- 著者
-
高松 基之
- 出版者
- 東洋英和女学院大学現代史研究所
- 雑誌
- 現代史研究
- 巻号頁・発行日
- no.13, pp.21-78, 2017-03-31
Since 1945, 13 presidents have been sworn into office as president of the United States. Each president has adopted and developed his own unique management and decision making style. This paper aims to explore how President Dwight D. Eisenhower established his style during his presidency.In the 1950s and 1960s the prevailing image was that Eisenhower was a passive president, who reigned but did not rule, surrounded by an overly protective staff and dominated by strong cabinet secretaries such as John Foster Dulles that have been delegated too much authority. The availability of declassified materials in the Eisenhower Presidential Library challenged his passive image. At present Eisenhower is regarded as a more modern president than his youngersuccessor John F. Kennedy.Eisenhower was a president who deliberately chose to manipulate, organize, and dominate his administration with a hidden hand. Over 35 years of military experience had led Eisenhower to be deeply concerned with organizational problems. For Eisenhower, information, procedures, organization, formal meetings, and informal consultations were preparations for important decisions. Because Eisenhower placed great value on the planning process and intensive discussions, he revitalized the National Security Council (NSC) in the decision process with an appointment of Robert Cutler as the special presidential assistant on national security affairs.President Eisenhower trusted Dulles as Secretary of State and used to consult with him before and after important decisions both on foreign affairs and during the crises. There seemed to an apparent contradiction between the simultaneous existence of a strong secretary of state and a strong NSC in the White House. However, the lack of conflict between Dulles and Cutler was to due to Eisenhower’s solid confidence in secretary of state and the perception of the function of special assistant developed by Cutler. He firmly believed in the role of coordinator. Policy guidelines were formulated from the NSC process and the action of council meetings, operational decisions were usually made in the Oval Office, and diplomacy was largely in the hands of Dulles.