As we mark Dwight Eisenhower’s birthday (Oct. 14) let’s remember his greatest disappointment as president. In his farewell address in January, 1961 Eisenhower expressed his sadness that disarmament and a lasting peace had not been achieved. Eisenhower had made nuclear arms control and disarmament a mission during his presidency.
Eisenhower said “I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war-as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years-I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.”
But instead, as Eisenhower ended his presidency, the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the nuclear arms race continued. Eisenhower said at the end of his farewell, “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative.”
Ike had successfully avoided war. He achieved an armistice in the Korean War in 1953 and helped end the Suez war in 1956. Eisenhower concluded his Farewell address by saying “Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.”
As a citizen Eisenhower wrote letters in favor of nuclear arms control treaties. Each of us as citizens can also do our part to build peace. You can write letters to the President and Congress encouraging disarmament treaties on nuclear weapons.
We can each advocate for a treaty between the United States and Russia that reduces nuclear arsenals from the current thousands into the hundreds. This would be a major step forward in disarmament, and encourage diplomacy to prevent nuclear war. This is especially urgent with the war in Ukraine and threats from Russia to use nuclear weapons there.
In 1996 Eisenhower’s presidential aide, General Andrew Goodpaster, advocated for the deep reduction in nuclear arsenals by the U.S. and Russia. We would all feel safer if the nuclear states would reduce their arsenals, and hopefully someday eliminate them.
Another initiative that Eisenhower started, a treaty banning nuclear testing, still has yet to be achieved. You could write to the U.S. Senate asking them to finally ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Another one of Eisenhower’s achievements as President was the creation of the Food for Peace program. To this day, Food for Peace is the main U.S tool that feeds the world’s hungry.
Funding from Food for Peace is given to the UN World Food Program, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and other charities to help them feed the hungry.
Food for Peace is needed more than ever today with the worst hunger crisis since the end of World War II. Famine is threatening Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burkina Faso and many other countries are in danger of famine as well.
You can support the Food for Peace mission by writing to your elected officials, urging an increase in funding. We can save many lives and build stability with Food for Peace.
Eisenhower had planned to disarm nuclear weapons and divert the savings into feeding the hungry and other programs benefiting mankind. That is a worthwhile goal that we all can continue to pursue.
William Lambers is the author of The Road to Peace and partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by the NY Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Newsweek, History News Network and many other news outlets.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.