Participants:
April
19-20, 2001
Kansas State University
and
The Eisenhower Presidential Library
Dwight
D. Eisenhower not only led the armies of the "Greatest
Generation"
and its allies to victory in Europe during World War II, but in the 1950s
served as a two-term President of the United States during the darkest days of
the Cold War. Eisenhower, "the
Man from Abilene," embodied American values and mission at mid-century.
Known best for his military leadership, as President, Eisenhower
nonetheless embodied America's longing for peace and stability in the Nuclear Age.
This
retrospective symposium on Eisenhower and the making of modern America will
include issues of interest both to the scholarly community and to the general
public. In general we will
explore "the making of the greatest generation" by reviewing Eisenhower's
youth in Abilene, his education at West Point, and his early career and
experiences in the Army during the 1920s and 1930s.
We will also assess the effectiveness of Eisenhower's
military and political leadership, evaluate Eisenhower as a defining symbol
for his age,
deconstruct the social and cultural milieu of the 1950s, and analyze the
inter-relations between civil liberties and the national security state in
Cold War America. The center
piece of the symposium will be Stephen Ambrose's Landon Lecture on Eisenhower's
historical legacy.
This
range of issues and participants should be of wide interest to the University
community regardless of their academic discipline.
In addition to Steven Ambrose, top Eisenhower scholars and commentators
on the Eisenhower Era, including Fred Greenstein (Princeton), Richard
Immerman (Temple University), Cole Kingseed (United States Military Academy),
Geoffrey Perret, William Picket (Rose-Hulman Institute), Daun Van Roell Ee
(Johns Hopkins University), Elaine Tyler May (Minnesota), Dan Holt (The
Eisenhower Library), and William Brands (Texas A&M) will also be
participating.
In
addition to the Landon Lecture, the symposium will include both formal talks
and panel discussions, each session concluding with a question-and-answer
session chaired by a moderator.
