"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it"
About this Quote
The specific intent is political realism dressed as democratic faith. Eisenhower isn’t imagining a utopia where conflict dissolves; he’s describing a tug-of-war between popular desire and institutional momentum. “In the long run” is doing heavy lifting, admitting that governments can delay peace for years, even decades, through alliances, arms races, and the bureaucratic logic of preparedness. The subtext is familiar from a general-turned-president in the Cold War: wars and standoffs often persist not because people crave them, but because states have incentives to maintain them - power, prestige, budgets, ideological posture, strategic leverage.
The rhetoric works because it sounds like common sense while smuggling in a radical proposition: legitimacy might someday flow upward so forcefully that the state must “get out of the way.” It’s also a warning to his peers. Public patience is not infinite. If leaders keep treating peace as a secondary objective to control, deterrence, and geopolitical theater, they risk being outpaced by the very people they claim to represent.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (2026, January 18). I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-like-to-believe-that-people-in-the-long-run-are-16929/
Chicago Style
Eisenhower, Dwight D. "I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-like-to-believe-that-people-in-the-long-run-are-16929/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-like-to-believe-that-people-in-the-long-run-are-16929/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
