DWIGHT EISENHOWER: LITTLE ROCK 9
By Andre Austin
President Dwight Eisenhower has been plagued with long standing rumors he had drops of negro blood running in his veins. The superstar afrocentritic historian J.A. Rogers in his book , The Five Negro Presidents, claimed Eisenhower’s mother was either a quadroon or octoroon. I’ve saw pictures of Ida Stover- Eisenhower when she was young, and god damnnn she looks like somebody jumped over the fence in her family tree. Incidentally, pieces of her family tree aren’t in existence either. Eisenhower could have passed in appearance right along with Homer Plessy who demanded to sit anywhere on public transportation in the 1880’s in New Orleans way before there was a Rosa Parks.
President Barack Obama in an appearance on The View (August 2010)wish that people would also ask about whites who had blacks in their families. I took it that he was by inference suggesting their was other presidents who might have had black blood in their roots.
Did Eisenhower integrate Little Rock high school in Arkansas because he felt a little sympathy for blacks because he knew his mother had blacks in her family? Who knows. Also in 1957 Eisenhower passed a civil rights bill giving blacks the right to vote but unfortunately it had no teeth. I do not know Eisenhower’s motivations I can only examine his speeches and letters. Eisenhower wrote a personal letter to a friend: “There must be respect for the Constitution-which means the Supreme Courts interpretation of the Constitution-or we shall have chaos…this I believe with all my heart”. However, Eisenhower didn’t agree with the decision and felt it would set the South back 15 years. It appears Eisenhower political (public) and personal (private) views were at odds. Eisenhower was a former General so when Gov. Orval Faubus used the national guard to turn away black students to defy the rule of law was the last straw for Eisenhower. Martin Luther king wrote: “Gandhi not only spoke against the caste system but he acted against it. He took “untouchables” by the hand and led them into the temples from which they had been excluded. To equal that, President Eisenhower would take a negro child by the hand and lead her into Central High School in Little Rock”. Now to be fair Eisenhower did testify in Congress against integrating the military but this doesn’t mean he was a racist, just wanted order and strict discipline in the military. That would be like saying general Colin Powell was anti-gay for supporting “Don’t ask don’t tell” a position he has changed in favor of gays serving openly in the military.
My interest in Dwight Eisenhower sparked because my middle name came from him. Eisenhower died in 1969 the year I was born. In honor of Eisenhower work my family bestowed upon me his name to go on my birth certificate.
By Andre Austin
President Dwight Eisenhower has been plagued with long standing rumors he had drops of negro blood running in his veins. The superstar afrocentritic historian J.A. Rogers in his book , The Five Negro Presidents, claimed Eisenhower’s mother was either a quadroon or octoroon. I’ve saw pictures of Ida Stover- Eisenhower when she was young, and god damnnn she looks like somebody jumped over the fence in her family tree. Incidentally, pieces of her family tree aren’t in existence either. Eisenhower could have passed in appearance right along with Homer Plessy who demanded to sit anywhere on public transportation in the 1880’s in New Orleans way before there was a Rosa Parks.
President Barack Obama in an appearance on The View (August 2010)wish that people would also ask about whites who had blacks in their families. I took it that he was by inference suggesting their was other presidents who might have had black blood in their roots.
Did Eisenhower integrate Little Rock high school in Arkansas because he felt a little sympathy for blacks because he knew his mother had blacks in her family? Who knows. Also in 1957 Eisenhower passed a civil rights bill giving blacks the right to vote but unfortunately it had no teeth. I do not know Eisenhower’s motivations I can only examine his speeches and letters. Eisenhower wrote a personal letter to a friend: “There must be respect for the Constitution-which means the Supreme Courts interpretation of the Constitution-or we shall have chaos…this I believe with all my heart”. However, Eisenhower didn’t agree with the decision and felt it would set the South back 15 years. It appears Eisenhower political (public) and personal (private) views were at odds. Eisenhower was a former General so when Gov. Orval Faubus used the national guard to turn away black students to defy the rule of law was the last straw for Eisenhower. Martin Luther king wrote: “Gandhi not only spoke against the caste system but he acted against it. He took “untouchables” by the hand and led them into the temples from which they had been excluded. To equal that, President Eisenhower would take a negro child by the hand and lead her into Central High School in Little Rock”. Now to be fair Eisenhower did testify in Congress against integrating the military but this doesn’t mean he was a racist, just wanted order and strict discipline in the military. That would be like saying general Colin Powell was anti-gay for supporting “Don’t ask don’t tell” a position he has changed in favor of gays serving openly in the military.
My interest in Dwight Eisenhower sparked because my middle name came from him. Eisenhower died in 1969 the year I was born. In honor of Eisenhower work my family bestowed upon me his name to go on my birth certificate.