Back in the early 70's, I asked my Mom ,why she voted Republican.

[OAITW r.2.0]

She said Dwight Eisenhower.


That train left the station a long time ago...............

[Karadeniz]

1. The last decent one.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. If they were as good as he was, hell, I'd probably vote R too! But they are NOT THAT GOOD. n/t

[SCantiGOP]

5. If Ike were in politics today

The question would be whether he belonged in the centrist or conservative wing of the Democratic Party. He sure as hell wouldn’t be a Republican.

[Mme. Defarge]

3. Yes, we liked Ike.

I’m ashamed to say that back in the day Nixon, for me, was not a bridge too far. But a “B”
actor? Switched parties, never looked back.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Point is, I get her thinking now.

She was a product of WW2, but didn't serve, because she was too young.

In many ways Ike was a socialist....he understood who made the sacrifice - every guy served in the war.

[RockRaven]

4. My Depression-raised family members were FDR Democrats until they died (in their 90s)...

even though they were ultra-pious Catholics and rabidly anti-abortion. They HATED Reagan and both Bushes even though political parties aside they would probably have felt right at home with the Moral Majority types.

I once saw a statistic/factoid that people who vote for the same party in the first 2 POTUS elections they vote in are more likely than not (by some number I forget) to vote that party in POTUS elections for the rest of their life.

[kimbutgar]

7. My African American grandfather was an FDR Democrat

But he voted for Eisenhower in the 50’s. My father didn’t talk to his father for 2 weeks because he voted for a republican. He was the last decent republican.

[Caliman73]

8. Adlai Stevenson would have been better.

Everybody "liked Ike" because of WWII and he was like grandpa but Adlai Stevenson would not have let the CIA depose Mossedegh in Iran, install the Shah, and we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today.

[retread]

10. Yes!!

[OAITW r.2.0]

13. Perhaps, but that is speculation.

There would have been a whole different reality created that could have been better or worse under Stevenson.

Thing is, Eisenhower was a pretty damn good transitional President from the era of WW2. He got the plight of the average person, and he got the sacrifices they made to win the war. His record on interstate transportation was based on the need to modernize and monetize interstate commerce, but also to prepare for a WW3. It changed the way we grew as a country.

I have posted, more than once, about the 1952 and 1956 Republican platform. It explains how he influenced the Party and promoted a left-of-Bernie domestic agenda. Why, because he understood the compact made by country and society,

[scarytomcat]

9. Nixon

That is all

[Caliman73]

11. My dad voted for Nixon

His reasoning is that Nixon got us out of Vietnam. The sad thing is that prior to JFK being assassinated, he was planning to withdraw all US troops from Vietnam. LBJ got his ego involved and escalated the conflict, but was starting negotiations to get us out prior the 1968 election. Nixon scuttled the negotiations and prolonged the war by another 5 years to win the 68 election.

A very simplistic difference between the modern Democratic Party (FDR and on) and the Republican party, is that Democrats want government to work for mostly everyone, and while nobody really likes taxes, Democrats understand that they are necessary for a functioning society. Republicans think government should only work for the "deserving" and they know who the "deserving" are.

[OAITW r.2.0]

12. Totally agree.

To be a national Republican Congressperson today ,means 2 things-

(1) Vote, without questioning, the Republican line
(2) Get whatever you can, just don't get caught.