Eisenhower in War and Peace Paperback – May 7, 2013

Great read on the 34th president! Over the years I had read several books on Ike, including Ambrose’s works, but this one was by far the most balanced, objective and insightful and really makes you appreciate the special leader he was. He was not only a superb administrator and executive, he was a political genius who delicately and shrewdly steered America though many crises in the 50s (not to mention, through WWII as well) that probably would have turned out much differently if a less able man had been at the helm, (i.e., most of our Presidents since Ike). That very few Americans (under the age of 50 anyway) know much about Ike or his presidency is actually a credit to what a balanced, strategic and quietly effective leader he was. But Eisenhower was truly a giant – they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!

"Eisenhower in War and Peace" (EWP) is excellent and has changed many of the incorrect perceptions I have had about Ike since childhood. I was a third grader when Ike was first elected in 1952. In those days there were very few filmed news reports on television. When Ike did appear in a rare TV speech to the nation, e.g., the "Little Rock school integration" speech, he often read from typed pages on the podium; his delivery was less than fair. My impression at the time was that presidents were dull, old men. And though my childhood was a happy one, my recollections of the 50's were also "dull" and "old" as in old-fashioned. I thought of Ike as a bridge between some rather excellent presidents - FDR, Harry Truman, and JFK. But Smith's excellent book has turned my impressions around 180 degrees. I am delighted to have become more familiar with Ike as a man, his accomplishments, and his character. He rose to the challenges of the day and we were fortunate to have him. Though there were no foreign wars during those eight years, Ike did have to deal with not only some of the most critical racial issues in our history, but also the Suez Canal, the U-2 spy plane downing, Sputnik and the space race, the Cold War, post WWII Germany, the construction of the national highway system and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Ike had his plate full, and had some serious health issues to deal with concurrently.

Though the book is listed as having almost 1000 pages, there are many pages of notes, acknowledgements, and an index. The actual text in my edition was about 766 pages and well more than half dealt with his years in the military, particularly the WWII years. Throughout it is clear that author Smith greatly admires Ike but that did not prevent his most critical assessment of Ike throughout both his military and presidential careers. For example, not too long after Ike was promoted to Supreme Allied Commander, several of his generals made clear that Ike's strategic skills in battleground planning left something to be desired. Apparently, his strengths were most obvious in dealing with all the heads of state and others, e.g. Churchill, Stalin, FDR, DeGaulle, ensuring their total support and dealing with their 'suggestions', all critical to a truly allied front. I particularly admired Ike for his leadership, his honesty, his unwillingness to pass the buck, his decisiveness, and his total commitment - and Smith gives countless examples of all of these strengths throughout the book.

The book was very readable, the pages seemed to fly by. Even the footnotes were interesting. In the paperback edition which I read, there were many photos, perhaps 1 every 15 pages or so instead of the typical gallery bound together in the middle of a book. Well done ! There are two areas that I wish were different and that diminished the book somewhat for me. I thought too much attention was paid to the Kay Summersby affair.. I was stunned and fascinated by what I read, but there were also times when I felt like I was eavesdropping. Summersby wrote two books about her time with Ike. I highly recommend "Past Forgetting", her second book; it is very charming and I feel it could be read as a companion to Smith's book. By the way, Smith refers to information in Kay's book a number of times.Secondly I wish about 50-100 pages of the WWII pages could have shrunk, as interesting as they were, to allow for more pages on his presidency. Needless to say, I recommend this book highly and without reservation.

This is a GREAT book that provides lots of details about Eisenhower such as his personal and professional relationships with people like Generals Patton, MacArthur, and Marshall; Kay Summersby, and Mamie. The book makes it clear that the USA was so very lucky to have the right man in the right place at the right time. It doesn't gloss over Eisenhower's mistakes, military and political, and these were huge, but the mistakes were far over shadowed by his major accomplishments that others without his military expertise and political sense would have been led to disaster on a global scale. I had no idea that powerful and influential advisers had recommended the use of nuclear weapons more than once, which Eisenhower flatly turned down. He stopped the Korean conflict, kept us out of Vietnam (for his tenure at least), and sided with Egypt against France and Great Britain in their ploy to take control of the Suez canal. Eisenhower made some mistakes in the Middle East, but sure gained credibility for the USA over the Suez issue. And what a proud "moment" when he took on segregation, esp given that his whole life experience up to that time was living with segregation. I like Ike, warts and all, now even more than I did before reading this book.