GENTLY IN MANNER, STRONGLY IN DEED IBD

Sinopsis

AuthorâÇÖs Notes on Second Edition:Before going to West Point, Dwight D. Eisenhowerátook a job at a local creamery. This was also where his fatheráworked as a refrigeration engineer. A portion of his pay wentáto funding his brotherâÇÖs college education, and Ike himselfáwas without concrete plans for his future. One day on the job,áEisenhower accidentally fell into a large cooling tank filled withácold salt water. After his coworkers pulled him out, he looked atáhis saviors and said, 'You should have pushed me under.'ItâÇÖs hard to imagine this man years later, pacing theágrounds of Greenham Common Airfield as the D-Day invasionáwas in full swing. Before he became himself, he was a Kansanáwho drove a battery-operated car designed for women and barelyámanaged entry into West Point on football scholarship. He spentáhis time in training dreaming of moving to South America andábecoming a Cowboy (a fate that almost came to fruition). Hisáwife and her father refused to let him become a pilot, so heásettled for work that propelled him to victory of fascism, theápresidency, and world wide admiration.Somewhere in there, he managed to prop up some petádictators in Latin America and seal us into a very long and coldáideological war. He was a Republican who created federal jobs,áfavored a 90 percent corporate tax rate, and expanded socialásecurity. He was a unionist and a man of business. He was aásoldier who ended his presidency with a chilling speech thatáaccurately predicted our future reliance on the military industrialácomplex and shunned war outright as impractical and outright evil.áHypocrisy and complexity are two sides of something,áIâÇÖm sure. To be honest, I donâÇÖt know where to draw the line, norácan I guarantee that if one were to venture into the space between,áthat there would be anything worth a second glance. However, Iáam moved by the stories within, and have done my best to stayátrue to my instinctual, though fickle inclinations.This edition is not much different than the first. Itáfeatures far less commentary and a little more poetry. A few ofáthe poems have been edited. The original edition was the raw,áunvetted text of a MasterâÇÖs thesis. This is something else, this isáat the very least something new.áTimothy TarkellyMarch 2, 2023