Soul of an American President , livre ebook

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130 pages

English

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While there have been many biographies of Dwight D. Eisenhower that focus on his military career or the time of his presidency, none clearly explores the important role faith played both in his personal life and in his public policy. This despite the fact that he is the only US president to be baptized as a Christian while in office.Alan Sears and Craig Osten invite you on a journey that is unique in American history and is essential to understanding one of the most consequential, admired, and complex Americans of the 20th Century. The story begins in abject poverty in rural Texas, then travels through Kansas, West Point, two World Wars, and down Pennsylvania Avenue. This is the untold story of a man whose growing faith sustained him through the loss of a young son, marital difficulties, depression, career disappointments, and being witness to some of the worst atrocities humankind has devised. A man whose faith was based in his own sincere personal conviction, not out of a sense of political expediency or social obligation.You've met Dwight Eisenhower the soldier and Dwight Eisenhower the president. Now meet Dwight Eisenhower the man of faith.

Sujets

Lettres et linguistique

USA

Christianity

États-Unis

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	04 juin 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493417667
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0662€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Endorsements
“The best leaders are those who recognize that they’re not self-sufficient. The bigger the decision, the more we must rely on God for wisdom. Dwight Eisenhower learned that as a general and applied it as a president, quietly seeking insight through prayer, Bible reading, and godly counsel. That’s a recipe for success at any level.”
Jim Daly , president of Focus on the Family
“Historians have increasingly come to appreciate the outstanding performance of duty by Dwight D. Eisenhower as President of the United States. But little research and writing has been done about the religious background that sustained this exceptional leader through a life of distinguished service to his country. In The Soul of an American President , Alan Sears and Craig Osten reveal the fascinating spiritual history of a man who had to overcome daunting challenges, tragedy, and personal crises to ultimately become one of the nation’s most admired presidents. This inspiring and compelling book provides a new and more complete understanding of the inspiration and fundamental beliefs that led Eisenhower from a humble beginning to true greatness.”
Edwin Meese III , former attorney general of the United States
“Dwight Eisenhower is remembered as a man skilled in the arts of both war and peace, a leader whose instinctive civility is sorely missed in an age of bitter political acrimony. Biographers have captured many of Ike’s finest qualities, but they often overlook one of the cornerstones of his character: his guiding faith in a provident God. Alan Sears and Craig Osten have added that final, essential element to our understanding of the man in their superb and engaging book.”
Charles J. Chaput , OFMCap, archbishop of Philadelphia
“There are several fine biographies of Dwight D. Eisenhower. But until now, we lacked a biography zeroing in on the president and great war leader’s spiritual life. Kudos to Alan Sears, Craig Osten, and Ryan Cole for filling that gap. In The Soul of an American President , they provide a window into Ike’s life as a man of faith and explore the manifold ways his Christian convictions shaped the conduct of his presidency.”
Robert P. George , McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by Alan Sears and Craig Osten
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks .com
Ebook edition created 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1766-7
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016
Epigraph
Faith is the mightiest force that man has at his command. It impels human beings to greatness in thought and word and deed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Address at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Evanston, Illinois, August 19, 1954
Contents
Cover 1
Endorsements 2
Half Title Page 3
Title Page 5
Copyright Page 6
Epigraph 7
Acknowledgments 11
Introduction 13
1. The Plain People 25
2. The Watch Tower 37
3. The Road from Abilene 45
4. Little “Icky” 53
5. Perseverance 63
6. From MacArthur to Major General 77
7. Nothing We Can Do but Pray 97
8. The Approach to the Presidency 109
9. Spiritual Renewal 119
10. The President and the Pastor 137
11. Spiritual Weapons for the Cold War 147
12. Spiritual Weapons for Civil Rights 167
13. A Continued Commitment 179
14. “God Take Me” 195
Epilogue 205
Notes 213
Back Ads 239
Back Cover 241
Acknowledgments
T he authors wish to acknowledge and thank the following individuals, without whose contributions this book would not have been possible:
Tim Goeglein, for his encouragement, enthusiasm, and vision for this project.
Ryan Cole, for his work on this project, including visiting the Eisenhower presidential library to secure key source documents, and providing editorial assistance on several chapters.
Rev. John Boyles, for his tireless research that uncovered new insights into Ike’s spiritual journey. This included the twenty-five items of unpublished, private correspondence between Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower and Rev. Robert A. MacAskill DD, their Gettysburg pastor and friend between 1958 and 1979, provided by Mrs. Linda MacAskill, as well as the correspondence between Dwight Eisenhower and Rev. Edward L. R. Elson DD.
John Harding, for his administrative support in the early days of this project.
Elise Gillson, for her administrative support as this project neared completion and her proofing of the final manuscript.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, for the incredible treasure trove of materials made available to document Dwight Eisenhower’s faith journey.
The Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the National Park Service, for their welcome assistance with private and public tours to view the site and materials.
Introduction
I t seemed like just another day in Washington, DC. The nation’s capital was buzzing with activity as people from across the nation and around the world visited the monuments honoring the heroes of America’s past: Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.
Yet at the White House things were quiet as Fred Seaton, the current Secretary of the Interior, arrived for another day’s work.
As he entered the White House, where every president except Washington had resided, Seaton, like so many others, might have reflected on the history that had taken place in the building.
It was here that Lincoln paced the halls, often late at night, during the bloodiest days of the Civil War. It was here that other presidents—Madison, Polk, McKinley, Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt—made the difficult decisions to put young Americans in harm’s way. For each of these leaders, these decisions were never easy, were always costly, and often had worldwide impact.
On this particular morning, Seaton stepped briefly into the Oval Office. Here he encountered something at once extraordinary and commonplace, something that shocked him—but at the same time made perfect sense. He found a man kneeling in prayer beside a desk. However, this was no ordinary man. This was arguably the most powerful man in the world: the President of the United States.
The secretary, embarrassed by his intrusion, quickly pardoned himself and left the room. However, as he went about his work that day, and each day following, Seaton was heartened by knowing that the president, facing a difficult and complex decision about sending troops to the Far East to deal with another potential international crisis, was on his knees.
Was the secretary’s discovery the stuff of fiction, as some historians like to say? Apparently not. According to Seaton’s account, this episode unfolded one morning in 1957 during the presidency of Dwight David Eisenhower—or “Ike.” 1

In January 1953, just days after his inauguration as the thirty-fourth President of the United States, Ike stepped out of the White House to make his way to the historic National Presbyterian Church on Connecticut Avenue.
The temperature was in the high 50s. 2 Despite the springlike air, Ike’s wife, Mamie, had come down with a nasty cold and reluctantly agreed to stay home. So Ike walked the few blocks by himself to do something many men are reluctant to do without their spouse: attend church. 3
Designed by famed architect Henry Hobson Richardson and constructed in the 1880s, the decade before Ike’s birth, the magnificent church possessed a long spiritual heritage. The history of the congregation went back much further, nearly to America’s founding. In fact, the congregation’s first worshipers—a group of Scottish stonemasons building the White House—met in a much humbler location: a work shed on the grounds of the Executive Mansion. 4
The church membership had grown well beyond those five artisans and their work shed. When he stepped through the doors that morning, Ike knew he was joining a congregation with a long heritage that had seen most previous United States presidents attend worship services and much American history unfold. Several other presidents, including James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Benjamin Harrison, had been part of the congregation. 5 In the church’s previous building, parishioners had heard Frederick Douglass preach passionately from its pulpit on the need for all men to be free. 6 The church’s pastor at the time, Reverend Byron Sunderland, was an abolitionist who also served as Chaplain of the US Senate during the Civil War and was a friend of Abraham Lincoln.
The pastor of National Presbyterian Church in 1953 represented a different period in American history: Dr. Edward L. R. Elson was a former US Army chaplain who had served under Ike during World War II.
On this Sunday morning in late January, as he sat directly behind former President Benjamin Harrison’s old pew, Pew 41, Ike listened to the words of Dr. Elson as he talked about Saul of Tarsus, better known as the apostle Paul, whom Dr. Elson said, “encountered the living Christ and was transformed into a crusading evangelist of the gospel.” 7 It is impossible to know exactly what Ike was thinking. Perhaps he was struck, as he listened to Dr. Elson speak, by the similarities between his own life path and that of the apostle.
Ike’s had been a winding path, starting in abject poverty first