straight to Kennedy and the New Frontier, Kennedy ' s assassination, Lyndon Johnson and civil rights, Vietnam, Nixon. That was the first major revelation: Eisenhower ' s presidency is essentially ignored. Historically, discussions jump from FDR and Truman straight to Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. I personally didn ' t know much about Eisenhower beyond him being bald and playing golf. But in researching for this play, I discovered what he actually achieved during his presidency— some mistakes and misjudgments, certainly, but mostly great accomplishments. Also, his approach to the presidency itself was remarkable. He wasn ' t overly dynamic, but he did have charisma and a great sense of humor. Eisenhower also had a sincere desire to make people ' s lives better. During World War II, as a general, he had to send soldiers into dangerous situations, many to their deaths, but always with a purpose: to save Europe from Hitler. He cared deeply about each soldier, personally visiting them, improving their living conditions, even their food, to make their harsh lives better. Later, as NATO ' s first commander, Eisenhower united European countries, which he knew well from mapping First World War battlefields— an assignment he initially disliked but which gave him great understanding of Europe. He forged NATO into the greatest alliance on Earth. All of this was new to me, a real discovery. The entire play was illuminating, but most important was discovering Eisenhower’ s genuine character and his unwavering dedication to improving American citizens ' lives.
Sherman: How involved were you in the play’ s development? Were you there from the beginning, or was this brought to you as a vehicle once it had already been developed?
Rubinstein: Years ago, I went to the William Inge Theatre Festival in Kansas for a play by David Henry Hwang. Peter Ellenstein was the director of the festival, and I didn ' t work with him personally, but I guess I shook his hand. Over 20 years later, Peter emailed me this play. It had been his idea. He said, " I have this play Eisenhower. Give it a read, would you?" I read it, and I thought, " Yeah, this is really interesting and very good. It ' s full of stuff I didn ' t know, and it has humor in it. But first, I don ' t know if I could possibly memorize it— it ' s ridiculously long. But I said, " Sure." He said, " Come and read it aloud for us because we ' ve never heard it." Peter and the playwright, Richard Hellesen, had already spent two to three years writing it. I went online and saw speeches on YouTube of Eisenhower. I remembered him but noticed he spoke exactly like somebody I knew very well— an ex-stepfather of mine who was a high school principal in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Without working hard, because his voice was in my ear, I showed up and read the play aloud to the writer and director using my ex-stepfather’ s voice. The play was beautifully written in a Midwestern vernacular. When I finished, we all looked at each other, and said, " We have to do this play. This has to be put on stage." During rehearsals, sure, I had a lot to say. We did a lot of restructuring and adjustments, but, basically, what I ' m doing now is the play Richard wrote from the very beginning. My influence on it has been minimal.
Sherman: Pippin is about a young man on a journey to discover the meaning of life. Eisenhower is an older man looking back on his life, perhaps questioning the meaning of it all. Do you think there are similarities between them?
Rubinstein: Pippin wants to be great. It ' s not just that he ' s looking for the purpose of life. He selfishly wants to be extraordinary. That ' s what he wants for himself. And part of that, of course, is trying to figure out what life is and how to do it. But that ' s really not his intellectual pursuit. He wants to feel that he ' s worth something.
I ' m the son of Arthur Rubinstein, who was renowned the world over. There ' s always a little bit of that feeling, " Well, whatever I will or could or might do, it won ' t ever match that." So, I ' m at a disadvantage if I say, " I want to be great like that." But if I just say, " I want to have a good time and be good to people and enjoy what work I get to do," then I don ' t need to be as great as he was, and I can bask in what I learned from him. But that ' s what Pippin wants, because his father is Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, so he needs to do something.
With Eisenhower in this play, he is reacting to a listing in The New York Times shortly after the election of Kennedy. They had 75 historians who ranked all of the presidents up to that time. Number one, Lincoln, number two, Washington, number three, FDR, then number 22, Eisenhower. Our playwright picked that moment as the key to the play. Eisenhower wakes up that Sunday, reads that, and sees that he ' s number 22, and it pisses him off. It hurts his feelings. And that ' s how the play starts out, much like with Pippin, where he thinks, " I am better than that!" The difference is, Ike is looking at the past. Pippin is saying, " I ' m better than this, I’ ve got to be great." And Ike is saying, " I wasn ' t number 22, I was something better.” After Eisenhower gets over his sort of bruised ego, he says, " Wait a minute. These guys are talking about what makes a great president and what is greatness." And he starts in a much more philosophical and historically minded and personal way to examine what is greatness and how do you measure the greatness of a president. That ' s where the play then goes. It gets into that philosophy of human beings— who we are and why we ' re here. That ' s what Pippin aspires to, and that ' s what Ike examines. n
John Rubinstein stars in Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground at Barrington Stage Company ' s Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, June 3-8, barringtonstageco. com
62 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday May / June 2023 2025