Like Ike, lead well

One month from today we will know who tomorrow's leaders will be.

As we enter the home stretch for many important races, from North Idaho College trustees to the Congressional District 1 contest, we call upon the wisdom of one of our nation's great leaders to remind us what's important.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower led this country through its very darkest hours of World War II. According to esteemed historian Stephen E. Ambrose:

"Eisenhower represented all that was best about democracy - he was honest, straightforward, able to listen to different points of view before making his own decisions, encouraging, responsible, imaginative, reasonable, and trustworthy.

"He gave the war effort everything he had. From December 7, 1941, to May 8, 1945, he slept four hours per night, almost never eating in a restaurant; smoking four packs of cigarettes and drinking eight or more cups of coffee per day, always conferring, inspecting, studying, meeting - and giving orders."

Eisenhower did much more than bolster the tobacco and coffee industries. He helped us define real leadership. During his first invasion in 1942 he said:

"Optimism and pessimism are infectious and they spread more rapidly from the head downward than in any other direction. Optimism has a most extraordinary effect upon all with whom the commander comes in contact. With this clear realization, I firmly determined that my mannerisms and speech in public would always reflect the cheerful certainty of victory - that any pessimism and discouragement I might ever feel would be reserved for my pillow."

The following year he wrote to his son John, a West Point cadet: "The only quality that can be developed by studious reflection and practice is the leadership of men." And he later added, "The art of leadership is deciding what to do, and then getting men to want to do it."

As you study and consider the platforms and presentations of the candidates, please remember the lessons imparted by Ike. If we elect men and women with these qualities, our state and nation will be in excellent hands.