Continuing with the U.S. Presidents of my lifetime ....

     I was aged 7-15 during the administration of my second POTUS, war hero, amateur golfer, and unrecognized pussy hound Dwight D. Eisenhower. Yes, at one point late in WWII, as the story goes, Ike was banging his driver, Captain Kay Summersby, with reckless abandon while Mamie tended to the family business at home. It seems looking back on history, that just about all of our so-called heroes had little quirks of one kind or another that went largely unreported at the time, some worse than others, to protect us, the general public, from realizing that our “heroes” were merely human beings after all. Back then I wasn’t paying much attention to politics, other than the reoccurring nightmare of having to crawl under my desk at least once a week, stick my head between my legs and kiss my sweet ass goodbye because the Ruskies were going to blow us all to smithereens at any moment. Other families had bomb shelters stocked to the roof with enough provisions for several lifetimes while my family would simply have to make do with the ditch outside next to the street. It wasn’t much of a ditch.

     Even though I had not the slightest idea what they were, there was a communist behind every tree and being called a “Commie” was instant grounds for a fistfight. Even in the blazing heat of a stifling August afternoon, we were supposedly in the midst of a “cold war” and I wondered where? Minnesota?

     Individuality was largely frowned upon. One was expected to toe the line, act right and sincerely believe with all your heart that Ozzie and Harriet were the perfect parents and David and Ricky were the perfect offspring. I thought it odd that Harriet wore high heels when she vacuumed, but then so did Donna Reed and Jane Wyatt on Father Knows Best. I had trouble understanding this because one of my duties was vacuuming which everyone knows is best done either barefoot or in socks.

     The only asshole on TV was Eddie Haskell.

     I can thank Ike for much of the cynicism I have today as far as politicians are concerned when he lied his ass off after Gary Francis Powers was shot down over Russia in the U-2 spy plane. To make matters worse, history now records that Powers wasn’t alone, that there were numerous other pilots shot down during this period that were left in Russia to rot.

    However, Ike’s greatest sin came about when he selected a sleazy California Republican party hack to serve as Vice President. Later, Richard M. Nixon would lead the nation down the road to ruin.

     Next up: John F. Kennedy