"In 1967 Eisenhower was visited at his Gettysburg home by former army chief of staff Gen. Harold K. Johnson. During their conversation Johnson said, "Herodotus wrote about the Peloponnesian War that one cannot be an armchair general twenty miles from the front." Afterward one of his former White House speechwriters, who had been present, asked Eisenhower if he knew the precise wording of the quote. He replied, "First, it wasn't Herodotus but Aemilius Paulanus. Second, it was not the Peloponnesian War, but the Punic War with Carthage. And third, he misquoted." Asked why he didn't correct General Johnson, Eisenhower replied, "I got where I did by knowing how to hide my ego and hide my intelligence. I knew the actual quote, but why should I embarrass him?""
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Presidents of the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesPoliticians from TexasLegion of Honour recipientsUnited States presidential candidates, 1956
Original Language: English
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Sources
Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life (2002), p. 45
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower
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