School on a Bus (a.k.a. Radical Sabbatical)

From humble beginnings, raised in a small town, possessing good morals, patience, and smarts. He was an artist, servant, and leader. These are my initial thoughts on Ike after visiting the Eisenhower museum in Abilene, Kansas. I knew little of Eisenhower other than I remember the day he died. From what I learned today, I now have a new found respect for the man and his character.

After high school, Eisenhower worked to put his brother through school. By the time he applied to military academy, he was rejected by West Point for being too old. Instead he attended the U.S. Military Academy. The first ten years of his career was somewhat mediocre until he had a chance to attend Command and General Staff School where he graduated 1^st in his class. That gave him opportunities to serve as assistant to the Secretary of War and then to General MacArthur. These experiences prepared him well for developing tactical strategies in WWII. Eisenhower quickly moved up in the ranks until he was commander in chief of the Allied forces and led the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

It was his popularity during the war that made him a shoe-in as US President; even though he had no prior political experience. The first time he was asked to run for President, he declined. Four years later he ran and won the popular vote by a large margin. His popularity continued into his second term.

His accomplishments as president include building the Interstate Highway System. He established the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and proposed the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960. It is interesting that although he was a general, he also cut back military spending while playing tough during the Cold War. This was done by investing in ICBM programs and relying less on troop deployments. He also started the NASA program. Ultimately he reduced the national debt from 100% of GNP to 60% and left office with a balanced budget.

Caleb: We toured the Dwight Eisenhower museum. When Mom asked me who he was, I said he was an artist, she said he was a president. It turns out that we were both right!

On the way from North Platte to Hastings we visited a Pony Express Station and Buffalo Bill Cody’s ranch. Bill Cody got his start working for the pony express and managed to survive such hazards as Indian attacks. He also proved his horsemanship which served him well in later years as a promoter and showman. His ranch was a good sized spread with a well equipped barn for giving the best care to his many horses. Even though he was an extremely successful business man with his traveling roadshow, he was forced to sell his ranch in his later years.

Caleb: I learned that the pony express lasted only 18 months and that they preferred to hire orphans because then there were no next-of-kin to notify. Sixty men died getting the mail through. The mail delivery time was cut in half from 20 days to 10. But you have to wonder if it was worth the lives of 60 men.

The vault-like blast door to one of the launch control centers for the Minuteman missile silo had a Dominos pizza logo and said, ” World-wide delivery in 30 minutes or less, or your next one is free.” A Minuteman missile can strike a target over 6,000 miles away in less then half an hour. Because it moves at speeds of over 15,000 miles an hour a Minuteman could cross the United States from East to West in just over 10 minutes. The Minuteman III can carry three nuclear warheads that can be independently delivered to multiple targets. There were over 1,000 missiles on alert in 1977, prior to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT Treaties). Today, that number remains at around 500. Most of the silos were located in the northern and central plains. One amazing observation is that some of the landowners who saw missile sites put on their land were the same people who came west in horse drawn wagons in the early 1900’s to homestead that land.

In 1999 Congress approved the creation of an interpretive center on the historic significance of the Minuteman missile defense system within the context of the Cold War. The site is located just outside of the Badlands in South Dakota. It currently consists of a modular building and has been open to the public for less than three years. They have plans to eventually build a permanent visitor center there. Unfortunately, we did not know that if you schedule in advance, you can take a tour of the launch control facilities and one of the missile silos. Instead we spent our time talking to the ranger, watching a film, and collecting information.