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In the weeks after his heart attack, Dwight Eisenhower had not the slightest notion that he would be able to run again for President. But even as he lay in his Denver hospital bed, his thoughts kept turning to problems of Government. "Look," confided Dr. Paul Dudley White to Press Secretary James Hagerty, "he's not so much of an invalid as he is the President of the U.S. lying in there. He wants to do his job." As Ike continued to recover, the question of re-election grew apace until, by the night of Friday, Jan. 13, 1956, it was topic A in the land.
That night an extraordinary White House conference took place. Present were Ike and such close associates as John Foster Dulles, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Sherman Adams, George Humphrey, Arthur Summerfield, Jim Hagerty and Dr. Milton Eisenhower. The session was originally set for three days earlier, but was canceled when word of it leaked out. This time the President went to such pains to preserve secrecy that he personally brought over the place cards for dinner.
After dinner, the President asked each of his guests to state arguments for or against his running for reelection. Dulles said that the President had a God-given ability for reconciling differences among men and nations, and, if his health permitted, should go on directing this talent against the possibility of a nuclear war. Lodge emphasized the President's importance at home, praising Ike's work in healing divisions among the American people. Summerfield said that the President's work in remodeling the Republican Party was unfinished.
TEMPTING YEARS
Last came Milton Eisenhower. He was asked to sum up all the arguments both pro and con (none of the others had offered any opinions against Ike's running). Writes Donovan: "One of the most telling points he made in favor of a second term was that if Eisenhower was to work effectively for peace, it would have to be from the White House, not from retirement . . . Dr. Eisenhower marshaled forcefully the arguments against running. His brother had already spent more than 40 years in public service. Four more years in the presidency would be a great burden. These were years Eisenhower might enjoy with his family, doing the things he had long wanted to do—reading, writing, playing, traveling extensively and using his influence as a distinguished private citizen for peace.
"In the President's mind, obviously, the arguments for outweighed the arguments against. While he did not say so that night, his guests seemed to sense it."
From that night on, the chances of Ike's running again moved steadily toward certainty. The men who attended the crucial dinner session recall that the President seemed most impressed by the argument that he should continue to work against war. Newsman Donovan finished his book before Ike's recent intestinal surgery. But his account of President Eisenhower's earlier decision puts the question currently facing the President in pertinent terms: Is there any reason to suppose Dwight Eisenhower will let his "big bellyache" interfere with his efforts to achieve world peace—from the White House?