Dwight Eisenhower's Wisdom for the Middle East

Dwight Eisenhower, when he was running for re-election in 1956 and simultaneously trying to contain growing instability in the Middle East as a result of tensions between Israel and its neighbors, wrote a letter to an adviser as follows:

Of course, nothing in the region would be so difficult to solve except for the underlying cause of the unrest and dissension that exists there -- that is, the Arab-Israel quarrel. This quarrel seems to have no limit in either intensity or in scope. Everybody in the Moslem and Jewish worlds is affected by it. It is so intense that the second any action is taken against one Arab state, by an outsider, all the other Arab and Moslem states seem to regard it as a Jewish plot and react violently. All this complicates the situation enormously.

“As we began to uncover evidence that something was building up in Israel, we demanded pledges from Ben-Gurion that he would keep the peace. We realized that he might think he could take advantage of this country because of the approaching election and because of the importance that so many politicians in the past have attached to our Jewish vote. I gave strict orders to the State Department that they should inform Israel that we would handle our affairs exactly as though we didn't have a Jew in America. The welfare and best interests of our own country were to be the sole criteria on which we operated.”

Cited by Glenn Greenwalt

And to the Republic for Which It Stands

Very much I agree with your sentiments, but your use of 'republic' made me sorrowful. To counter the USSR in 1950, Harry Truman resorted to Red Menace tactics to scare the Americans into profligate military spending. We lost our Republic to the lobbyists and the big spenders. The Republican candidates cringe at anything critical of the Administration. Cynically, the Democrats anticipate huge political gains from the defeat of our military and the collapse of our economy.
I would like to see a face off between Ron Paul and Barack Obama. Both men with a positive agenda for the country, we would win no mtter which man won.
This would recall 1952 Dwight David Eisenhower versus Adlai E Stevenson.