"I Like Ike"

Given Indy saying "I Like Ike", declaring himself as a Republican in a KOTCS, I wonder what he thought of FDR (as he was the President through most of his High Adventure Years and served as a Colonel in the OSS under) and Truman (whom he might've served in the OSS under).

I'm not sure Indy was expressing Republican support when he uttered "I Like Ike". I think his retort to Spalko was just a smart-alec response to indicate his allegiance to the US and his opposition to Communism using a pop-culture line from the era. He certainly doesn't appear to be supportive of the administration's witchhunts or the way in which the government has treated him in the past. Plus it's a lot snappier than saying "I object to your actions because I'm an American Citizen and embrace democracy"

Indy is an academic and free-thinker. I don't think he'd have much regard for the government of the day...

Incidentally, as a rockabilly and wearer of 50s vintage attire, I often wear an original "I Like Ike" pin on my lapel. Strangely, such pins are a lot more popular than those of Eisenhower's running mate (Nixon) which read "I Like Dick"

inky_skin said:

I'm not sure Indy was expressing Republican support when he uttered "I Like Ike". I think his retort to Spalko was just a smart-alec response to indicate his allegiance to the US and his opposition to Communism using a pop-culture line from the era. He certainly doesn't appear to be supportive of the administration's witchhunts or the way in which the government has treated him in the past. Plus it's a lot snappier than saying "I object to your actions because I'm an American Citizen and embrace democracy"

Indy is an academic and free-thinker. I don't think he'd have much regard for the government of the day...

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Yes, I agree with your points. Indy was using the term as a witty response to Spalko.

Indy has a distrust of the US Government, especially after the Ark incident. Since Indy worked for military intellegence on a number of occasions, he knows what it's like to be on both sides of a faceless bureaucracy. All Governments will eventually conflict with his free spirited nature. This is fleshed out in KOTCS where he is actually accused of being a Red during the McCarthy era - the era during which many free-sprited artists and writers were treated appallingly for their beliefs or suspected beliefs.

The Cold War provides a repressive back drop from both US and Soviet viewpoints.

I found one of KotCS's flaws...

was not fleshing out the resolution of the government's accusations against Indy. A simple meeting with some government official at the end where they apologize for slandering him would have been enough. It could have happened while showing the janitor painting Indy's name on the office door in the background, and taken the same amount of time to do.

inky_skin said:

I'm not sure Indy was expressing Republican support when he uttered "I Like Ike". I think his retort to Spalko was just a smart-alec response to indicate his allegiance to the US and his opposition to Communism using a pop-culture line from the era. He certainly doesn't appear to be supportive of the administration's witchhunts...

Click to expand...

I think this hits on a key reason for using the slogan. Politically speaking, while facing down a Communist Russian, "I Like Ike" is kind of like giving the middle finger to the Commie, you know. He doesn't need to be a backer of Ike or his politics to appreciate it's value in the given situation.

You also have to remember that the Republican party of 1957 is very different from the Republican party of today. Dwight Eisenhower especially was a moderate and didnt really have a party affiliation before he became President, both parties actually sought him in 1952 to run and I cant remember why he chose to run as Republican as opposed to a Democrat. Also the witch hunts as far as I know wasnt advocated by Eisenhower himself but rather by McCarthy and some members of the Republican party at the time. I think its perfectly plausible Indy could have voted for Ike in 1952 and 1956, not that he was a Republican, I imagine he was a swing voter who probably voted for FDR and Truman before voting for Ike. However maybe his experiences in 1957 might have motivated him vote for Kennedy in 1960.