Ike grew up in the town of Abilene, Kansas, and he learned his first leadership lesson on the first day of school. While exploring the playground for the first time, he drew the attention of a bigger boy who decided to test Ike’s mettle. The boy began to chase Ike around the schoolyard, bellowing scary threats.
The bullying went on for a long time, until a third boy arrived on the scene. It was Ike’s older brother, Arthur. Normally he was the quietest of the Eisenhower boys, but not that day. That day he was angry.
That day on the schoolyard, Ike learned an important lesson of leadership, one that he would apply many times as an adult.
Ike learned his second leadership lesson soon afterward, during a visit to his Uncle Luther’s farm. He was heading outside to explore the barnyard when suddenly he heard a loud hissing noise. He looked up and saw a very large—and very angry—goose charging toward him!
Ike ran back to the safety of the house. Uncle Luther explained that the goose didn’t like anyone “trespassing” on his territory.
“Thus the war began,” Ike later remembered. For the rest of the day, every half hour or so, Ike would tiptoe out into the barnyard, hoping to get a good look at his adversary. Then, from out of nowhere, the goose would attack—HISSSSS!—and send him scurrying back to the kitchen door.
Ike was more determined than ever to cross the barnyard. But the goose refused to let him pass.
After Ike had beaten several hasty retreats, an unexpected ally came to his aid. Uncle Luther appeared, brandishing a worn-out broomstick with all the straw cut off. It was the perfect defense against a determined bird—enough to give him a good scare but not hurt him. The two of them headed out into the yard. After a few quick lessons, Ike learned to swing the broomstick for maximum effect. Then Uncle Luther patted him on his head and headed back inside. “You’re on your own now, Ike,” he said.
Ike was armed for battle, but how would the enemy react? He soon found out. The rampaging goose returned, even madder than before. It crept closer. Trembling, Ike stood his ground. Then, with a whooping war cry, he rushed at the goose, swinging the broom handle as hard as he could. The bird panicked, and when it turned tail to run away, Ike gave it a swift smack on the backside for good measure. “SQUAWWWK!” shrieked the goose as Ike chased it out of the barnyard.
After that, Ike never left his uncle’s house without the broomstick. As for the goose, it kept its distance, hissing spitefully from the edge of the yard but never again daring to come any closer. Ike had shown the foul-tempered fowl who was boss, and in the process he learned another important lesson: “Never negotiate with an adversary except from a position of strength.”
Ike learned his third leadership lesson at age ten. After years of scrapping with bullies and ferocious farm animals, Ike had developed an explosive temper. He became used to getting what he wanted by fighting and often flew into a rage if he didn’t get his way. One Halloween, his older brothers Arthur and Edgar went out trick-or-treating. Ike wanted to go with them, but his mother said he was too young.
Ike threw the biggest tantrum of his life. Overtaken by resentment and anger toward his mother, he raced out into the yard and began to pound his fists against the bark of an old apple tree. He pummeled and thrashed until his knuckles were bloody; he was out of control. His father came out into the yard, grabbed his son by the shoulders, and sent him to his room.
About an hour later, Ike’s mother came to visit. She found him crying into his pillow and sat beside him. She rubbed medicine onto his bruised knuckles and bandaged them up. Then she talked to him about anger and the importance of keeping it in check. She talked about hatred toward other people and how it can blind us to what’s going on around us. She told Ike that he had the worst temper of all the Eisenhower brothers and would have to work the hardest to control it. Finally, she quoted from the Bible:
In other words, learn to control your emotions. Don’t let your emotions take control of you.
Ike would later remember that conversation with his mother as one of the most important moments of his life. As a general, and then as president, he made it his policy never to get angry in public. He even came up with a novel way of “getting rid of” his negative emotions. Whenever somebody did something that displeased him, he would write the person’s name on a piece of scrap paper and drop it into the lowest drawer of his desk. Then he would say to himself:
“Quick in learning and still patient in study.”
—Zachary Taylor’s first teacher
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“Terribly stubborn about many things. He would insist on having his way not only with me, but with his mother.”
—Benjamin Harrison’s childhood tutor
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“Quiet demeanor, studious attention to his books, and remarkably good behavior.”
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“He will surely one day be a great professor, or, who knows, he may become even President of the United States.”
—Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign language instructor
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“A fat little boy, always reading.”
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“He has been a thoroughly faithful scholar and a most satisfactory member of this school throughout his course.”
—Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s teacher
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“He is casual and disorderly in almost all of his organization projects. Jack studies at the last minute, keeps appointments late, has little sense of material values, and can seldom locate his possessions.”
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“A very solemn child [who] rarely ever smiled or laughed.”
—Richard Nixon’s first-grade teacher
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“A good student, cooperative. I can’t say he was the smartest boy I’ve ever taught, but he was among the top ten.”
—Jimmy Carter’s first-grade teacher
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“When you grow up you’re either going to be governor or get in a lot of trouble.”
—Bill Clinton’s sixth-grade teacher
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“An upstanding lad with great self-confidence. It appears, however, that he may be somewhat eccentric.”
—George H. W. Bush’s teacher