By Gerald Holland
President Eisenhower and Winston Churchill have been held up as examples of what President Trump should do to help Ukraine prevail over Russia. Here are examples of what Pres. Eisenhower actually did. (Not what he might have done with Ukraine in 2025:) In 1953 Eisenhower told South Korea’s leader, Syngman Rhee, to sign an armistice agreement and stop South Korea’s armed struggle against communist North Korea, or else. Rhee still refused to sign, but the armistice was imposed anyway and has been in effect over sixty years.
In 1956 Hungarian patriots rebelled against the communist government imposed by Communist Soviet Russia. Hungarians celebrated for 15 days. Then Russia sent in tanks and troops and suppressed the freedom-seeking revolt. Thousands of Hungarians were killed. 22,000 Hungarians were imprisoned and over 200 were executed by the Soviet-sponsored communist government. Hundreds of thousands fled Hungary. Many Americans thought Eisenhower should send military aid to combat communist expansion by aiding the rebelling Hungarians, but he did NOT.
When Germany was overrunning France early in WWII, France begged British Prime Minister Churchill for British armed forces to push back the Germans, Churchill said NO.
Neither Eisenhower nor Churchill were willing to spend young lives and national treasure on hopeless causes or never-ending, no-win wars. Those thinking that Eisenhower and Churchill are models of applying military force to help allies defeat common enemies need to search for more applicable examples. If Eisenhower had been in charge, we wouldn’t have had 50,000 deaths in Vietnam.