Charlie, “pretty good” doesn’t mean perfect. Yes, his middle east policies leaned more toward the Arabs to Israel’s detriment. But Ike was elected President of the U.S, not President of Israel. His, and every other President’s job is to protect and advance the national interest of the U.S. Remember that was the hight of the Cold War. The object was to mitigate and minimize Soviet influence in the Middle East. If that meant a little tough love for Israel, that’s what had to happen.
American support for Israel has always been a problem for U.S. diplomacy. Any administration has had to walk a tight rope between support of Israel, which is not only popular in the U.S. and has some commercial and strategic value but seems to be a moral imperative to the U.S., and alienating an Arab world that holds 70% of the world’s proven oil reserves and has the spiritual leadership of a billion Muslims. It is to the everlasting credit of the U.S. that, while they may have had differences over the years, America has never abandoned Israel.