Eisenhower's Warnings... 50 years later!

I was always a news junkie, and politically active. President Eisenhower was not my choice for President, however, I was too young to vote back then in the 1950s. You had to be 21 years old to vote. I remember being mesmerized by Ike, when he introduced his TV series "CRUSADE of EUROPE". He was able to look into the TV camera, and speak for almost a half an hour,without looking at a script. I later found out that he was using a new TV tool, called a Tele-prompter! Once in a great while, Ike would make a profound statement that became memorable years later... and in some cases, as timely as if he made them today!

Like almost everybody, our eyes and ears have been focus with the events taking place in Egypt. It looks like the uprising of the Egyptian people, will cause the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak. So far, the violence has been limited, and hopefully stay that way. One of "Ike's" warnings comes to my mind. He said "THAT PEOPLE WANT PEACE SO BADLY, THAT GOVERNMENTS BETTER STEP ASIDE, TO LET THEM HAVE IT." Of course his best known Quote, was from his farewell address in 1961, that he warned us 50 years ago "TO BEWARE OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX". Sadly, our politicians, and Presidents that came after him, did not heed his warning. He also warned us, and often I think he was speaking to me, "THAT TAKING A POLITICAL STANCE FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD", WILL OPEN YOU UP TO BEING STONED FROM THE EXTREMES OF BOTH SIDES OF A POLITICAL ISSUE"! I often tried being neutral on political issues, and found IKE knew what he was talking about. My personal favorite Ike "QUOTE" came during the Presidential campaign of 1960. He was asked by a reporter, if his V.P. of 8 years, Richard Nixon had ever helped him to make a major decision in that time, and Ike replied "GIVE ME A WEEK, AND MAYBE I MIGHT THINK OF SOMETHING!" And the beat goes on...