The American Spectator : Eisenhower's Religion

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Eisenhower's Religion

By Mark Tooley on 2.14.11 @ 6:07AM

In religion, as in so much else, Ike was far more sophisticated than commonly realized.

Often, America's religious life in the 1950s is dismissed as sterile and conventional. Supposedly President Dwight Eisenhower typified generic, superficial religion with his oft quoted quip: "Our government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don't care what it is."

The quote actually came from Eisenhower in 1952 after meeting his WWII fellow commander, Soviet Marshal Grigori Zhukov. Ike was explaining to reporters how America's creed of equality was based on the "Judeo-Christian concept," contrasting with the Soviet understanding of religion as the "opiate of the people." Eisenhower was not describing his own personal theology.

Grandson David Eisenhower's Going Home to Glory, a new memoir of his grandfather's retirement years, helps to clarify the record. (For a review, go here.) In religion, as in so much else, Ike was far more sophisticated than commonly realized. When still a young man in the 1970s, as part of research for the book published 35 years later, David Eisenhower interviewed the clergy who knew his grandfather well, including Billy Graham. David's remembrance is not chiefly about religion, of course. But the book's title captures its underlying theme of an aging solider and statesman who is preparing to go "home to glory."

Ike's mother was the devotee of the River Brethren, an Anabaptist sect, and she trained her sons extensively to memorize Scripture. Much later she joined the Jehovah's Witnesses. For much of his adult life, though not irreverent, Ike had not belonged to a church, sometimes attending liberal Mainline Protestant congregations that he complained focused more on politics. Upon his 1952 election to the presidency, the former general resolved to become a church member. Joining a pacifist, separatist sect from his childhood was unlikely for the nation's chief magistrate and commander in chief. Billy Graham steered Eisenhower to National Presbyterian Church, whose pastor had been a World War II military chaplain. Perhaps Graham also surmised that orderly Presbyterianism would appeal to the organizer of D-Day. And Mamie Eisenhower had been Presbyterian.

National Presbyterian Church was then in a stately downtown sanctuary just south of Washington's Dupont Circle, only a brief drive north of the White House. Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson, among other presidents, had attended the congregation. J. Edgar Hoover was a member. It offered the perfect dignified stage for a President's attendance. But Eisenhower, who was far more complex than the avuncular golfer often imagined by friends and critics, was interested in more than show. Reputedly the Rev. Edward Elson explained to the new President that all new church members had to be catechized in a membership class. Eisenhower's schedule would not allow attendance. But he invited Elson to instruct him one-on-one at the White House in the ways of Presbyterianism, which Elson supposedly did. Ike was the first and only sitting president to be baptized while in office.

Eisenhower composed his own prayer that he read at his first inaugural. And he also invited cabinet members to open cabinet meetings with prayer. Urbane sophisticates, then and now, mocked this supposedly pitiable bourgeois exercise in civil religion. But like other American statesmen, Ike probably intuited that Judeo-Christian civil religion was a unifying moral force that was infinitely preferable to most of its likely alternatives.

Ike took his churchgoing seriously and sometimes had Rev. Elson over to the White House to explain his sermons. David Eisenhower recites in his book how one sermon, "The Love of Christ Controlleth All Men," provoked the President into pondering the impact of his golf course rages. Amusingly, Eisenhower once hosted the Methodist Council of Bishops at the White House but kept the meeting very brief so as not to delay his golf holiday. The bishops could hear the departing helicopter even before they left the grounds.

After retirement, the Eisenhowers became active at Gettysburg's Presbyterian congregation, whose young pastor, the Rev. James MacAskill, Ike especially appreciated. Young David as a teenager even found the minister "spellbinding." Having a former president in MacAskill's flock attracted offers of larger churches with greater salaries. Unwilling to see him leave, Ike intervened to ensure a higher salary for the minister. In turn, MacAskill was impressed with Eisenhower's own depth of religious faith and his immunity to passing fads.

Reputed to have cited his appointment of Earl Warren as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice as one of his greatest errors, Eisenhower disapproved of the 1963 court ruling banning Bible readings from public schools. Ike saw religion as a crucial moral force, particularly for civil rights. He had been the first president to sign civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, and he supported the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. As David Eisenhower writes, his grandfather thought the "Warren Court's bias against the church undermined its promotion of equal rights because sociology was no substitute for moral teaching." In that ruling's wake, Ike delivered a sermon at his Gettysburg church.

"I do not see how any Supreme Court in the world can declare teachings in this vein illegal," Ike preached. "There is no reason for Americans to raise their children in a communist type school that denies the existence of a God." He noted that the "theory of the equality of man is religious in origin." And he observed: "To raise our children in a moral atmosphere is to recognize the existence of a Supreme Overlord."

Five years later, Eisenhower was confined to Walter Reed Medical Center for his life's remaining months. One of the last visitors he summoned was Billy Graham, whom he asked to recite the plan of salvation Graham had first shared to him 14 years earlier. Graham did so, to which Ike responded, "I'm ready."

Ike's deep but non-dogmatically articulated faith, reinforced by his active churchmanship, was reassuring and unifying for America before the social revolutions and culture wars of later decades. No president since has quite been able to repeat the feat. Eisenhower's religious beliefs and practices may have seemed conventional, but they were deeply felt, and effectively served the nation.

About the Author

Mark Tooley is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C. and author of Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (38) | Leave a comment

oldfart| 2.14.11 @ 6:40AM

Can you imagine how the lame stream media would handle a person like Ike today?

Alan Brooks| 2.14.11 @ 11:39AM

The '50s was not a dull decade as so many think.
BTW, Ike was smarter than Reagan; Ike would never have let something as foolish as Iran-Contra
happen on his watch.
and Oliver North got a radio show later!
G. Gordon Liddy, too. Someday Monica Lewinsky will have her own show.

Tim the Enchanter| 2.14.11 @ 11:48AM

Will you be the first guest on her show? From what you've shown here, you two have a lot in common.

Alan Brooks| 2.14.11 @ 3:58PM

Tittillates you, Tim-bo?

Richard Baker| 2.14.11 @ 7:05AM

The cynical among us must have some sort of an in with the Lord to criticize Ike's belief in a faith in God. He also understood the unifying effect of such faith as did the Founders. What was John Adams comment about a moral people?

oldfart| 2.14.11 @ 7:34AM

He had several - this is the one I like "[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue."
What we see today is the result of not providing a 'classical' education and offering situation ethics as an alternative - a bunch of two year olds running around screaming 'I want".

Bob K.| 2.14.11 @ 8:05AM

Curiously, he retired in Gettysburg, Pa, in the center of a Mennonite religious anabaptist culture. In that sense he did come full circle.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.14.11 @ 8:08AM

I got my first real insights into Ike as a President from novels written by WEB Griffin.
Those insights provoked me to look more deeply into his life.
A fascinating man, and perhaps the most gifted diplomat the country has seen in the last hundred years.
Imagine the whirlpool he centered in the war against the NAZIS.

Stormzeye| 2.14.11 @ 9:01AM

Ken, you'd love Michael Korda's biography, IKE. Once you read the first few pages you won't be able to put it down. He was one of our top five Presidents IMHO.

Steve A| 2.14.11 @ 9:38AM

Ike was an excellent President precisely because he made no attempt to "fundamentally transform the United States of America." He mostly took care of business, built some highways & then went & played golf.

cuban pete| 2.14.11 @ 10:00AM

Ken, Stormzeye & Steve A
On the money.
Thank You,
cp

W| 2.14.11 @ 10:26AM

In april 1961 the russians buit the Berlin Wall to divide Berlin, and then installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, with JFK as president. They would never have done that with IKE as president.

Alan Brooks| 2.14.11 @ 8:11PM

Would Saddam have invaded Kuwait in '91 if REAGAN had still been president? no.
it was the Iron Lady who stiffened Bush 41's resolve.

hardcard| 2.14.11 @ 9:03AM

A great leader and a man of God. Thank you General.

Bob K.| 2.14.11 @ 9:36AM

Mr Tooley,
I'm not sure what you meant by "civil religion" when you said that "Ike probably intuited that Judeo-Christian civil religion was a moral force......."?

I think rather that Ike believed (and thereby intuited) it was a moral force. And I think that belief was inculcated in him by his Mother who required her sons to memorize scripture. She quite likely believed the adage in Proverbs 22:6--"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." King James Version. It is likely that Ike had it memorized. My Mother knew it and quoted it often to her sons.

cuban pete| 2.14.11 @ 9:58AM

"I've always loved my wife; I've always loved my children; I've always loved my grandchildren; I've always loved my country. I want to go. God take me."
Dwight Eisenhower 3/28/69

believer| 2.14.11 @ 10:16AM

The last great President, unfortunately he had no idea that Earl Warren was such a scumbag.

justplainbill| 2.14.11 @ 10:36AM

Ike starved thousands of German soldiers to death at the end of the war. Jesus said if your enemy is hungry feed him; that it would be like pouring hot coals on his head. Jesus said if you love me keep my words. Ike did not have Jesus in him. He never repented.

Steve A| 2.14.11 @ 10:59AM

An elementary fact check reveals this claim to be absurd. You need to get a grip.

big bob| 2.14.11 @ 1:16PM

As often happens, you have confused personal responsibility with adminstrative authority. Romans chapter 13 clearly gives the leaders of nations not just permission, but the responsiblity to protect their citizens insofar as they have the authority in government. Any General who did NOT fight to win would be derelict in duty, (much as we see in various locations currently in our own military!!)

As to whether your claims are valid, I seriously doubt their accuracy. But that is not my point. In WWII, we did not start the fight, but once started, it was our job to finish the fight. Any other response would have been non-Biblical!!

Joe D.| 2.14.11 @ 10:41AM

Eisenhower was right on target. To bad the current president is more interested in islam then his on supposed religion and belief in Jesus, God in carnet.

Jerry Jones| 2.14.11 @ 10:44AM

Dwight Eisenhower was reared as a Jehovah's Witness. Ike's parents BOTH converted to the Jehovah's Witnesses when Ike was only 5 years old, and Ike's father became a JW Pastor. The Eisenhower home doubled as Abilene's Kingdom Hall throughout Ike's formative years, and for four years after Ike left home to attend West Point.

Mark Tooley's article attempts to perpetuate one of the biggest frauds perpetuated on the American public in the 20th century. Any 10 year-old with a computer now knows that President Eisenhower was not reared in the River Brethren religion. Here is the most brief and most comprehensive source of factual info on this topic:

http://jwbookstore.bravehost.c.....hower.html

Richard Baker| 2.14.11 @ 11:10AM

Bob K:
Was unaware until your message that Gettysburg had that community of believers about. Interesting. Gettysburg may have been more to him than a famous battlefield. Good message,

Richard Baker| 2.14.11 @ 11:11AM

Bob K:
Good message.

Bob K.| 2.14.11 @ 12:08PM

Thank you, Mr. Baker,
South central PA has many Mennonites and Amish too. I wonder where his mother's family originally hailed from?

Bob K.| 2.14.11 @ 12:12PM

I remember reading somewhere (I forget where) that he was our only President of German heritage; his ancestors coming from SW Germany.

Jerry Jones| 2.14.11 @ 12:10PM

To read the most brief and most comprehensive source of factual info on this topic simply google the phrase PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES REARED AS JEHOVAH'S WITNESS.

Bob K.| 2.14.11 @ 12:22PM

I would not describe it as a perpetuation of a fraud Mr. Jones! Unless you are looking to insult Mr. Dooley. He does mention his Jehovah's Witness background too. His mother, if she was anabaptist during her childhood and youth, was raised in a religious tradition that places great emphasis on the wife following and supporting the husband.

I think, rather than haunting google and weeding out the tares to discover the wheat I will first buy this biography

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.14.11 @ 12:33PM

Ahhhhh, bull***t, Jerry.

Ike couldn't help who his parents were. He obviously transcended them.
Mr. Tooley,
Thank you for the column.

KyMouse| 2.14.11 @ 12:48PM

When I was a kid during Eisenhower's presidency, we had a neighborhood club called the Red Eagles. Just a typical kids' club, although my dad had little membership cards printed up for us.

My brother, who was about 12, sent Eisenhower a nice letter inviting him to become a member of the Red Eagles (it didn't occur to us that "red" had Communist connotations -- it was just the color we picked).

We received a nice letter in reply, which said that the president was honored to be asked to be a member, but that his schedule would keep him from attending our meetings.

A charming reply.

Steve A| 2.14.11 @ 2:55PM

If you had a 12 yo son today send the same letter to Obama, I bet you would get a reply soliciting a donation to the DNC.

Anthony Joseph| 2.14.11 @ 1:47PM

Edifying and persuasive.

Jerry Jones| 2.14.11 @ 6:27PM

EISENHOWER: A SOLDIER'S STORY is the best Eisenhower biography for those folks interest in truth and facts. Those interested in ear-tickling propaganda and being told what they would prefer be the truth can read ...

Occam's Tool| 2.14.11 @ 8:42PM

Yes, I've read about the German soldiers Ike allegedly starved. That's why the Germans preferred to surrender to us rather than the Russians.

The Germans were the greatest war criminals in history.

bee free| 2.14.11 @ 10:14PM

---OH, for the heyday of Hearst financed and
promoted, Arminian Heresy pushing, commercializer
and collectivizer ---Billy Graham!

Along with Rockefeller/Carnegie/Ford founded
and funded 'ecumenicalism' (i.e. moral relativism)
truly the infiltrators and destroyers of the geniune
adventure and Godly truth of the individual
American soul.

TRULY!

Al| 2.15.11 @ 3:37PM

As others have already commented, this column repeats the revisionist lie about Eisenhower's childhood religion. There is significant evidence that Eisenhower's childhood home was a JW (then IBSA) meeting place beginning about 1896 when he was 5 or 6, and his own documents prove that both his parents were active "Bible Students" no later than 1905, when Ike was only 14 or 15. Eisenhower's joining the military in 1911 was not even rebellious at the time, since the religion didn't stress baptism then and hadn't yet eschewed military service; in fact, a prominent contemporary Bible Student was U.S. General William Preble Hall!