Customer Reviews

Ike's Final Battle: The Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality

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"Ike's Final Battle" is an incredibly enjoyable chronicle of the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Going behind the scenes, Pipes reveals Ike's struggle with conflicting forces: his personal sympathy for Blacks and his firm belief that government can't solve all problems.

Ike approached civil rights issues as problems to be managed rather than be solved. Was his caution indicative of a lack of concern or fear that radical change would rip apart America's social fabric?

Pipes also gives readers fresh insights into the attitudes of Truman, JFK, LBJ and Nixon toward America's civil rights struggle. His observations are both surprising and disturbing.

For anyone alive during this troubled era or anyone interested in the early history of the Civil Rights Movement, this book is a "must."

This book is a fast 300 pg. narrative on Eisenhower's nuanced positions regarding civil rights. The nuance is not whether equal rights for African Americans were right vs. wrong, but instead Eisenhower's struggle on how best to protect the rights of these Americans against the prejudice of southern conservatives who controlled the southern states and the relevant committees of the Senate.

Pipes begins with Eisenhower's experiences and contributions to the cause of equal rights in the military and ends in his retirement, with the climax happening 2/3 of the way through the book when Ike sends federal troops to Little Rock, AK to defend the right of African American students to attend a whites-only public school in spite of a bigoted governor who sends the national guard to keep them out. The book finishes with reflections on his contributions looking back from the time of Kennedy and LBJ moving the ball forward even further.

Pipes provides an incredibly fair report on President Eisenhower's policy positions and actions given the frequent opaqueness of his position depending on the situation and the company he was keeping. Many have attempted to paint Ike as a racist political opportunist or a courageous leader of the civil rights movement, with both positions given to hyperbole. Instead, Pipes portrays a man who respects majoritarian positions while realizing in his heart the wrongness of institutionalized bigotry even though Eisenhower, a man of his time, shares some prejudicial beliefs. The struggle for Eisenhower is often how to move the majority to his position without his having to depend on fiery rhetoric to change hearts and minds.

While Eisenhower was never a die-hard politico, he left the GOP with a wonderful legacy inherent in republicanism as a form of government instituted in 1787. Reading this book in 2007 shows how far the current majority of Republicans have mutated away from the principles of republicanism and Eisenhower, mostly due to the Southern Conservative Democrats who emigrated to the GOP after LBJ led the Democratic party into passing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts.

Pipes' only flaw in the book, so minor it's not worth knocking down a star, is a weak-hearted attempt to define Eisenhower as a conservative even though all empirical evidence in the book and other studies on Eisenhower provide ample evidence that he was a moderate who "got it" regarding our founding ideal of republicanism that holds that government is obligated to defend our individual liberty rights. The examples of Eisenhower's actions in the book are a case study in republicanism, not conservatism, where Ike closely follows the examples of previous Republican presidents who used federal power to protect individual and minority rights (e.g., Madison, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt). Conservatives by definition abhor using federal power to protect individual rights, they instead promote the ideal of "state rights" in hopes the process of "democratic conservatism" at the state level will "protect the will of the people", i.e., conservatives want to employ simple majorities leveraging state power to deny individuals and minority groups equal rights and protections.

This is a very well written, highly engaging book about Eisenhower's inner struggle with racial equality. Generally, historians give President Eisenhower low grades for his handling of civil rights: too slow, too reticent, no vision or leadership. But this was not Ike's way, Kasey Pipes argues. He was a conservative, 19th century man who believed in low-key, incremental progress, in changing people's minds before changing laws. As a military man, he was taught to manage problems, not lead a revolution. The only crusade he was prepared to lead, Pipes says, was the one that liberated Europe.

Ike did boldly effect change where he could: giving African-Americans a combat role during the Battle of the Bulge, desegrating Washington DC as well as military bases in the South. These progressive moves were often made with little fanfare, as Ike believed (probably correctly) publicity would simply stir up a backlash of opposition. However, when the Big Test came at Little Rock, in 1957, he passed with flying colors, sending in the 101st Airborne. Indeed, Pipes observes, Ike's performance at Little Rock compares favorably with President Kennedy's five years later at Ole Miss. (There were no major casualties at Little Rock versus hundreds at Ole Miss).

Pipes, a Republican speechwriter, is a gifted wordsmith, and his first book has a brisk narrative pace. A terrific read.

Written by former Bush White House worker Kasey S. Pipes, Ike's Final Battle: the Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality is the amazing and unlikely true story of how Dwight D. Eisenhower became a civil rights president. Chronicling the landmark desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which forced a historical confrontation between state and federal authorities and set an engraved precedent that the federal government would intervene for the sake of racial justice if necessary, Ike's Final Battle meticulously recounts events in unfolding detail, with an inset section of black-and-white photographic plates. An extensive bibliography, notes, and an index round out this welcome addition to American history shelves.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It tells President Eisenhower's story very well, and it kept my interest throughout the narrative.

Pipes' thesis, that Eisenhower went through a significant "struggle within himself" about his belief in civil rights (requiring significant social change) and majority rule (which did not support significant social change at that time), is also well argued. I especially appreciate the honesty in which the author tells Ike's story, including his strengths and weaknesses.

Also, Pipes does an excellent job of noting the number of significant Republican policy makers who were strong advocates of civil rights legislation during the 1950s and 1960s.

While I think everyone will benefit from reading this book, it especially should be read by all Republican office holders and candidates, today.

Kasey Pipes writes a very objective account of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's effort to confront and manage the challenges of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and a conflicted nation's battle over segregation. Despite being a former GOP speechwriter, there is nothing sycophantic or party line in Pipes' historical account of Eisenhower's handling of the nation's most important domestic issue of his Presidency. He begins by giving the reader a vivid picture of it's main character, beginning with the Kansas high school football player who opposes African-American players on the gridiron. We next see Ike as a young soldier who forms a negative impression of African-American soldiers and of their work ethic, abilities and aptitudes. Years later as the architect of D-Day and the Supreme Allied Commander, Ike's opinion of African-American soldiers undergoes a positive change as he fills a military need by utilizing them at the Battle of the Bulge.

Returning to America as the conquering hero, sought by both parties as their dream candidate, Eisenhower sees a nation's attitude towards civil rights evolving. Eisenhower is sympathetic but cautious. He is a product of his times and his life experience. On the one hand, he sees inequality as inherently wrong, but also recognizes that his nation will not accept sudden and radical change. When campaigning for the White House, Eisenhower tries to be all things to everyone and is seen as the better of two unsatisfactory choices by those on both sides of the issue.

When the Supreme Court of the United States tosses the "separate but equal" doctrine on its head in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, Eisenhower believes that the decision is unwise, but he is equally determined to follow the law. When southern governors like Arkansan Orville Faubus vow to defy the court ruling, they and the nation as a whole come to learn the metal of the man in the White House.

Despite an opening disclaimer in which Pipes claims that has no special insight into Eisenhower, he presents the reader with tremendous insight into Eisenhower himself and into those factors which played into his decision, including the Civil Rights movement, northern sympathies, southern opposition, key players within both parties and Eisenhower's own health challenges. The book follows Eisenhower through the crisis and confrontation and beyond, as he watches his successors confront the same issues. For example Pipes points out how Senator John Kennedy was critical of Ike's handling of the issue and how President John Kennedy's failure to follow Eisenhower's example in use of force resulted in a greater loss of life.

Pipes clearly points out how Eisenhower was deserving of his reputation as a strong leader, but how he was still very human, complete with faults and prejudices. He writes with a remarkable grasp of all of the factors entering into consideration of the issues as they existed at the time. This is a very balanced and objective portrait of a principled, conservative-thinking leader confronting a very divisive issue. Whether your interest is in Eisenhower himself, the politics of the fifties or the civil rights movement and its history, this is an excellent book that gives tremendous insight and an enjoyable read.

Kasey Pipes does a tremendous job of bringing Eisenhower's previously scarcely commented on struggles with the changing climate of America's Civil Rights to light in a very genuine manner. The book is incredibly readable and very informative.

Pipes is able to present facts with a human touch that brings the reader into Eisenhower's inner circle, as if they were a fly on the wall in some of Ike's most pivotal and telling situations.

Ike's Final Battle
by Kasey Pipes

Mr. Pipes has written a thoroughly enjoyable and well written record of Dwight Eisenhower's approach to civil rights legislation and his exegesis of perspective in the civil rights arena. Pipes chronicles Eisenhower's internal struggles with desegregation of the military and government agencies and his fear that a revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, approach to liberty for all Americans could cause more harm than good. This is a positive revisionist history to some degree; clearly evidencing Ike's intent on aiding the plight of minorities in the US while battling the prejudices that he came of age accepting and being immersed in for the whole of his military career. Ike's slow methodical approach to all matters of civil rights is clearly on display, as was his approach to all difficult decision making. However, his unflinching adherence to the laws of our land clearly stand out. Desegregation is ordered in Little Rock, AR and local politicians refuse to accept the Supreme Court decision, Ike does not hesitate in the least. After exhausting all diplomatic efforts he clearly takes charge of the situation and sends in the 101st Airborne to aide with the enforcement of recently enacted laws. No regrets on Ike's part, no compromising his beliefs - the law is being broken and he immediately, without hesitation asserts control - in the process paving the way for desegregation enforcement to take hold throughout the land.

This is an extremely brisk read that you'll find difficult to get away from. No fluff, solid documentation and previously uncovered oral histories make this a treasure trove of new insight into Ike's personality and genuine concern over civil rights matters. Eisenhower was often derided for his lack of leadership on civil rights, an argument which merits legitimacy, however we're shown a different side in 'Final Battle' which show he was more progressive than many thought - in fact on some occasions, more progressive than the NAACP - then a truly dedicated organization and true standard bearer of civil rights advancement.

Definitely check this book out - it's worth the time and money!

This is a very readable book from an outstanding young author. He gives an insight to Ike that most people don't remember. I can't wait for his next book!