July 19. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower graduated from West Point, commanded the Allied Forces in North Africa in 1942, and on D-Day, 1944, he was Supreme Commander of the troops invading France.
After the war, he became President of Columbia University, and before long, he was President of the United States.
A conviction is a belief that moves you to action. Be a man of action.
Prayers at presidential inaugurations are not unusual, but it is usually not the new President doing the praying. In addition to three invited clergymen, Eisenhower prayed.
He had had faith from a young age and prayed regularly, and he had recently devoted himself to his wife’s denomination. So now, when he wanted faith to play a major part in his presidency, as he did with many things, Eisenhower took command.
Of the original inaugural speech, several more drafts and redrafts were crafted; some he disliked because they sounded too much like sermons. He gathered his staff and told them, “You want every person there to carry home with him a conviction that he can do something.”
Eisenhower didn’t mince words, and he wouldn’t in his inaugural address. He disliked words that drew attention to themselves. The average person needed to grasp the message and act upon it—a quality a leader had to have.
On the morning of the inauguration, he changed the opening of his speech. For the oath, Eisenhower placed his hand on the same Bible George Washington had used. He opened to this verse from the Old Testament. “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV).
He turned to the crowd of people, who waited in the chilly weather. President Eisenhower asked them to bow their heads while he uttered a private prayer. He asked God to make his team’s dedication to service full and complete, and to grant them discernment between “right and wrong.” Later in the speech, he returned his focus to the country’s need for faith as the “abiding creed of our fathers.”
Within days, he ordered that every cabinet meeting begin with a moment of silent prayer, where each person there could respond according to his own faith.
A week later President Eisenhower was baptized. He meant what he had said at his inauguration. While he never demanded anyone pray or share his faith, he sent a strong message that prayer played a major role in his life, and his faith would guide him in how he led the nation.
Your influence matters. A conviction is a belief that moves you to action. Be a man of action.
Baier, Bret. Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission. New York, NY: William Morrow, 2017.
Hitchcock, William I. “How Dwight Eisenhower Found God in the White House.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, March 20, 2018. https://www.history.com/news/eisenhower-billy-graham-religion-in-god-we-trust.
Story read by: Daniel Carpenter
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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