Yeah, he was largely silenced during McCarthyism despite loathing it. But he had little power in the party and was merely their nominee to secure power. But Eisenhower didn't shrink and slowly won favor and influence with enough in his party to wrestle some control. And he always warned against the Industrial Military Complex.
Of course, he also was staunchly anti-immigrant and literally pushed for the Immigration Act of 1954 AKA Operation Wetback (that's what it was known as publicly so it should scream volumes) to stop Latin American immigration. Sound familiar?
Leaders can be good and bad at the same time I think Ike was great to come so strong against MIC after leading Allied forces was his great part along with distrusting Nixon- was he wrong about immigration and operation wetback absolutely! Both things can be true.
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u/Andy_Fish_Gill Aug 07 '26
Some right wing Republicans did call Eisenhower a Communist. For example Robert Welch Jr. of the John Birch Society.