WEBVTT

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POWELL: WHEN DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER LEFT ABILENE, KANSAS

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FOR WEST POINT IN 1911

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THE HORRORS OF WHAT WOULD BE CALLED "THE GREAT WAR"

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WERE YEARS AWAY AND LARGELY UNANTICIPATED.

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WHEN WAR CAME TO THE UNITED STATES

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THE YOUNG OFFICER WAS NOT ALLOWED TO GO OVERSEAS.

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HIS SUPERIORS FELT HE COULD BEST SERVE BY TRAINING OTHERS

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FOR THE CONFLICT THAT WOULD END ALL WARS.

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AMERICA'S EXPERIENCE "OVER THERE" IN 1918

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CONVINCED THE NATION

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THAT ANY FUTURE PARTICIPATION IN EUROPE'S WARS

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WOULD BE A HUGE MISTAKE.

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THE ISOLATIONIST POLICY THAT FOLLOWED WORLD WAR I

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KEPT US FROM GETTING SERIOUSLY INVOLVED

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IN SEEKING POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS.

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IT ALSO LULLED US INTO THINKING

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THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO MAINTAIN A MILITARY FORCE

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WORTHY OF A MAJOR INTERNATIONAL POWER.

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WHEN HITLER'S MILITARY MACHINE QUICKLY CRUSHED POLAND

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IN THE FALL OF 1939

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EISENHOWER WAS PART OF A SMALL, POORLY-EQUIPPED ARMY

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THAT NUMBERED LITTLE MORE THAN 100,000 MEN.

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HE WAS A 50-YEAR-OLD COLONEL

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SITTING AT A DESK JOB IN THE PHILIPPINES

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AND HE HAD VIRTUALLY NO COMMAND EXPERIENCE WITH TROOPS.

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IN THE 1930s, FEW PEOPLE SAW ANY RELATIONSHIP

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BETWEEN HITLER'S VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

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AND OUR FUTURE PEACE AND SECURITY.

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BUT THE NAZI BLITZKRIEG IN THE SPRING OF 1940

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WHICH CRUSHED FRENCH AND BRITISH ARMIES ON THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT

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AWAKENED SOME FEARS IN THE UNITED STATES.

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THE MILITARY WAS FINALLY ENLARGED

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RELUCTANTLY AND ON A TEMPORARY BASIS.

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BUT THE COUNTRY CONTINUED TO LIVE THE DREAM

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OF A TIME LONG PAST

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BELIEVING WE COULD LIVE COMFORTABLY AND IN PEACE

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WHILE IGNORING THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE REST OF THE WORLD.

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SURELY, THEIR TROUBLES COULD NOT REACH OUR DISTANT SHORES.

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IN THIS PROGRAM, WE EXAMINE HOW EISENHOWER AND THE NATION

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OVERCAME TWO DECADES OF COMPLACENCY AND SUCCESSFULLY MET

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THE EXTRAORDINARY CHALLENGES OF TOTAL WAR--

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A WAR THAT THREATENED TO DESTROY

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THE VERY BASIS OF OUR CIVILIZATION.