The Frustrations of Being Commander-in-Chief

On this day in 1862, President Lincoln telegraphed his generals in the West and urged them to attack the Confederate armies. He also grew frustrated with General McClellan's unwillingness to move the Army of the Potomac against the Confederates in Virginia. He faced the eternal problem of presidents urging and asking with few results.

The problem remained almost a century later.

In 1952, Harry Truman made a prediction about his successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Reflecting on Ike's status as an ex-general, Truman said,"Ike is going to find it hard to be president. He'll have to suffer the experience of giving orders with nothing happening." If he could, Lincoln would have sympathized with Truman's plight.

As the French say,"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
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