend church after he left office and retired to gettysburg pennsylvania But that he became an active member at gettysburg presbyterian And that he had gotten to know each of the pastors at those churches His pastors in dc and in gettysburg each accomplished substantial oral histories which attest to the meaningfulness of his faith Beyond these formal relationship eisenhower maintained a lengthy and more than cordial relationship with billy grand Which began when icke was serving as nato's supreme commander and continued until his death Billy grams detailed retelling of his deathbed spiritual discussion with eisenhower is particularly compelling These ministers uniformly testify to the reality of eisenhower's christian faith and the sincerity of his religious belief The inability or unwillingness of these major biographers among others to recognize understand and appreciate eisenhower's religious life and spiritual beliefs Have led many other historians and writers to mischaracterize eisenhower's convictions For example In one bandcroft prize winning survey of modern american history The distinguished author criticizes eisenhower for what he determined was a superficial piety And for supposedly making what the author believes to have been One of the most one of his most fatuous yet apparently popular utterances Our government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply felt religious faith and i don't care what it is More on this in just a few minutes In another important account a Pulitzer prize winning journalist and historian includes this inaccurate comment By the way eisenhower was not religious Although his parents had read the bible each morning and evening Eisenhower is the only man who's been elected to the american presidency without belonging to a church Another journalist and best-selling author wrote that eisenhower went to church mostly for appearances He added that eisenhower believed the president should set an example besides a lot of voters particularly republicans were regular churchgoers A popular british biographer dismisses eisenhower's 1953 baptism as an action merely to set an example This is a curious claim since eisenhower's personal diary shows his great frustration with reverend elson's publicity efforts surrounding the event Other writers have been more critical of eisenhower's religious speech and actions Essentially suggesting eisenhower's personal faith was hollow and that he crassly used religion for political or cultural reasons In some the major biographers and many other writers have typically ignored eisenhower's religious words and deeds Unless they have chosen to criticize or minimize them However Some recent scholars and writers have begun to correct this mischaracterization And i consider myself to be one small part of this important shift in our understanding of this great american These writers have not only recognized eisenhower's significant role as a religious leader during his presidential years But they have treated his spiritual life with greater respect and seriousness Other writers are beginning to follow this trend to include two book-length popular studies of eisenhower's faith Just published in 2019 We are doing this because the closer one looks at the evidence of eisenhower's words and deeds The clearer it becomes that eisenhower was indeed just what he said. He was A very religious man. We might even say looking at the last decades of his life that he was an increasingly religious man a praying worshiping Bible-focused christian We see eisenhower's close acquaintance with religious groups and movements Such as the national association of evangelicals and his support of such then new initiatives as the national prayer breakfast originally held in 1953 His first year in office and called the presidential prayer breakfast His signing of the statement of seven divine freedoms based on the 23rd song As well as the adding of under god to the Pledge of Allegiance And in god we trust onto all u.s. Currency Most importantly eisenhower's own words published and unpublished Suggest not only that he possessed and confessed serious spiritual beliefs In the Protestant christian tradition and lived a more devoutly religious life than many historians have acknowledged But also that his beliefs and practices significantly impacted his personal activities his political views and his policy goals While much of this becomes clearer during and after the presidential years glimpses of this Can be seen even before those errors eras In fact, we see it right from the start of eisenhower's life When his parents raised him and his five brothers in a busy happy hard working and extraordinarily religious home Bella cornitzer who wrote a book on the five living eisenhower boys in the 1950s claimed that The home of the eisenhower boys Was a church or house of worship as much as it was a place in which the family worked eight played or slept The family often went to the local river brethren church. That's a menonite sect But they also regularly gather with friends and neighbors to pray sing and to read and discuss the bible at home Ike's eldest brother arthur Said that religion was a part of the air we breathed And his youngest brother milton said that both his parents Quoted freely and constantly from the bible they both had a sublime faith in god and in his teachings Prayer and bible reading were daily Family activities and by the time he left for west point Young dwight had read the bible through at least twice Years later when discussing his lack of church attendance and affiliation Eisenhower explained that he was raised in a devoutly religious home But one that stressed that a person did not have to join a church in order to be a believing christian Those are his words This point cannot be stressed too strongly As adults the eisenhower boys including dwight stressed that the religious and spiritual dimensions of their childhood Provided the solid foundation for their full successful and spiritually satisfying lives Regardless of their formal affiliations to specific congregations or denominations At west point ike was required to required to attend chapel services Which one suspects were rather more formal than his worship experiences back in abilene, kansas And apparently not as satisfying As he bounced between army assignments from texas to georgia to pennsylvania to panama to paris to the philippines He did not pick up the habit of regular church attendance Once in manila when general mccarthur chided him for not going to church Eisenhower supposedly replied that he had gone to chapel enough at west point for the rest of his life Winston Churchill said something similar at one point however It appears both from his own contemporary words and deeds as well as his own subsequent testimony That eisenhower's experience in world war two drew him back towards a more open identification With the faith of his childhood In the fall of 1943 while serving as the senior american commander in the european theater He issued a statement for the american bible society Wishing it the most complete success in its purpose of holding a universal bible sunday He admitted that the longer one lives close to the turmoil and sacrifice of the battlefield The more he becomes conscious of the eternal worth Of the spiritual values inherent in the christian religion He added that he stood ever ready to assist and if this letter can help you in any way You are at liberty to use it as you see fit In november 1943 on the first anniversary of the allied landings in north africa Eisenhower issued a personal message to all men and women in the north african theater Which included the assertion that All of us salute with reverence the memory of the comrades we have lost As we earnestly pray that almighty god will bring comfort to their loved ones He added the claim that our allies march forward with us The god of justice fights on our side His famous d-day message to the troops in june 1944 closed with the words And let us all beseech the blessing of almighty god upon this great and noble undertaking Now taken in isolation It is of course possible that eisenhower was either superficially or even cynically Using religion for the war effort However, when placed in the context of eisenhower's religious upbringing His never disputed knowledge of and respect for the bible his many subsequent professions of faith in god And his growing commitment to live an increasingly devout life as a christian layman These statements take on a deeper character Eisenhower himself admitted that his experiences in the war affected his faith Hence his assertion that i had just made Offered you above regarding the longer one lives close to the turmoil and sacrifice of the battlefield Increasingly we see evidence of a personal faith in god that was expressed in prayer Bible reading references to god in letters proclamations and speeches As well as support for and service with many christian organizations The journalist virgil pinkley Who covered the war in north africa and europe as the upis senior corresponded in the theater later wrote Wherever he was quartered or headquartered. I never saw eisenhower without a bible somewhere in sight On his desk in a bookcase nearby or on a table in his office It was a bible for use as the well-worn pages showed He not only prayed and read the bible, but he encouraged others to do the same At the first post d-day press conference on 8 june and off the record affair A tired ike no doubt bearing the burdens of stress and anxiety Discussed the events of the past 48 hours. He admitted the situation was still hazardous And cautioned the press not to present too rosy a picture He stressed the critical importance of continued good weather And he even told the reporters You fellows pray for it too Each year from 1944 to 1952 We know that eisenhower served on the national layman sponsoring committee of the american bible society's worldwide bible reading program His speeches in the immediate post-war years routinely stressed the critical importance of remembering The truth that man was created in the image of god In his very first press conference as the new president at columbia in mid 1948 A reporter stated that he understood that one of the prime qualifications of the man to be chosen as president of columbia Was that he be a religious man And he then asked eisenhower. Do you feel that you qualify in that respect? Eisenhower answered that he was quote one of the most deeply religious men. I know Eisenhower's answer might strike many as being the kind of thing a truly spiritual person would not say In fact, his own brother edgar is reported to have stated in reference to himself and his siblings All of us are religious, but we don't go around saying i'm a religious man any more than we would say i'm an honest man nevertheless Eisenhower's reply can be viewed as a curious But perhaps accurate answer to a very curious question Especially when understood in the light of his peculiar religious upbringing It is also likely that eisenhower aware of how others saw and interpreted his irregular at best church attendance As well as his lack of affiliation with an established nomination felt a special desire to justify his religious faith life Nevertheless He increasingly included religious and spiritual references in his talks Though he did that he did not immediately change his formal religious practices Church attendance appears to have remained a relatively rare event for him prior to the presidency In 1949 eisenhower did accompany john d rockerfeller jr To new york city's riverside church for layman's sunday where he read romans 12 during the service However, he demonstrated his faith in other ways in 1950 apparently at the invitation of general gch cliff lee A famously religious colleague from world war two He joined the layman's movement for a christian world That's a missionary organization in 1951 while speaking at a columbia engineering dinner eisenhower stressed the importance of continued dedication to the freedom of the individual and to his progress spiritual intellectual and material Through all the means god has granted us And in 1952 while still in europe eisenhower wrote this in a private letter I am a serious and fervent protestant and have been so throughout my career Long before eisenhower had begun his political career His own words and actions showed evidence of real real spiritual beliefs Though the particulars of his convictions remained private But eisenhower simply made too many references to god and to the importance of religion to justify Dismissing his spiritual life as we seek to understand the man His inner character and the way his spiritual views informed his political beliefs and policies In fact as maryman smith a senior white house correspondence stated In addition to his remarkably regular church attendance as president A religious theme became a part of almost every public address Regarding the role of god in his own life eisenhower once referenced The qualities and qualifications my god gave me to do my best for those i love and for myself And in doing so my best for my country Regarding his own political views he once said For my own part in seeking some definition for the word democracy I believe this one satisfied me more than any other Democracy is the political expression of a deeply felt religion This theme along with his related assertions regarding the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of god Formed the crucial intersection between eisenhower's spiritual and political convictions As mentioned above Many writers then and since have lampooned his famous assertion that Our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith And i don't care what it is Taken in isolation from eisenhower's many other religious and spiritual words and actions This statement can appear vapid But when placed in the context of his own religious experiences It is a powerful claim to an admittedly ecumenical but nonetheless Serious perspective that places religious truth at the foundation of american political life In fact the full context surrounding eisenhower's statement makes this clear In eisenhower's address he was comparing the differences between the american and soviet systems And what a hopeless effort it had been to try and explain those differences To one of the red army's most senior leaders marshal georgi zukov Since our form of government is founded on religion He added that our ancestors who formed this government said We hold that all men are endowed by their creator not by the accident of their birth Not by the color of their skins or by anything else But all men are endowed by their creator in other words Our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith and i don't care what it is eisenhower then explained what he meant With us it is the judaeo christian concept But it must be a religion that believes all men are created equal Even those among us who are in my opinion So silly as to doubt the existence of an almighty Are still members of a religious civilization because the founding fathers said it was a religious concept That they were trying to translate into the political world He reiterated this perspective while promoting the value of prayer in what became the first of the now famous annual national prayer breakfasts Today i think that prayer is just simply a necessity Because by prayer i believe we mean an effort to get in touch with the infinite We know that even our prayers are imperfect Even our supplications are imperfect Of course they are We are imperfect human beings But if we can back off from those problems and make the effort Then there is something that ties us all together We have begun in our grasp of that basis of understanding Which is that all free government is firmly founded in a deeply felt religious faith We know that he took the power of prayer seriously Not only because he regularly referred to it and was reported to have resorted to it habitually But because he shocked the entire nation By deciding to begin his first inaugural address with what he called a little private prayer That he had just written on hotel stationery that morning It was the first time any president in american history had begun an inaugural address By leading the country in prayer Perhaps the most astonishing statement about eisenhower's spiritual convictions Was disclosed by billy graham To reverend elson in a lengthy private letter written on the day prior to the inauguration In that letter graham explained eisenhower's recent religious practices and beliefs To include ike's admission that while in the army he rarely very rarely went to chapel However eisenhower's explanation for this apparent breach of christian devotion was not apathy But rather disappointment and dissatisfaction with the religious services available to him Whether this represents the whole truth or just a rationalization is open to debate Graham concluded from their private conversations that eisenhower Had lost confidence in the church because it had gone into socialism The church had left the bible and had gone into politics and other things that it had no business to be delving in Eisenhower told him that he had sampled several churches some years ago But found very little in the sermons of any of the preachers that were of spiritual help to him Eisenhower confessed to graham that if he identified with any church he would be a fanatical protestant Graham then related what he himself admitted was a very remarkable statement Made just the week prior by the president elect The american people will have to get back to biblical christianity and i intend to lead them Unsurprisingly considering the details of their private conversations Graham told elson that despite eisenhower's lack of church going i believe he is a deeply religious man When the full story of eisenhower's spiritual journey is told i believe the evidence will confirm Graham's conclusions My assessment that eisenhower was a more seriously religious And deeply spiritual man and specifically a practicing Orthodox protestant christian at that Is supported by the testimonies of many family friends and colleagues Ranging from his lifelong wife mamie to his dear grandson david To various journalists who covered him during world war two and his presidency to his pastors in washington dc Gettysburg pennsylvania and palm desert california to billy graham and to a wide range of colleagues and associates That said I have to admit that eisenhower appears to have been a particular kind of christian The kind that made it difficult for scholars to determine what he personally thought About a wide range of interesting and important doctrinal issues One of the reasons contemporaries and scholars alike have been so willing to question the veracity of his faith And the sincerity of his public religiosity Is that he's so rarely in public or in private addressed deep theological issues with sufficient specificity to satisfy the curious Despite his regular references to god the bible and prayer He hardly ever spoke or wrote of jesus or indeed about any particularly christian doctrines One contemporary writer described eisenhower as having a very fervent faith in a very vague religion While he engaged with billy graham over a period of many years It appears that he never attended one of graham's crusades Despite repeated invitations from graham and some that approached urgent personal pleas While these questions can be frustrating I don't believe their existence warrants dismissing all that we do know about him It would probably be naive to believe that every persons and especially every politicians religious words and deeds Should be taken at face value all the time However, based on the weight of the evidence Eisenhower really does appear to have had a deeply felt religious faith That manifested itself in varying ways in different periods of his life Was an increasingly important component of his character and worldview And remains an essential element of his personality that should be taken into account in any serious attempt to understand the man And his accomplishments Late in life Dwight eisenhower wrote a little essay on his simple but strong faith And his regular reliance on prayer It was published just just after his death in the spring of 1969 He wrote A lifetime of soldiering and public service only confirms my conviction That i am as intensely religious as any man i know Nobody goes through six years of war and two terms of the presidency without faith And although i have seldom discussed my religious philosophy with anyone A deep bible centered christian faith has colored my life since childhood While we might quibble with the assertion that nobody could possibly go through six years of war and two terms of the presidency without a serious faith in god The evidence suggests that we can and should take eisenhower at his word about his own spiritual life Dwight eisenhower was a deeply religious man a bible centered christian And that along with his god's good providence Explains his greatness in war and in peace It's long past time for a more accurate perspective on the reality and importance of eisenhower's spiritual life To be incorporated fully into both the scholarly as well as the popular understanding of his life His achievements and his character Thank you And i look forward to hearing your thoughts in the q&a period to follow Okay, thank you so much. What an amazing Address you gave us. We really appreciate it. My name is greg more. I'm a professor of global studies and politics And i'm gonna help field some questions as it says up there on the screen if anybody has questions who's watching Online you can send questions to the email address right up there on the screen questions at ccu.edu Anybody here in the room have questions just raise your hand And our faithful student alex will run over to you with expedition And bring a microphone so we can hear you So anyone here have questions Spark to your interest In kind of diving into eisenhower's history. Yeah, that's a that's a great question Because anybody who would look at my What we what we academics call our cv. You know our resume would look like i've been doing a bunch of other things I'm a military historian An american military historian who has focused mostly on the first world war And as i told you eisenhower didn't even get to france in the first world war It almost broke us it apparently didn't ruin his career as he expected But he managed to overcome it But but i had not been a scholar of eisenhower's life until a few years ago When i uh in a failed job Interview process I didn't get the job, but i did get a book offer. So uh, so someone else asked me Whether i would be willing to write a spiritual biography of either george c marshal Who you met in this talk or dwight eisenhower and at that time i knew That george marshal was a devout episcopalian I didn't know in fact what i knew about eisenhower matched all the wrong ideas that i said I remember from my own graduate program. I remember being told yeah eisenhower didn't even know what religion He was when he became president. Well depending on what you mean by that question. That's true. So anyway, I I was kind of I introduced to it by an offer to explore this and thankfully You know, I work in colorado and eisenhower's papers Are in abalone, Kansas. That's where his professional Are his presidential museum and library. It's a great trip just a few hours east of us here Of the i70 and and so I had this offer to look into either george marshal or or Dwight eisenhower. I knew them as military men. I didn't know much about their private lives other than what Other scholars had written about it, which now you know is not necessarily the full story So I since i'm closer to abalone, Kansas than I am to marshal's papers in virginia I took a few trips out to abalone, Kansas And went through the papers and frankly, I was astounded at all of the all of his religious talk and his activity So that's what piqued my interest someone else Suggested I look into it and I was curious enough I've I've always been interested him as a as a as an important Perhaps even great general and as an important perhaps even great president And I I do believe it's important That we not only look at the religious lives of religious people like billy graham, right? It's important to know The religious lives and the spiritual views of people who excel in other fields Whether that's law or medicine or politics or academia, etc. So that's the that's how I got into this Great question. Great question. Do we have some other questions? Many people have probably tried to hide eisenhower's faith Because of a general trend away from evangelicalism and christianity in general so It's a good question. I have my suspicions I don't want to paint with too broad a brush I suspect we're talking about so many writers historians political scientists Journalists writing about this over such a long period of time Some of them may very well have come across things and decided to purposely minimize it. That's possible I suspect though that perhaps People who themselves are not religious Might not know what to make of His religiosity And and if you just look at it superficially, here's a guy who wasn't going to church He's gonna become president He gets baptized. He starts going to church. I mean If you look at it superficially it could look like it's he's instrumentalizing religion, right? Um And and so people have taken that view But the curious thing with with historical scholarship is that when Good even great historians Lay out a certain line That sort of line gets picked up by other people, right? And and and many of the people who I think have Have mischaracterized or minimized his faith are fantastic historians in most ways But I think they've gotten this part wrong and so I want to be careful about saying they've purposefully hidden it Though that's of course possible. I think they've probably missed it. They don't know what to make of it I think also lack of interest. They're just not interested. I think why would it matter If he was or he wasn't Religious people of varying denominations or religions are interested in that sort of a thing for a variety of reasons Another question the other questions I I was curious if if you came across the answer to this question your research. Why do you think he got baptized? Do you think he he acquired some kind of born-again theology perhaps? It's a really I don't have the answer to that yet What we do know I mentioned this Um a few moments ago that when people were thinking of him as a candidate They they immediately noticed in a more religious america than we have today He didn't appear to be overtly and obviously religious and people who really wanted him to become president Thought this would be a liability. In fact, some of his big political backers I've seen the letter written by a wealthy backer and and it was interesting the way the author of the letter wrote it He didn't say I think this he said my wife The women right my wife and and her friends They say or they know people that they would never vote. This is from the bible belt. Okay, the 1950s bible bell They would never vote for someone who's not a churchgoer Right, so this is what the kind of stuff that's given to him And he of course, he just won't touch that with a 10 foot pole I think this is so I he's he's a person of integrity if there was a time to do it you do it early Right not after you get he wasn't even sure he was going to run for for a second term when when he left office After a second term he was the oldest president to leave office. So so I don't think He did it for any political reasons, but billy gram was one of those who encouraged him to join a church I don't I've never seen any votes comments to it. Of course, of course billy gram's gonna Suggest he go to church, right if billy gram had met any of you And he found you were a christian who weren't going to church billy gram would have said you gotta find a good church, right? so so One of the interesting things that that billy gram reports is that isan hour had told him I I will not join a church during campaign But I will commit to you that I will join a church win or lose And then after he was president elect he asked billy gram who kind of helped with his campaign in a certain ways That's an interesting story in and of itself He asked him for some recommendations of solid churches in washington dc And Mamie was raised a presbyterian Right here in in denver And he he said You know when when I would go to church with Mamie, you know, she's presbyterian, so I would do that Do you know any good presbyterian churches? And I suspect That when he got linked up with that presbyterian minister who had been a world war II army chaplain In eisenhower's theater, so he certainly knew eisenhower whether eisenhower knew him as a Maybe a point that hasn't been firmly established yet, but I think reverend elson explained to him what was required And now and this is why I think his baptism to me Is is a very important thing because there's no reason if he just wanted to kind of lead by example No one was going to stop him from going to church Eisenhower could have gone to any number of churches. He could have bounced around But Something I think happened I'm not sure I don't think I want to call it a conversion because eisenhower didn't believe he was converted I think I think he came to A different view about what the christian life sort of demanded and again if we think about his menonite background The important thing was not going to church This is you know, this is the radical protestant. The important thing was bible reading and prayer and other things like that But but clearly something changed in there and and I think some of it may have been Hey, I I'm a christian I am the the leader of these people and to get to a point we were talking about during dinner The the great geopolitical struggle at the time is between an avowedly godless materialist soviet system They weren't secular. They were anti religion. They just ask anybody in the in the Russian Orthodox church, you know after 1918 They were anti-religion and so I think he thought that the right thing for him to do was to be the very best kind of Christian he could be And and that that example was important, but that that I mean I go to church Perhaps in part to set an example for my children, but that's not the only reason I go But that's a good one, you know, I want them to know that this is how a christian ought to behave And I think he kind of picked up on that Um in 1952-53 and also his growing Appreciation for his christian faith that appears to have come through the horrors of world war two Where he really saw a good and evil and he saw systems that that saw Humanity as not made in the image of god Right the the nazi Systems the japanese systems And then after that the soviet systems so that this this was a crucial part of his political view Can I ask a follow-up question to that apparently well, well, let me see anybody else have any other questions here Don't be bashful. Oh Nicole's done You researched any evidence of other people whether in the military or in The white house that he was around that were also becoming believers at this time Or was it something he was kind of pursuing on his own? Yeah, I I certainly haven't looked around to see if other people were having this sort of experience I'm I'm sure that other people Um had religious Had their religious life changed during world war two Some for the better and some for the worse. We know that happened in world war one You know, how could how could a good god let this happen? Whether it was the death of their brother the death of their son The death of their buddies So so people Come through Those searing experiences of wars often going one way or the other Holocaust victims and and I certain how we're saw The the remains of the Holocaust with his own eyes in 1945 as as his forces were liberating concentration camps he You know, he was brought in to see this and you know calling back to the u.s Shouldn't do this and we get a phone in his hand But like we got to send we need to send reporters and journalists and congressmen Everybody needs to see what's going on here. And I think some people have those searing experiences with evil and they and and they they can't Deal with it theologically and they go one way and and my suspicion is that with eisenhower it reinforced his views about Good and evil A world without god that sort of a thing, but I haven't seen Specific examples about other senior officers that that came through the war With that kind of a changed view I would imagine it happened and we still have time if mark will humor us for a few more minutes We have time for more questions So again, if you're watching via zoom or youtube and you have you have a question you can email it to questions at ccu.edu Or question no s This question at ccu.edu anyone else here have a question So in your research, what can you tell us about his personal relationship with god? Like was there any like personal prayers that he had or speeches maybe that he gave where he said something specific about god and how he Because you also said that theologically, you know, he didn't have much to say So I just wanted to know maybe what his own interpretation of god was. Yeah I'm not done with the research yet the papers that he generated are voluminous as you can imagine So I'm sure there is a lot more to be to be found What we what I've never seen any direct evidence of our sort of We might say well, what are his views on the divinity of jesus, right? You know specific or talk to me about the trinity or other kinds of things did he really wrestle with theodicy You know And I haven't seen that he he doesn't appear and this this is confirmed by the oral interviews of his pastors That he didn't appear to be overly troubled by theological questions Some of us are And some of us aren't right. We're kind of the way we're wired His pastor at gettysburg said, you know that he had a kind of a simple but a solid faith and Thankfully, we know what he what he had to profess in order to be baptized In that presbyterian church and it is an orthodox Christian statement of My own sinfulness and jesus is my savior and I wish I had written that quote down Because I've literally seen the duplicate of his baptismal certificate, which is in abalone And and it kind of goes through all that As for his his kind of private prayer life That's a really hard thing unless someone keeps a prayer journal to Capture, you know, I I grew up in a religious family. My brothers are also religious I thought if If I was trying to prove that, you know deep questions of their theology What could I find in their letters in their emails think about your own life or people that you know It's it's a difficult thing to get at What we do get is rather Simple and I don't say that as an insult He clearly viewed God as being in control of events And that prayers to god Were important. They were an important consolation for him. He talked about Not having Having the courage to make the decisions That he had to make I mean dealing with Thousands of lives on any given day without knowing that there was a loving god in heaven That was supervising all human events But there are more questions than answers the deeper we get into christian theology I have one question from the uh from an online viewer named paul and he's asking Did billy gram ever write to opion on eisenhower's faith or his x relationship with god billy grams written a lot And i'm just wondering if billy gram He did I quoted some of billy gram statements There are those those fascinating letters that billy gram wrote to reverend elson Who who who was just kind of on the verge of becoming Eisenhower's pastor In fact Billy gram developed a good relationship with the family Billy gram visited eisenhower on his deathbed and as i mentioned this He he wrote he not only wrote about that but he spoke about it. You can youtube Billy grant there's a lot of billy gram sermons or talks on On the internet and you can find him talking about eisenhower in fact on the 100th The centennial of eisenhower's birthday Or birth year it so in 1990 because eisenhower was born in in 1890 in 1990 they had a big ceremony In abalone, kansas as you'd imagine and billy gram was one of the speakers and at in that In that talk He says i asked mani if i could tell this story and she said it was okay And that story is when he visited eisenhower after one of his last heart attacks He was had all sorts of medical trouble He was he was in the hospital bed for months in washington dc and billy gram came to visit him And and he did write about their conversation and it was A very honest conversation about can you tell me again? How a sinner gets saved and billy gram says i went Pulled out the pulled out my bible and went through you know This is how this is how we know a person go to heaven and they step through it and they pray He said we held hands. We prayed together. I think they read a psalm And and and and eisenhower said thank you i'm ready now So so We do know some of their their interactions billy gram wrote ties and how are a lot more than eisenhower wrote to him But i suppose that's true with most people who are who are engaging with the president who's pretty busy Though billy gram was a pretty busy guy himself, too so They appear to have a very positive relationship Okay, uh professor grotlution. That was just wonderful. Thank you very much for that Let's give him another round of applause. That was just great Uh I we wish you god's blessing on your book. Um, I imagine knowing our president Dr. Donald suiting who loves history that book will be waiting on my desk the minutes that's published as a gift from him He often gives books to his cabinet to members of the board of trustees I imagine you will be very high on his list So we'll be looking forward to that and we wish god's blessing upon you on that a few quick announcements we Uh As from the centennial institute these are kind of famous 1776 ties and 1776 scars on any given day You can find these somewhere on cable news television as a result of uh, many of the speakers we've hosted here We want to give these to you and to your wife and uh, thank you for coming Friends, uh, there is another president's lecture coming up this spring april 12th 2021 we'll be hosting dr. Douglas grotesque a great friend of the university from Denver seminary He'll be giving his talk on morphing marxism Still a bad idea. So I hope you'll join us when dr. Sweden will be back for the next president's lecture until then god bless you all have a wonderful evening. Good night