On D-Day, Trump is gutting Eisenhower and Dole’s legacy of compassion | Opinion
Dwight Eisenhower, in a speech on the third anniversary of D-Day, praised the generosity of America’s soldiers in helping those in need overseas.
“The work of the 35th Division Association toward rebuilding Saint-Lo is a case in point — a substantial recognition of American responsibility beyond our shores” said Eisenhower, speaking in Kansas City in 1947 for the D-Day anniversary.
Saint-Lo, a city in France, was in ruins because of fighting there after the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. American and allied troops bravely stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day to begin the liberation of Europe from German Nazi occupation. This was the pivotal day to ultimately achieving victory in World War II.
The 35th Infantry Division, part of the U.S. National Guard, saw combat in Saint-Lo. After the war, the 35th Infantry Division Association helped to rebuild Saint-Lo from the ashes.
Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe for D-Day, emphasized the importance of America’s generosity with overseas aid. In his speech, Eisenhower said: “Without American aid, guidance and leadership there is immediate danger of social, political and economic chaos among hundreds of millions.”
It’s important that we remember Eisenhower’s timeless warning today, because the Trump administration had made massive cuts to global food aid. It’s been devastating to see these cuts, especially at a time of massive need abroad because of wars and droughts.
As we honor our soldiers and allies on D-Day, let’s remember their goal was to build a world at peace. It’s now our turn to live up to this legacy — and that includes providing humanitarian aid abroad where needed.
We should not be cutting humanitarian aid, as Donald Trump has been doing since he took office. One of the programs Trump is trying to eliminate is the Food for Peace program — originally established by Eisenhower as the Agricultural Trade Development Assistance Act. Cutting Food for Peace is another tragic mistake. Food for Peace feeds the world’s hungry and provides funding to the UN World Food Programme and other relief organizations.
In the aftermath of D-Day, it was the generosity of Americans that provided school meals to hungry children in France. This went on for years after the war as the country tried to recover.
Today, we are seeing cuts to overseas school lunch programs, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, originally cosponsored by Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. The Trump administration needs to reverse these cuts to school meals abroad.
Catholic Relief Services just saw 11 school lunch programs in impoverished countries eliminated by the Trump administration. These were McGovern-Dole funded school lunches. These cuts must also be reversed. We can’t be taking away school lunches from hungry children anywhere.
Catholic Relief Services was one of the charities that helped in the post-WWII recovery of Europe, and today is a critical partner for peace.
With so much war and hunger in the world today, we should be increasing our humanitarian aid. As Eisenhower noted in his D-Day anniversary speech, America is a powerful nation with large food supplies, and we can do great things for peace.
“In helping those who seek to live in freedom we are helping ourselves. We are rich in foodstuffs; one day distant by plane are millions who starve,” Eisenhower said.
On this anniversary of D-Day, let’s urge our leaders in Washington, D.C., to save America’s humanitarian aid. Let’s end the travesty of these needless humanitarian funding cuts and start increasing our global food aid. Let’s feed the hungry in Sudan, Gaza, Congo, Haiti, Yemen, Syria, Burkina Faso, Somalia and other places in need. Food and other humanitarian aid represents a very tiny part of the overall federal budget. It does not cost much — and it does a world of good.
“Food and material aid, economic guidance and leadership for peace … — if the United States gives these to the world in the measure that we alone can afford, D-Day will have its perfect fulfillment,” said Eisenhower.
The best way to honor the sacrifice of our soldiers in D-Day is to keep up the quest for peace, and supporting humanitarian aid abroad is critical to this noble effort.