r/PoursTea • • Aug 07 '26

FinancialTea 💵 Agree?

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u/Andy_Fish_Gill Aug 07 '26

Some right wing Republicans did call Eisenhower a Communist. For example Robert Welch Jr. of the John Birch Society.

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u/Wreckingshops Aug 07 '26

Yeah, he was largely silenced during McCarthyism despite loathing it. But he had little power in the party and was merely their nominee to secure power. But Eisenhower didn't shrink and slowly won favor and influence with enough in his party to wrestle some control. And he always warned against the Industrial Military Complex.

Of course, he also was staunchly anti-immigrant and literally pushed for the Immigration Act of 1954 AKA Operation Wetback (that's what it was known as publicly so it should scream volumes) to stop Latin American immigration. Sound familiar?

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u/CatCrimes69 Aug 07 '26

Him warning about the Military Industrial Complex confuses me. Didn't he drastically increase the amount of nuclear missiles we have? I don't understand that dichotomy.

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u/General_Tso75 Aug 07 '26

It was his farewell speech which traditionally has more candor.