Eisenhower Speaks His Mind

"We are tending too much toward a One-party system in the United States. We are too close to a monopoly of political power in this country."

"That is one of the reasons I chose the Republican Party when people came after me to run for President back in the period 1946-1952. I thought we needed to restore some kind of equality of power between the two political parties."

"The easiest thing for me to do would have been to go the other way. For six out of the eight years of my Administration, I had to persuade my political opponents who controlled the Congress, to get anything done."

"If we have a rough equality between our two political parties, then anyone attempting to go to extremes is going to be blocked. But if we don't have balance in our political system, if the party in power stays in power too long—who is there is stop its excesses?"

3. COURTS

"I had always thought that the Supreme Court would protect us from excesses and extremism—but the Supreme Court today seems concerned with only one slant of political direction, the same that reigns in the executive offices. When this happens, we are in trouble. In the 1966 election, there is no greater objective for all Americans than to restore the regular balance of equality in the two political parties."

"Our experiment in self-government is still going on today, just as much as when the Founding Fathers first conceived of our form of democracy, the American Republic. The older I grow, the more certain I am that only by education can we really save our form of government."

"I read where members of the so-called intelligentsia, some professors, urge a strong President. They are deluding themselves, their readers, and everyone else, with this idea who will be concerned about doing things in a constitutional way, respecting the legislative and the judiciary. Yet some writers are beginning to worship this concept of 'strong man' government. This has a very serious connotation for America. It means autocracy in the long run."

"The centralization of power in Washington—when we talk about this, we must also consider the need to strengthen city and State government, to make it better. So you must argue for improvement in local government."

"These problems do exist—in health, education, welfare, and other things. They must be solved. But the closer you can bring the action to the local level—that is the best way to do these things."

4. WELFARE PROGRAMS

"All Americans are concerned with real need-where people are not getting a proper education, are not being fed and clothed properly," General Eisenhower continued.

"But we are getting the feeling today that we are not just taking care of the needy, but that we are acting unwisely to the extent that we are actually using the Federal Treasury to encourage and reward laziness and malingering. I would like to see more efficiency in determining who actually are the needy, and who it is that just wants to get an easier living."

"There are a lot of complaints that we have bad administration in these programs, that they are wasteful, that there are duplications of effort. Such programs should be started on a pilot basis; otherwise, you build up big bureaucracies and overheads, and you get nothing done."

"In our welfare programs, an effort should be made to make sure that the needy have proper support. But the idea of temporary relief seems to be giving way to a new idea that hard work is not the way to make a living, that you should look to the Government to take care of you."

"How are you going to get ahead in the world? By hard work—that was always the American way. But now, no longer do all our people take pride in good work well done. Some unions are causing this by setting maximum work quotas. Too many people depend on political influence in supporting candidates with particular theories on welfare, or the political power of the union."