34 pages • 1 hour read
The Road to Character
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Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “Self-Conquest”
Ida Stover Eisenhower rose from a life of early tragedy, orphaned young and left largely in charge of her own education and advancement, to become a steadfast, loving wife and mother to her husband, David, and her five sons—one of whom, Dwight Eisenhower, eventually became the 34th President of the United States. Her deep religious conviction and belief in moderate living and self-restraint tempered her warm, loving, and exuberant personality. These same values would carry Eisenhower through a successful, if largely unremarkable military career and into his eventual presidency, which spanned some of the most turbulent years in United States history.
Chapter 3 Analysis
Moderation, temperance, and self-restraint form the core thematic case study Brooks examines in the context of Ida’s influence on her son as a military leader and politician. Ida and David raised their sons in a conservative Christian sect that shunned such indulgences as playing cards, drinking, and gambling; however, Ida knew the value of playfulness, warmth, laughter, and even the occasional shot of whiskey if circumstances called for it. She was instrumental in relaxing their religious community’s dress code for women—surrounding the wearing of bonnets—and was initially upset, as a pacifist, when Eisenhower chose to attend West Point and embark upon a military career.
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By David Brooks
