Memories of 9/11 and the people swept away on that day will always haunt the gleaming new One World Trade Center (Photos: AFP/Imagebank)

Three days before he left the Oval Office after serving two full terms as president Dwight David Eisenhower delivered a parting message to his fellow Americans on national television.

“We face a hostile ideology global in scope atheistic in character ruthless in purpose and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration ” Eisenhower said.

The date was January 17 1961 just as a much younger and more dashing John F. Kennedy was days away from stepping into the shoes of the grandfatherly 70-year-old Ike.

TheSoviet Unionwas the hostile ideology global in scope that Eisenhower mentioned. But with the exception of the phrase “atheistic in character” Eisenhower could have been prophetically referring to the radical Islamic threat which struck the shores ofAmericaon September 11 2001 with greater fury than theSoviet Unionever dared to.

Americahas made strides in the war on terror the Bush administration declared 15 years ago. Osama bin Laden 9/11’s perpetrator was eliminated. His terrorist organization al-Qaeda has been marginalized. Yet a new and far more barbaric group ISIS has supplanted them embarking on a land grab that was never an al-Qaeda goal. And while no terror attack as spectacular as 9/11 has repeated itself homegrown jihadists committed two major mass murders in the past year inSan Bernardino California andOrlando Florida in the latest rounds in a new battle of seemingly indefinite duration.

Eisenhower never intended his last political will and testament as a message of doom and gloom. There was nothing defeatist about Ike the five-star general. As supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II he planned and executed several successful military campaigns including the D-Day invasion atNormandyBeachthat turned the war’s tide.

But he also didn’t sugarcoat his message. What he told Americans in his farewell address are words that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would be wise to internalize.

Eisenhower put it all in context. He said he was speaking ten years past the midpoint of a century that witnessed four major wars among great nations three of which involvedAmerica. TheUSemerged from all of them as the world’s strongest most influential and most productive nation. However he warned there would be more crises ahead requiringAmericato be resolute.

“In meeting these crises there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all of our current difficulties” Eisenhower said. “To meet these successfully there is called for not so much emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily surely and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle — with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain despite every provocation on our charted course toward permanent peace and betterment. Our arms must be mighty and ready for instant action so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.”

Eisenhower died of heart failure on March 28 1969 at the age of 78. It would have been revealing to hear his reaction to John Kerry’s failure of heart on August 30 2013 after theUSgovernment revealed that nine days earlier Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad had gassed more than 1 400 of his own people to death with chemical weapons.

The Obama administration had long warned that use of chemical weapons inSyriarepresented a red line that if crossed would spurAmericato ready its arms for instant action. Kerry’s response: “The American people are tired of war. Believe me I am too ” before going on to mouth a few inanities about how history would judge nations who stood by in the face of such an atrocity.

Three years have passed since Kerry confirmed his fatigue to a global audience which includedAmerica’s most tireless enemies. The war inSyria as well as in otherMiddle Easttrouble spots grinds on with only a shaky cease-fire agreement standing in the way of the next round of murder and mayhem.

Ike Eisenhower warned there could be no letdown in a war against a hostile ideology global in scope ruthless in purpose and insidious in method.

Yet a letdown has occurred on the Obama administration’s watch especially in the Middle East and particularly inIsrael where Kerry’s boss is known more for his feet on his desk than his boots on the ground.

True Obama has extendedUSmilitary aid toIsraeland tightened intelligence coordination. But adding funds for defensive missile systems is mainly designed to lullIsraelinto complacency sitting tight and absorbing rocket attacks rather than taking forceful offensive action to ensure that no potential aggressor would be tempted to risk its own destruction.

Obama lent support toEgypt’s previous Muslim Brotherhood government. He empowered the teetering and despotic Erdogan regime inTurkey twisting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s arm into apologizing toAnkarafor an act of Israeli self-defense. And the $1.7 billion in cash theUSairlifted toIranmay just be the tip of a $33 billion iceberg of cash and precious metals theUShas surreptitiously handedIransince 2014 according to Mark Dubowitz executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in testimony last week before the House Financial Services Committee.

Either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will have the opportunity to walk these missteps back and adhere more to the Eisenhower track.

Trump seems like the candidate more suited to the task although his opponents might say his seemingly impulsive nature could lure him into some spectacular and costly action in a quest for the miraculous solution to all of our current difficulties.

Having served as secretary of state and visited world trouble spotsClintonhas seen the threats firsthand. Supporters contend she would be more inclined to resort to military force than her predecessor. However based on her conduct in office — chiefly the way she handled her e-mails and the appearance of an illicit pay-to-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation — she might stumble upon another admonition this one from Eisenhower’s successor John F. Kennedy as expressed in his “Secret Societies” speech of April 27 1961 before newspaper publishers atNew York’s Waldorf Astoria.

President Dwight David (Ike) Eisenhower: “We face a hostile ideology global in scope atheistic in character ruthless in purpose and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration”

Kennedy spoke about the never-ending tug of war between the public’s right to know and the need for official secrecy. In that war he said the need to know should win out. Anything less than that represented a “national peril.”

“The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society” Kennedy said. “We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.”

And even as Kennedy urged the media to demonstrate national responsibility in their reporting he said he would hold members of his own government accountable to the highest standards. Any attempt on their part to cover up their mistakes or withhold from the public the facts they deserve to know would be considered inexcusable.

According to the Gallup Poll during their respective terms in office Eisenhower’s average approval rating was 65% and Kennedy’s 70%. This year’s candidates Trump and Clinton have popularity ratings well south of 50%.

Today’s political rhetoric represents a sad commentary on the state of the union and how far the office of the presidency has been debased. At the same time the low scores Americans assignClintonand Trump is a positive commentary on the American people.

As another former president — Jimmy Carter — once said: The American people deserve a president as good as they are. And Americans are rightfully concerned that they won’t get that in 2016.