Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960 [Hardcover]

William Bragg Ewald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1981

Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960 [Hardcover] William Bragg Ewald

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Trade; First Edition edition (February 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132468689
• ISBN-13: 978-0132468688
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,285,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Clarity is a Major Issue, February 19, 2007

By 

Eric Vondy "Eric Vondy" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960 (Hardcover)

Consider this paragraph from pg 39:

"Knowing what Clark was up to, Eisenhower in 1950 invited him to lunch at Columbia with his good friend Bob Woodruff of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta; soon after Clark's phone rang: leading Atlanta businessmen on the other end were offering money to the Eisenhower-for-President effort. But the road ran uphill. Not only did Taft have an abundance of backers in the Republican party. Eisenhower himself, before a top secret meeting with Taft at the Pentagon in 1951 - a meeting set up by Clark and Taft enthusiast Cole Younger - wrote out a Sherman, a declaration abjuring any entry into politics, to be revealed if the meeting produced a Taft commitment to the principle of collective security for the defense of Europe. But it didn't. It produced only, as the limousine drove the senator, Clark, and Younger away from the Pentagon, a Taft knee-slapping outburst of admiration of Ike: 'By God, that's a man.'"

The whole book is riddled with writing like. The author loves the colon and semi-colon. Its very muddled reading. While the author was an insider in the Eisenhow administration, that is not enough of an incentive to plough through the wretched prose.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars somewhat interesting with many faults, April 7, 2011

By 

Whetstone Guy (Montgomery Village, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960 (Hardcover)

There was only one seller of this used book at amazon.com and the price was $65. Therefore, I got this book from the library.

The author does not write in chronological order. His sentences frequently do not flow. Part of it is because of the parentheses he uses.

The author is very biased in favor of Eisenhower. This is understandable. But this lack of balance detracts from the book. For instance, it is hard to believe that Eisenhower and his assistant Kay Summerfield had a relationship that was strictly professional. The author does not delve too much into this.

From reading this book it is difficult to discern President Eisenhower's most notable achievements or biggest deficiencies. The author repeatedly states he assisted Eisenhower in writing other books written by Eisenhower. Then why didn't those books state on the cover that they were co-written by William Ewald Bragg, Jr? We also do not get much information about the relationship between Dwight D and Mamie. It appears to me they were not very close, although the author does not state this.

What I got from this book, right or wrong is:

Eisenhower was a moderate Republican.

He kept the United States out of war (that is a big achievement).

He used his military knowledge to decide when not to intervene in hopeless military situations.

He delegated to his aides, cabinet members, etc. In fact he delegated too much, in my opinion.

My recommendation is to find a better book to read about Eisenhower's presidency.

4.0 out of 5 stars Eisenhower as a Strong President, September 16, 2010

By 

Crews Lake "Tallahassee Watching" (Tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960 (Hardcover)

This is a fine text by an Eisenhower speechwriter and collaborator on his presidential memoirs. When Ewald's book first came out almost thirty years ago, it did much to reverse the then prevailing view that Eisenhower was a passive president, preferring to delegate institutionally and spend his time instead on the golf course. Ewald depicts an engaged and self-disciplined Eisenhower, the same man who defeated Germany in World War II's western front. What's more it's written in a clear prose tinged with self-deprecating humor that stands the test of decades.