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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Presidential Memoir,
By This book is organized by topics, which largely follow chronological order. The story begins with the erosion of his long stated unwillingness to enter politics. Although his entry was restrained, he eventually became totally committed. The details of the campaign followed by the assembly of the administration give the reader an insight into what really went on during the course of a 50s campaign. Ike's account of the post election meeting between himself and his staff with their counterparts in the outgoing Truman administration provides an interesting contrast with Truman's report of the same meeting. The chapters about the actual administration take the reader into the summits in Bermuda and Geneva., through his heart attack and the initial plans for the 1956 campaign. Much of Eisenhower's attention is devoted to overseas challenges, including the end of the War in Korea, attempted Communist takeovers in Guatemala and Iran, early stage negotiations over the British garrison at Suez, a potential East-West flash point between Italy and Yugoslavia involving jurisdiction over Trieste and issues relating to the defense of Formosa, which focused largely on decisions concerning the defense of Quemoy, the Matsus and other off shore islands. Ike reports a carefully thought out strategy to achieve the defense of the Free World without leading it over the precipice to nuclear war over relatively insignificant islands. His extensive description of discussions concerning considered assistance to the French in Indo-China lays the groundwork for later American intervention. While defending against foreign challenges, Eisenhower does not neglect domestic issues, including the budget, taxes, internal security, McCarthyism, defense, Civil Rights and internal improvements including the Interstate Highway System and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Efforts to insure internal security were premised on the recognition that public employment is a privilege, not a right. Ike explains his plan to ignore McCarthy and let him self-destruct, rather than to extend his influence by giving him more headlines. Eisenhower avoids some troublesome topics, such as reported hard feelings and limited respect between himself and Nixon. While not revealing any headline generating secrets, he does provide some insight into incidents which had not previously occurred to me. He does admit his deletion of praise for General Marshall from a speech in Milwaukee. He also points out that he had issued a strong defense of Marshall a few days before and that the Wisconsin trip had been scheduled in violation of his specific orders. Harry Truman depicts the deletion of the praise of Marshall as despicable cowardice. Upon reading Eisenhower's account, I wondered how many presidential candidates have made equally embarrassing concessions to political expediency. Much ridicule has been directed against Ike's garbled syntax, particularly during press conferences. He mentioned that he was the first president to allow direct quotes and broadcast and telecast of press conferences. While Ike was clearly no golden tongued, silver throated orator, the lack of precedent for press conference preparation leads to an understanding as to why he sounded like he did. Try looking at a transcript of things that you say! I found that Ike's professed wish that the atomic bomb not be used to end World War II contrasted sharply with his willingness to include the nuclear option in plans for the defense of NATO, South Korea and Formosa. As memoirs go, "Mandate For Change" is very good. It provides the reader with valuable insights into the first half of Dwight Eisenhower's political career and through it, into the world in which he worked.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An ordeal to read at times,
By The best thing about this book that I found was the details of the Vietnam Policy. Reading this book, I found out that the Vietnam War that the US was involved in actually began with the Eisenhower adminstration, and not the Kennedy adminstration, though it was Kennedy who first sent soldiers there. The chapter on how the US dealt with France on the Vietnam issue was extremely interesting to read. There are also a few chapters dedicated to the Korean War - this was also interesting,although some of the description in the book didnt have a personal feel to it. The book was lackluster, and I felt uneventful. I read Harry Truman's Memoirs volume I, and thought that book was pretty good, even though it was written during the period about the 1940s. I was a little disappointed that Eisenhower couldn't make his memoirs fluent. I still have Eisenhower's Volume II: Waging Peace to read. It's thicker and longer that Volume I, and dread the idea that it may be an ordeal as the first volume
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