Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:12:53.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eisenhower's 1955 heart attack: Medical treatment, political effects, and the “behind the scenes” leadership style

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Robert E. Gilbert
Robert E. Gilbert*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science 319 Meserve Hall Northeastern University Boston, MA 02115 [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

During his first term as President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered several serious illnesses. Particularly important was the massive heart attack he experienced in the fall of 1955. Drawing on primary sources as well as prior scholarship, this article analyzes varying interpretations of Eisenhower's 1955 medical treatment in light of his previous illnesses and their management. It explores the handling of public disclosure by the White House, by Eisenhower himself, and by his medical team. And it reconsiders Republican strategists' efforts to allay public concerns about the President's health. Current understanding is called into question in several respects. Although it sharpened speculation about his fitness and willingness to run in the 1956 presidential campaign, the 1955 heart attack made Eisenhower more likely, rather than less likely, to run. Although often sick, and in several instances critically so, Eisenhower was clearly the dominant player — intentionally “behind the scenes” — both in the management of his illnesses and in the health-perceptual aspects of his drive toward a second term. These findings should lead us to a better reading of Eisenhower as a president and to a better appreciation of health's linkage to legacy in presidential politics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 2 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Wukovits, John, Eisenhower (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 170.Google Scholar
2. Eisenhower, John S. D., General Ike (New York: Free Press, 2003), p. 107.Google Scholar
3. Genovese, Michael A., The Presidential Dilemma (New York: Longman, 2003), p. 7.Google Scholar
4. Boyle, Peter G., Eisenhower (New York: Pearson-Longman, 2005), p. 66.Google Scholar
5. Brown, John Mason, Through These Men (New York: Harper and Row, 1956), p. 88.Google Scholar
6. Ewald, William Bragg, Eisenhower the President (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981), p. 179.Google Scholar
7. Eisenhower, Dwight D., Mandate for Change (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1963), p. 571.Google Scholar
8. Eisenhower, Dwight D., Papers as President of the United States, Ann Whitman file, Name Series, box 12, “Eisenhower, Dr. Milton S.,” 1955 (1) (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library).Google Scholar
9. Snyder, Howard McCrum, Papers, box 11, “Draft on DDE's Heart Attack,” September, 1955 (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library), p. 3.Google Scholar
10. Eisenhower, Dwight D., Mandate for Change , p. 536.Google Scholar
11. Snyder, , Papers, box 11, “Draft on DDE's Heart Attack,” p. 4.Google Scholar
12. Mattingly, Thomas, A Compilation of the General Health Status of Dwight D. Eisenhower, box 1, “Cardiovascular System” — part 1, addenda, p. 18 (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library).Google Scholar
13. Gilbert, Robert E., The Mortal Presidency: Illness and Anguish in the White House (New York: Fordham University Press, 1998), p. 88.Google Scholar
14. Eisenhower, Susan, Mrs. Ike (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996), p. 288.Google Scholar
15. Gilbert, , The Mortal Presidency , p. 88.Google Scholar
16. Post, Jerrold M. and Robins, Robert S., When Illness Strikes the Leader (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993), p. 16.Google Scholar
17. Nixon, Richard M., Six Crises (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1962), pp. 137–138.Google Scholar
18. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular System” — part I, addenda, p. 33.Google Scholar
19. Lasby, Clarence, Eisenhower's Heart Attack (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997), p. 103.Google Scholar
20. Lasby, , p. 111.Google Scholar
21. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular System,” part 1, p. 40.Google Scholar
22. Hagerty, James C., Papers, box 43, “James C. Hagerty's Press Conferences, September 24 to October 8, 1955,” p. 1 (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library).Google Scholar
23. Snyder, , box 11, “Draft on DDE's Heart Attack,” p. 17.Google Scholar
24. Ambrose, Stephen E., Eisenhower , Vol. 2 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984), p. 271.Google Scholar
25. Brendon, Piers, Ike (New York: Harper and Row, 1986), p. 313.Google Scholar
26. Paul Dudley White, My Life and Medicine (Boston: Gambit Press, 1971), pp. 178–179.Google Scholar
27. Snyder, , box 11, “Draft on DDE's Heart Attack,” p. 28.Google Scholar
28. Hagerty, , box 43, “James C. Hagerty's Press Conferences,” September 24 to October 8, 1955, pp. 1, 3.Google Scholar
29. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular System” — part 1, addenda, p. 20.Google Scholar
30. Snyder, , box 11, “Draft on DDE's Heart Attack,” p. 30.Google Scholar
31. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular System,” part I, addenda, p. 22.Google Scholar
32. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular system,” part II, addenda, pp. 1–4.Google Scholar
33. Mattingly, , box 3, “Cardiovascular System,” part VIII, p. 15.Google Scholar
34. Lasby, , p. 138.Google Scholar
35. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular System,” Part II, addenda, p. 25.Google Scholar
36. Gilbert, , The Mortal Presidency , p. 109.Google Scholar
37. Lasby, , p. 122.Google Scholar
38. Hagerty, James C., Oral History (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, 1968), p. 296.Google Scholar
39. Donovan, Robert J., Eisenhower: The Inside Story (New York: Harper, 1956), p. 367.Google Scholar
40. White, , p. 181.Google Scholar
41. Eisenhower, , Mandate for Change , p. 538.Google Scholar
42. Kessel, John H., Presidents, the Presidency and the Political Environment (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2001), p. 75.Google Scholar
43. Jackson, C. D., Papers, box 56, “Time Inc. File Log — 1955” (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library).Google Scholar
44. Wicker, Tom, Dwight D. Eisenhower (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), p. 84.Google Scholar
45. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiovascular System,” part I, pp. 5, 27, 40–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
46. Miller, Merle, Ike the Soldier (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1987), p. 40.Google Scholar
47. Ambrose, , Eisenhower , p. 275.Google Scholar
48. Eisenhower, Dwight D., At Ease (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967), p. 355.Google Scholar
49. Snyder, , box 11, “Draft on DDE 1951” (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library), p. 176.Google Scholar
50. Mattingly, , box 1, “General Health,” pp. 91–92.Google Scholar
51. Mattingly, , box 1, “General Health,” p. 92.Google Scholar
52. The Diary of James C. Hagerty , Ferrell, Robert H., ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983), p. 238.Google Scholar
53. Ambrose, , Eisenhower , p. 278.Google Scholar
54. Gilbert, , The Mortal Presidency , p. 93.Google Scholar
55. Snyder, , box 7, “Medical Diary re DDE,” September 24 to December 31, 1955 (Abilene, KS: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library).Google Scholar
56. Eisenhower, , Mandate for Change , p. 544.Google Scholar
57. Ambrose, , Eisenhower , p. 272.Google Scholar
58. Nixon, , Six Crises , p. 154.Google Scholar
59. Ferrell, Robert H., Ill-Advised (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992), p. 80.Google Scholar
60. Gallup, George H., The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935–1971 (New York: Random House, 1972), p. 1382.Google Scholar
61. Blazer, Dan G. M.D., Depression in Late Life (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2002), pp. 310–311.Google Scholar
62. Wolpert, Lewis, Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression (New York: Free Press, 1999), p. 60.Google Scholar
63. O'Connor, Richard, Active Treatment of Depression (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), p. 228.Google Scholar
64. Richardson, Elmo, The Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (Lawrence: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1979), p. 88.Google Scholar
65. Gray, Robert Keith, Eighteen Acres under Glass (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1962), p. 204.Google Scholar
66. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1956 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office), p. 191.Google Scholar
67. Kinnard, Douglas, Eisenhower: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century (Washington, D.C.: Brassey's Inc., 2002), p. 78.Google Scholar
68. Hagerty, , Oral History , p. 314.Google Scholar
69. Perret, Geoffrey, Eisenhower (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 596.Google Scholar
70. Nixon, , Six Crises , p. 152.Google Scholar
71. Adams, Sherman, Firsthand Report (New York: Harper, 1961), p. 220.Google Scholar
72. Ambrose, , Eisenhower , Vol. 2, p. 288.Google Scholar
73. Greenstein, Fred I., The Hidden-Hand Presidency , (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), p. 46.Google Scholar
74. Ambrose, , Eisenhower , Vol. 2, p. 276.Google Scholar
75. Ferrell, , The Diary of James C. Hagerty , pp. 240–245.Google Scholar
76. Ferrell, , The Diary of James C. Hagerty , pp. 242–245.Google Scholar
77. Ambrose, , Eisenhower , Vol. 2, p. 285.Google Scholar
78. Eisenhower, , Mandate for Change , p. 572.Google Scholar
79. Lasby, , pp. 173–174.Google Scholar
80. Greenstein, , The Hidden-Hand Presidency , p. 257, n. 65.Google Scholar
81. Nixon, , Six Crises , p. 161.Google Scholar
82. Greenstein, , The Hidden Hand Presidency .Google Scholar
83. Cook, Blanche Wiesen, The Declassified Eisenhower (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1981).Google Scholar
84. Farrell, , The Diary of James C. Hagerty , p. 239.Google Scholar
85. Lasby, , pp. 192, 150.Google Scholar
86. Eisenhower Papers, Press Conference Series, box 4, “Press Conference (Dr. White), 2/14/56.” Google Scholar
87. Lasby, , p. 171.Google Scholar
88. Mattingly, , box 1, “General Health,” p. 94.Google Scholar
89. Eisenhower Papers, Press Conference Series, box 4, p. 11.Google Scholar
90. Perret, , p. 78.Google Scholar
91. Eisenhower, Dwight D., At Ease (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967), p. 181.Google Scholar
92. D'Este, Carlo, Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), p. 171.Google Scholar
93. Brownell, Herbert, Advising Ike , (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), p. 117.Google Scholar
94. Mattingly, , box 3, “Gastrointestinal System” — part II, addenda 1–11 (Abilene, KS: Dwight David Eisenhower Library), pp. 8–10.Google Scholar
95. Gilbert, , The Mortal Presidency , 1998, p. 100.Google Scholar
96. Halberstam, David, The Fifties (New York: Villard Books, 1993), p. 701.Google Scholar
97. McDonald, Thomas T. and Monteleone, Giovanni, “Overview of the role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease,” in Immune Mechanisms in Inflammatory Bowel Disease , Blumberg, Richard S. and Neurath, Markus F., eds. (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2006), p. 98.Google Scholar
98. Perret, , p. 535.Google Scholar
99. Hagerty Papers, box 45, “James C. Hagerty's Press Conferences,” June 8 to July 15, 1956 (1).Google Scholar
100. Adams, , p. 194.Google Scholar
101. Frederick Morrow, E., Black Man in the White House (New York: Coward-McCann, 1963), p. 77.Google Scholar
102. Lodge, Henry Cabot, As It Was (New York: W. W. Norton, 1976), p. 195.Google Scholar
103. Cutler, Robert, No Time for Rest (Boston: Little Brown, 1965), p. 343.Google Scholar
104. Nixon, , Six Crises , p. 168.Google Scholar
105. Papers, Eisenhower, Ann Whiteman Diary Series, box 8, “June 1956 Diary.” Google Scholar
106. Eisenhower, John S. D., Strictly Personal (New York: Doubleday, 1974), p. 187.Google Scholar
107. Nixon, , Six Crises , p. 169.Google Scholar
108. Snyder, , box 1, “Medical Diary re DDE,” January 1 to September 30, 1956 (1).Google Scholar
109. Eisenhower, Dwight D., Waging Peace (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965), p. 14.Google Scholar
110. Martin, Joe, My First Fifty Years in Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960), pp. 172–174.Google Scholar
111. Gilbert, Robert E., “The Eisenhower Campaign of 1952: War Hero as Television Candidate,” Political Communication and Persuasion 1986, 3(3).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
112. Hughes, Emmet John, The Ordeal of Power (New York: Atheneum, 1963), p. 198.Google Scholar
113. Cutler, , pp. 280, 282.Google Scholar
114. Hughes, , p. 22.Google Scholar
115. Greenstein, Fred I., The Presidential Difference (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004), p. 46.Google Scholar
116. Eisenhower, John S. D., General Ike , p. 219.Google Scholar
117. Kinnard, , p. 64.Google Scholar
118. Greenstein, Fred, “Eisenhower's Leadership Style,” in Eisenhower: A Centenary Assessment , Bischof, Gunter and Ambrose, Stephen, eds. (Baton Rouge, LA.: Louisiana State University, 1995), pp. 59–60.Google Scholar
119. Lasby, , p. 236.Google Scholar
120. Mattingly, , box 1, “Cardiac System,” part III, p. 10.Google Scholar
121. Hughes, , p. 199.Google Scholar
122. Lasby, , p. 237.Google Scholar
123. Snyder, , box 1, “Medical Diary re DDE,” October 1 to December 31, 1956.Google Scholar
124. Mattingly, , box 1, “General Health,” p. 97.Google Scholar
125. Hughes, , pp. 228, 196.Google Scholar
126. New York Times , November 6, 1956, p.1.Google Scholar
127. Lasby, , p. 238.Google Scholar
128. Hughes, , p. 214.Google Scholar
129. Fenton, John H., In Your Opinion (Boston: Little Brown, 1960), p. 128.Google Scholar
130. Genovese, Michael A., The Power of the American Presidency 1789–2000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 148.Google Scholar
131. Broadwater, Jeff, Eisenhower and the Anti-Communist Crusade (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), p. 192.Google Scholar
132. Slater, Ellis D., The Ike I Knew (Ellis D. Slater Trust, 1980), p. 130.Google Scholar
133. Eisenhower Papers, Press Conference Series, box 4, “Press Conference 1/8/56,” p. 2.Google Scholar
134. Hughes, , p. 329.Google Scholar
135. Eisenhower, , Mandate for Change , p. 571.Google Scholar
136. Lasby, , p. 64.Google Scholar
137. Lasby, , pp. 205, 209.Google Scholar
138. Greenstein, , The Presidential Difference, p. 56.Google Scholar
139. Kellerman, Barbara, The Political Presidency (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 3.Google Scholar
140. Presidential Studies Quarterly , Spring 1995, p. 376.Google Scholar