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Eisenhower's critics argue that he has never had to face the specific hazards of a congressional voting record. This is true, but Eisenhower is no stranger to the hard choice. When asked about federal aid to higher education in 1948, Columbia's Eisenhower said: "So that no one will misunderstand where an old soldier stands on that question—I will have no federal money in higher education as long as there is one single iota of federal control coming with it ... The Federal Government has no right to take tax money out of our pockets and give it back to us . . ."
Western Union. Ike's views of foreign affairs are better known. He is the embodiment of U.S. determination to defend Western Europe and an ardent advocate of "one federal union" for Western Europe. "I believe it so strongly," he told a congressional committee, "that I do not believe real security is going to be felt in the United States, in the British Empire and other nations of the globe until that comes about . . . Once it gets united, the Soviets will never be able to hold the East Germans out of it."
Eisenhower thinks "there was no recourse but to do what President Truman said and did" after the Korean invasion. But Ike is, by implication, a strong Europe-First man and has yet to outline an Asian defense plan as concrete as Bob Taft's. Ike is a believer in the United Nations: "However halting its progress may be, however much its sessions are torn by the jeers and vetoes from one sector, [it] is a visible and working entity—substantial evidence of developing hopes and purposes, an earnest of better things to come."
Ike's old speeches are far from being a firm, complete political platform. But they reflect a basic political philosophy that could easily provide underpinnings for a candidate who wanted to build a platform in a hurry.