It was only one day after Father’s Day. It was Juneteenth. As we walked to The Theatre at St. Clements to see “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground,” we anticipated Richard Hellesen’s one-man show starring the incomparable John Rubinstein. We – as orphans – reflected on the lives of our fathers and, particularly, on their service in the United Stated Army during World War II. We wondered if they were still alive what they would have thought of the second decade of the twenty-first century. Would they think the sacrifices they made in the Second World War had made any difference? What would they think of the political climate, the deep divide between parties and people, the deterioration of freedoms, and the rise of hatred? Could they fathom the continued systemic racism, the sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and the xenophobia that scars the piece of ground they hallowed and fought to keep free?

We hoped “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground” would be relevant to our Boomer musings. And it did.

On Sunday, July 29, 1982. The New York Times published an article by Arthur Schlesinger in the Sunday Magazine entitled “Our Presidents: A Rating by 75 Historians.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34^th President of the United States (1950-1962) ranked twenty-second out of thirty-one. At his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania home in August of that year, the audience at “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground” eavesdrops on the former President as he records his reaction to the ranking for Kevin McCann who thinks it is time for Eisenhower to write a second book. McCann was Eisenhower’s speechwriter and biographer at the time.

Playwright Richard Hellesen successfully uses this trope to reveal to the audience the heart and soul of Dwight D. Eisenhower from the days of his youth to the present in 1962. We learn things about “Ike” we never knew before, or we are able to see those aspects of his life and personality in new ways. His script – fictional but based on speeches and writings of Eisenhower – shows the former president’s humility, courage, thoughtfulness, and honesty. As John Rubenstein’s Eisenhower rails at Shlesinger’s facile treatment of the presidency, he explores his character’s likeability as well as his humility.

Under Peter Ellenstein’s astute direction, John Rubinstein’s portrayal of Eisenhower brims with believability and authenticity. There in not a moment the audience does not believe that the New York Time’s Magazine ranking rankled Eisenhower to his inner core of sensibility and sense. Rubenstein digs deep into Eisenhower’s core belief: “It’s just so you’ll realize that when you’re looking at history, and leaders, sometimes there are private things at work that you can’t know.” The “private things” involve the death of the Eisenhower’ first son Doud whose death taught Eisenhower: “None of us can see the future, that’s true–but still: make the right choice, he’s alive. Make the wrong one, he’s gone. Make the right choice, soldiers live. Children learn. Maybe poverty and disease and ignorance start to disappear. Make the wrong one . . . “

The Cadet Prayer at West Point says: “Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong–and never be content with half-truth when the whole truth can be ours. Now maybe that will involve great achievements. But sometimes, doing your duty is no greater than just taking a piece of ground and leaving it better than you found it.” John Rubenstein reveals that Eisenhower was a living answer to that prayer: the former president “cultivated [his] own garden. Which doesn’t mean to grow garden peas . . . [he] cultivated [his] own aesthetic in [his] own universe. [He] created [his] own universe and shared it with people [he] respected and loved.” – Voltaire

Hopefully this timely show will inspire us to cultivate our own gardens, our own pieces of ground.