Let me tell you about my second favorite Republican. But first…

During the four years I worked as a staffer for Colorado’s senior member in the upper chamber, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, I organized the senator’s service academy nomination program. One of the very rewarding things about being elected to the House or Senate is the ability to nominate outstanding young people to attend West Point, the Naval Academy, the Merchant Marine Academy, and of course Colorado’s own U.S. Air Force Academy. Interestingly, the Coast Guard Academy does not use congressional nominations in their admissions process, but the competition for the other academies is keen, with remarkable young people aspiring to serve their country in military uniforms.

My job was to organize the applicants, and to set up interviews at a half dozen locations around the state, where we’d ask local civic leaders to interview each nominee, and to then make recommendations to Bennet. After the senator selected his nominees to each academy, a final task of mine was to set up a reception in the Denver area where each nominee and his or her families could come and meet Bennet at a reception, where he congratulated them on their selection and wished them the very best for their futures.

Guess who had to find the venue? Yup, me. 

I searched for a place that was fitting and had a military tradition, and I was delighted to find the Eisenhower Chapel on the grounds of the former Lowry Air Force base. This charming chapel was part of the active Air Force from 1937 until the base closed in 1994. And it was named after Dwight D. Eisenhower – “Ike” to friends and foes alike –  because he often visited what was then called the “Summer White House” at Lowry (and, of course, its associated golf courses), with the Eisenhowers often attending church services at the chapel.  It’s lovely, and you should visit it sometime after the COVID-19 problems have ebbed.

You may have guessed by now that my second favorite Republican is the aforementioned President Eisenhower, a man possessing great honor and gravitas, as well as strong Colorado connections.

My favorite Republican – and I respectfully suggest he should be yours as well – is Abraham Lincoln. But Ike is a strong second for me. It’s not just that he was president when I was born in the late 1950s. It is also about his life’s commitment to service to nation and his calm and reasoned policy making, which contrasts sharply with the most recent Republican to occupy the White House.

Eisenhower was, of course, a career military man. Graduating from West Point in 1915, he served in the Army for decades, ultimately retiring as a five-star general, the highest possible American military rank. His service continued as the 34th president, elected twice, and he attended chapel services on Lowry. Visitors to the chapel will find a wealth of photographs and memorabilia of Ike and his beloved wife Mamie.

And so, as an Ike fan, it was a pleasure to find his own chapel as a venue for helping to inspire the next generation of military leaders, nominated by Sen. Bennet. But, as I am awash with historical bliss, I can’t help but wonder how Eisenhower would do in today’s politics.  

Not well, I fear.

President Eisenhower was a proud Republican, but that term appears to have meant something very different than it does to Donald Trump. Ike considered himself a fiscal conservative, yet he left many of FDR’s New Deal programs in place. Ike called it “modern Republicanism,” and saw it as halfway between the Democrats and the more “traditional” Republicans of his day. He expanded Social Security and avoided tax cuts due to their impact on a balanced budget. Ike oversaw one of the largest federal building programs of all time, the interstate highway system. He created NASA and oh, he presided over a 91% upper tax rate, which didn’t seem to keep the 1950s from being boom years.

Look, I understand that a nation evolves over time, as do political parties. I very much doubt that Eisenhower could get the Republican nomination for president these days. I also can’t imagine Ike tweeting out messages in support of, well, insurrection or at least civil disobedience, to residents of states with Democratic governors. I can’t image Ike stating that he takes no responsibility at all for actions taken by his administration. I truly can’t imagine Ike telling governors to buy their own pandemic supplies, only to have his own federal government swoop in and buy out the needed items. And I can’t imagine Ike, if asked about how to inspire America, to respond with an attack on the reporter and the concept of a free and open press.

I like Ike. And, by the way, that was printed on his campaign buttons. While times change and leaders must change with them, there are fundamental principles of honor and honesty that should, I posit, remain unchanged across the years. If you want to see how honor used to be central to the national Republican Party, you need go no farther than Colorado’s Eisenhower Chapel. To find evidence of such honor today, I suggest you skip any planned stop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It doesn’t live there now.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.