How to Deal with a Lying, Bullying Demagogue
Once there was a demagogue who managed to capture high office in the United States. He lied, he bullied, and his antics tied the U.S. government in knots for years. Luckily, the man in charge at the time, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, knew how to deal with someone like Senator Joseph McCarthy. The story of how Ike did it has something to tell us today.
On the surface, it seemed unlikely that Ike could handle an unscrupulous adversary like McCarthy. McCarthy was shameless, broke the rules, and didn’t hesitate at underhanded or deceitful tactics. Ike seemed genial and mild-mannered and historians can be forgiven for wondering if Ike was a little out of his depth. He seemed like Grant, who had been successful as a soldier but naive as a president. And for many years, the common interpretation was that Ike sat on the sidelines of the fight — smiling and ineffectual — while braver men, like Edward R. Murrow, led the charge against McCarthy.
But an excellent biography, Ike and McCarthy by David A. Nichols, convincingly disproves the notion that Ike was disengaged. In fact, Ike was instrumental in the fight against McCarthy and played the key role in bringing about his undoing. Ike’s resources, it turns out, were largely hidden. His career in the military (and probably his upbringing in Kansas) had uniquely armed him with the temperament and…
