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| Above, Eisenhower and Reagan. |
It is interesting to note in American political history that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a friend and fan of then-Governor Ronald Reagan of California.
From the Washington Examiner:
A footnote in a book about Ronald Reagan led Gene Kopelson to drop by the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, in the fall of 2012. Kopelson is a physician, not an academically trained historian. But he had begun research on Reagan's presidential run in 1968, a campaign to which historians have paid little attention and Reagan himself never counted as his first bid for the White House.
The author of the footnote was Kiron Skinner, a Reagan scholar at the Hoover Institution. It pointed to a connection between Reagan and former president Dwight D. Eisenhower during the 1960s when Reagan was running for governor of California and, later, having won the election, was considering a presidential race. Kopelson was intrigued. He lives in Seattle and spends half the year in medicine, half pursuing his interest in history. He had planned a trip east along I-70. It would take him to three places in Missouri—the Truman Library in Independence, the scene of Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, and Mark Twain's hometown in Hannibal—and to the Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.
Prompted by the footnote, Kopelson added an I-70 stop at the Eisenhower Museum, Library and Boyhood Home in Abilene. "I thought this would be a good thing to look at," he says. It was a history-making decision in the sense that Kopelson discovered the breadth of a little-known but historically significant episode in Reagan's path to the presidency.
When Dwight Eisenhower left the White House in 1961, he didn't divorce himself from politics. He worried about the future of the Republican party, and this led him to Reagan. From 1965 to 1968, he advised Reagan—and not just on foreign affairs and national security policy. His guidance also focused on the practical politics of running for office. Ike was the teacher, Reagan his pupil. They met in person four times, once at Ike's farm in Gettysburg and twice at the former president's winter home in Palm Desert, California. The fourth location is unknown—at least, Kopelson hasn't nailed it down. And they communicated by telephone and by mail.
In 1967, Reagan appeared in a television hookup with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy to discuss the image of America at the time with international students who were quite hostile to Reagan, Kennedy and the moderator, Charles Collingwood of CBS.
Reagan was seen as the victor in this "debate" and Kennedy was seen as floundering. Kennedy and Reagan didn't debate each other, but rather with some "petulant brats". It is interesting that Eisenhower prepped Reagan for the program.
According to American Magazine:
Ronald Reagan and Bobby Kennedy would finally cross paths on a more personal level five years later, by way of a television hookup in May 1967. Both men (in separate studios, Reagan in Sacramento and Kennedy in Washington, D.C.) were to “debate” each other and a panel of international college students from a studio in London. By that time, Reagan was governor of California and Kennedy was the U.S. senator from New York. The CBS program was called “Town Meeting of the World,” and the topic for discussion was “The Image of America and the Youth of the World.” The dialogue—such as it was—was a program of heated and often hostile questioning about the United States and its role in Vietnam.
In the aftermath, Reagan was judged the victor, with his poise, unflappability and knowledgeable recital of the facts at hand. (It didn’t hurt that in his “debate prep” he had former president Dwight D. Eisenhower to assist him.) For his part, Kennedy appeared unsure and hesitant. He knew that Reagan had bested him. The hostility from the students was palpable, not only toward the governor and the senator but also toward the moderator, CBS correspondent Charles Collingwood, and the lone American on the student panel, Princeton’s Bill Bradley (then studying at Oxford), who would later have a career in both basketball and politics.
Kennedy, following the telecast, was not pleased.
According to National Review:
Once an hour had passed, Chris Collingwood jumped in to mercifully stop the spectacle. Kennedy interrupted, requesting a final word. Stating that he was speaking on behalf of Reagan as well, he concluded with a patronizing statement about “how much we’ve enjoyed” the internationally broadcast inquisition and the importance of “dialogue,” which, of course, this discussion was not. Kennedy’s compliment was obviously untrue and even more obviously undeserved; this group of petulant brats had earned not gratitude but a good spanking. Embarrassingly, Reagan felt it necessary to second Kennedy’s gesture. On the plus side, perhaps both men showed these 19-year-old know-it-alls a thing or two about civility.
Reagan performed so well that his presidential boosters sought to use clips from the debate during the 1968 Oregon presidential primary, and requested a copy from CBS. Kennedy, however, reportedly did not want the video to be made available; CBS, naturally, acceded to his request. Kennedy himself conceded defeat to Reagan, telling his aides after the debate to never again put him on the same stage with “that son-of-a-bitch.” Kennedy was heard to ask immediately after the debate, “Who the f— got me into this?” Frank Mankiewitz was that aide, as Kennedy was quick to remind him a few weeks later: “You’re the guy who got me into that Reagan thing.”
The program is quite fascinating to watch.
Here's a video of it:
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