Joltin' Joe has left and gone away....

My mind has wandered....from memories of Anne Bancroft in The Graduate to the lyrics of Mrs. Robinson and specifically to the phrase about Joltin' Joe.

Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon.
Going to the candidate's debate.
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at this you lose.

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio,
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson.
Jotting Joe has left and gone away,
Hey hey hey.

I thought back to "his" time in the late forties and early fifties.

The early fifites.  Images come back in softer tones of gray...and the politics of the first Republican President since Herbert Hoover, Dwight David Eisenhower, is no exception.

What would he think of today's politics of and the present Republican Party?

Eisenhower and Kennedy

I know this quote has probably appeared in your email box at some point, but I thought it appropriate to share.  The quote is from a letter Eisenhower sent to his brother, Edgar, on November 8, 1954.  

Eisenhower was a true small government Republican, who had tremendous trepidation about the power that a melding of business and government might aquire and abuse.  He was the first to coin the phrase, Military Industrial Complex.

He also wasn't a fan of Richard Nixon, even though RMN served as his VP.  

The Quote

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things.  Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

November 8, 1954

Indeed, where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio?  Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.