People Trust Trustworthy People

“‘I know only one method of operation,’ he wrote in his diary: ‘To be as honest with others as I am with myself.”

“When President Franklin Roosevelt pressured him to get tough with the local French, Eisenhower refused, explaining, ‘My whole strength in dealing with the French has been based upon my refusal to quibble or to stoop to any kind of subterfuge or double dealing.’

“The French responded. One official told him, ‘As long as you say that, I believe it!’ Another said, ‘I have found that you will not lie or evade in any dealings with us, even when it appears you could easily do so.’

… “indeed, whenever associates described Eisenhower, there was one word that almost all of them, superiors or subordinates, used. It was trust. People trusted him for the most obvious reason—he was trustworthy.”

Stephen Ambrose, biographer. Quoted in Guinness, p. 60.