Profound: August 2023 Archives

There Is No Indispensable Man | The Art of Manliness

"...when Ike returned to Normandy for the 20th anniversary of D-Day and was asked to give a speech at a dinner commemorating the invasion, rather than use the occasion to wax poetic about his role in executing one of the most monumental military operations in history, this man of singular eminence instead used the opportunity to read -- 'The Indispensable Man.'...

"As Eisenhower replied to a reporter who asked whether the prevailing 'view that you are indispensable to a party victory' would influence Ike's decision to run for a second term as president: 'Did you ever think of what a fate civilization would suffer if there were such a thing as an indispensable man? When he went the way of all the flesh, what would happen? It would be a calamity, wouldn't it? I don't think we need to fear that.'"