In the fall of 1949, during the early days of McCarthyism, Dwight D. Eisenhower rejected the emerging partisan extremes in American politics: “The frightened, the defeated, the coward, and the knave run to the flanks, straggling out of the battle under the cover of slogans, false formulas, and appeals to passion—a welcome sight to an alert enemy.”
Then-president of Columbia University, Eisenhower called for his audience of lawyers at the American Bar Association to pursue “progress down the center,” balancing anti-communism and the defense of individual freedoms with the need for global partnerships and investments in economic development. Criticizing both the hawks and the doves in the early Cold War, Eisenhower advocated a careful balance between force and diplomacy, what he called “the truly creative area in which we may obtain agreement for constructive social action compatible with basic American principles.”
