I Liked Ike
Dwight D. Eisenhower, a heroic general in World War Two
Elected thirty-fourth President of the USA in 1952
Fondly remembered as an American Golden Age
His era had its fair share of turbulence and rage
on both the domestic and international stage
In Ike's first term Senator Joe McCarthy ruled the roost
witch-hunting alleged Commie sympathizers
accusing them of giving the USSR a boost
Then after Ike's landslide re-election
racial politics veered in an ugly direction
Ike sent Federal troops to an Arkansas high school in September of 1957
to enforce desegregation, the law of the land--by judicial fiat was he driven
With the Soviet Union Ike opted for containment, not confrontation
choosing to condemn, but not to stop, the USSR's Hungarian invasion
When Russia's first satellite launch, Sputnik
drove the American new media ballistic
Ike calmly launched NASA and stayed optimistic
A man of deeds over words, Ike was a classic conservative
Limited spending plus tax cuts, his prinicipled preservatives
Before leaving office, Ike warned us
about massive military spending --
in tandem with rising budget deficits
our fiscal freedom would soon be ending
In hindsight, we can see that Ike clearly was right
to stress the perils of unbridled military might
By the time prescient Ike passed away in 1969
Americans were protesting Vietnam* ~ or in its jungles dying
*the War in Vietnam
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