Dr. Al Mohler: Is There Really a Political Middle?

Dr. Al Mohler: Is There Really a Political Middle?

Just weeks after his death at the end of March 1969, Reader’s Digest published an essay from President Dwight Eisenhower. He had written it during the final weeks of his life while being treated at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

The article, which would amount to the former President and Supreme Allied Commander’s final published reflections, was titled “We Must Avoid the Perils of Extremism.” With the country roiled by the escalating war in Vietnam, the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., urban riots, and violent campus protests, President Eisenhower attempted to bring some measured perspective and advice to the national conversation.

“The effect of these voices, few in number but strong in decibels, is to create the impression that our country no longer heeds the rule of reason and tolerance,” wrote Eisenhower. “It often takes more courage to occupy the Center than any other position in the political arena, for you are then subject to attack from both flanks.”

It’s been nearly 60 years since the late president penned those words, but the thirst for reasonableness and moderation still reverberat...