Dwight D. Eisenhower( The American Presidents Series( The 34th President 1953-1961)[DWIGHT D EISENHOWER][Hardcover]

The American Presidents #34

by TomWicker

Dwight D. Eisenhower( The American Presidents Series( The 34th President 1953-1961) <> Hardcover <> TomWicker <> TimesBooks

Genres: History, Biography, Presidents, Nonfiction, Us Presidents, Politics, Biography Memoir

Hardcover

First published November 5, 2002

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eisenhower In The American Presidents Series

As I write, [2008] our country is in the midst of a highly contentious presidential campaign, including, today, the sharply-fought Pennsylvania primary. In light of the furor of the ongoing campaign, I have been trying to revisit the American presidents in the short series of biographies edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. I thought a consideration of our 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower would be especially appropriate for these tumultuous events. I was alive during the Truman presidency but Eisenhower was the first president I can remember. I have always had the sense that he was, somehow, undervalued as a leader. Thus I was eager to read Tom Wicker's brief biography.

Wicker admits at the outset that he was never a political supporter of Eisenhower. With that in mind, his admiration for Eisenhower as a person and for some of his accomplishments as President comes through in this book. I didn't find this book as harsh or unfair towards Eisenhower as did some of my fellow reviewers. Yet I agree that Eisenhower warrants a more detailed look than Wicker's and, indeed, deserves more.

Eisenhower (1890 -- 1969) was born in Texas but grew up in Kansas. He served two terms as the 34th president (1953 -- 1961). Wicker's book, probably for reasons of space, quickly passes over Eisenhower's early life, including his extraordinary military career, to focus on the eight years of his presidency.

The 1950s were a difficult time in which the United States and the U.S.S.R came perilously close to war on several occasions. Wicker offers Eisenhower qualified praise for his foreign policy and for his role as a "man of peace." Eisenhower ended the war in Korea and worked for disarmament even though, in Wicker's terms he "fumbled" on opportunity to secure a nuclear test-ban treaty late in his administration as a result of his decision to authorize a final U-2 flight over Russia. Wicker gives Eisenhower high praise for his handling of the Suez Crisis in 1956, which he describes as the President's finest hour, and for his calming influence after the U.S.S.R launched Sputnik in 1957, leading to panic among many Americans over our educational system and scientific and military readiness. Wicker faults Eisenhower for his engaging in covert warfare in Guatemala and Iran and he is vaguely critical of Eisenhower's role in precipitating what would become America's involvement in Vietnam.

In domestic affairs, Wicker focuses almost entirely of Eisenhower's role in discrediting Senator Joseph McCarthy and in his actions regarding Civil Rights. Many writers besides Wicker are critical of Eisenhower for not being more aggressive against McCarthy. But as Wicker shows, Eisenhower worked effectively to bring about McCarthy's demise, not the least of which work was in allowing him to self-destruct. Eisenhower's approach may well have been more effective and less divisive to the country than a more confrontational approach.

Wicker also is highly critical of Eisenhower for his less than full support of the Supreme Court's decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" and for his failure to exercise the moral suasion both he and his office possessed to implement civil rights. Many admirers of Eisenhower have come to the same conclusion. Yet, Eisenhower used force to protect the rights of African American students in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. And Eisenhower's two immediate successors in the presidency were themselves slow to commit to the civil rights movement. A recent book by David Nichols, "A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Civil Rights Revolution" (2007) reassess in part Eisenhower's contributions behind the scenes to the cause of civil rights.

The 1950s are sometimes regarded as a time of somnolence and conformity in the United States and sometimes as a subject of sentimentalized nostalgia. Eisenhower had proven his ability as a leader during WW II and he served the nation well, even Wicker admits, as President during a difficult era. According to one of his advisers quoted by Wicker, Eisenhower's greatest strength was "in getting people to compromise divergent views without anyone's surrender of principle." (p. 138) In view of the never-ending tumult our country has undergone since the 1960s, one can do worse than the balance, sanity, and quietly effective leadership that characterized the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Robin Friedman

[Zach Koenig · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is almost unfair to review this biography of President Dwight D. Eisenhower from Tom Wicker because after even just the first few pages it becomes painfully obvious that he is the wrong choice to pen this edition.

While reading through the American Presidents series, I had usually always been impressed by the authors' ability to maintain some semblance of objectivity. With this installment, though, it is made impeccably clear that Wicker disliked the Eisenhower Administration. Wicker rarely says a good word about Ike the entire book, and even when he does, those statements are backed by a lot of "buts" and "ifs". Basically, Wicker blames President Eisenhower for all his failings but doesn't give him any credit for his successes.

This was terribly disappointing to me, because I know that there is so much more to Ike than what I just slogged through. This book gives very little detail about the man himself (the parts I really like about this series) and spends almost no time on his "formative years" out of office (remember how those were key passages in the earlier books?).

I realize that so many glowing books have been written about Eisenhower that some balance is needed, but this is not the series for that to happen. Wicker should have gone out and wrote his own book on the subject...not force armchair historians like myself to wade through his veiled (and sometimes even not-so-veiled) critiques.

Yet, like I said, I cannot fully blame Wicker himself for this book, as he wrote about Eisenhower as he saw fit and I can respect that. Perhaps more of the attention should fall to overseer Arthur Schlesinger, who apparently chose Wicker...the wrong man for this particular job.

[Craig Knott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got a strange sense while reaing this book that Ike was a failure as a President according to Tom Wicker. After a few short chapters on his career prior to the presidency. Chapter after chapter covered near successes that could be taken as failures and Ike's shortcomings. As I was nearing the end of the book, the hack author, revealed his typical journalistic bias in a blatant Kennedy loving statement. Talking about the bay of pigs Wicker excuses "Kennedy's Bay of Pigs" disaster as Ike's fault because he approved the training camp in Central America that trained the Cubans and that left over CIA people "pressured" Kennedy to do it. Either Kennedy was weak or not in control.

Most of the books in the series have been good but it varies with the author. I still take remember in the Polk book the author comparing "Polk's Mexican War" to "Nixon's Vietnam". I guess the fact that both Kennedy and Johnson had secretly sent over 100,000 troops, instituited the draft and fought the war for 8 years before Nixon was president.
Tom Wicker should be ashamed.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wicker's makes the statement that Ike was "a great man, but not quite a great president" at the end of the book, but this is pretty much his sentiment throughout. He convincingly makes the argument that while Eisenhower wasn't necessarily blundering his way through the 1950s, he certainly was squandering. A beloved, father figure of a president with much political will and capital, he could have done so much more but did not. Wasted opportunities included peace with Russia, truly fighting McCarthyism, and taking the bull by the horns when it came to racial inequality. He was also sort of shit to Richard Nixon. Interestingly, this conservative president was the first to use executive privilege, so he clearly believed in the authority of the executive branch. I imagine if Ike were alive and well today, he and Mitt Romney would have much to discuss. Wicker injects himself into the biography in several spots with anecdotes and personal asides, not too many, but enough to give this a personal touch.

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting president. Good read and well worth checking out.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most of the books in this series, a straightforward presidential biography. I would have liked more on Ikes military career and on his final few years but a good read nonetheless.

[Christopher Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Dwight D. Eisenhower” by Tom Wicker, part of “The American Presidents” series by Times Books, is difficult to review. The more I read, the more I appreciated the book, but that is not to say that it was a good biography. I’m not sure it was. By the end of the first chapter, I was convinced the book was trash. I stated to anyone who was interested that I can’t for the life of me figure out why authors write biographies on people they do not like or admire. Certainly, there are many who have written on Hitler, Stalin, etc. who would not like or admire them, but those are understandable cases. No one (or at least very few) likes or admires those people. But there are plenty of people who would like or admire Eisenhower, and why could Time Books or Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (the general editor of the series) not find one of those authors to write this biography?
Wicker indicated at the beginning of the book that he did not vote for the man and in fact raised funds for his opponent when the president ran for reelection. Throughout the book, Wicker would give backhanded complements. Wicker’s favorite description was that Eisenhower was a fatherly figure. It’s hard to determine if that was a compliment or not.
In the end, I came to appreciate the biography, but only because it did give some of the interesting details of the Eisenhower presidency. Very little else was mentioned as to his life. I could have done without the snide commentary, however. I have not read any biographies of Eisenhower; this was the first. However, this book by Tom Wicker would not be on my recommend list.

[Chris Loveless · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know these books in the presidential series are short. This book is not the best in this series of books. Not a lot of content about Ike’s efforts in the military. He spent 35 years in the military. But very little in the book. He had a highly decorated military career and was one of a small handful of 5 star generals. He was coveted by both parties but turned them down and went to lead Columbia university. Without ever having any political experience, he became president. A number of pages in the book about Dulles and Joe McCarthy. Nixon was chosen as his vp. Ike had health issues during both terms. He chose golf and bridge to alleviate stress, evening outlawing squirrels at the white house as they were destroying his putting green. His blood pressure readings were off the charts. recession existed at times in the 50s. A lot of international matters, some of which were handled well, others that were not. He did a good job but not a great job. He told Nixon he could leave after Ike’s first term. Did not support Nixon enough when he ran for office. If he did, nixon possibly beats Kennedy as he only lost by 100,000 votes. He was a good communicator. The author mentions a few times in the book, he never voted for Ike and even was active in political events for the guy competing against Ike. He left the White House at age 71 and passed away 8 years later. Makes you wonder about presidential rankings. Ike is ranked pretty high as far as presidents go but this author portrayed him as average.

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually this series is excellent, however, Tom Wicker gives a very abbreviated history of Dwight Eisenhower's terms as president. The book, already quite brief, is marred by small errors in dates and other things. It seems that Wicker, who covered the Eisenhower era as a journalist, mostly wrote the book from memory, which is never a great idea. Do they have editors? At any rate, Wicker dismisses the first 62 years of Eisenhower's life, (his birth in Texas, his childhood in Abilene, West Point, the Philippines under MacArthur and all of the World War II stuff) in about three pages and then proceeds to write a fairly non-linear history of Eisenhower's presidency based around a few themes: Earl Warren as Chief Justice, (he came to think it had been a bad idea) civil rights, (Eisenhower disapproved of integration, but supported the law when it was applicable) the Soviet Union, (Eisenhower wanted to use nuclear weapons as an insurance policy over having a huge conventional and permanent war-ready military) Joe McCarthy, (Eisenhower hated McCarthy but wanted to tame him as much as he could; he mostly couldn't but applauded McCarthy's self-destruction) and Eisenhower's relationship with Nixon, always somewhat strained. Eisenhower had great confidence in himself, and viewed pretty much everyone else as inferior replacements. As it was, he was a mostly stable president that kept us out of hot wars, but played the Cold War game very deceptively, in Iran, Guatemala, et al. He was good for mostly not doing anything too terribly bad, and was one of the best-liked presidents of the United States in history. Because he had not stopped the arms race and the switch to being controlled primarily by the military industrial complex, Ike privately viewed his presidency as a failure. Anyone with a serious interest in Eisenhower would be well-served to choose a more comprehensive and detailed biography.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

About as fair a book on Ike's presidency as you'll ever read.

[Leew49 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I never spent another personal moment with him, but forty years later, to me, Ike is still a commanding presence." --Tom Wicker

Wicker's biography of Eisenhower is part of a series on American presidents, and as such, it deals principally with his eight years in the White House. Eisenhower's early life, military career and indispensable role in World War II are only given in outline form: enough to set the stage for the Presidential years. At the beginning of Eisenhower's term in office, politics in the United States was dramatically influenced by anti-Communist sentiments and their attendant paranoia, manifested in our foreign relations, our concern with the arms race and a fear on the part of many Americans of subversive influences within our own government. Eisenhower had to contend with the psychology of the 1950s while presiding over a country still deeply divided along racial lines. The tremendous respect and admiration enjoyed by the former leader of the Allied forces, as well as the experience he brought to the office were important in his successes, though they did not shield him completely from failure.

Though reticent on the subject of racial equality, Eisenhower did appoint Earl Warren to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, making possible the landmark anti-segregation decision in Brown v State Board of Education. An early Civil Rights bill was passed during his Presidency, and he used US troops to desegregate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, over the objections and machinations of Governor Orville Faubus.

Eisenhower arranged the armistice of the Korean War, was instrumental in the re-arming of Germany, and avoided armed conflicts in two potentially disastrous situations: the Suez Canal crisis and the Chinese threat to Formosa. Though he avoided active involvement of American troops in Indochina (France's problem at the time), he was the first to publicly espouse the so-called "domino theory" of Communist aggression. He did nothing to aid Hungarian patriots in their effort to throw off the Soviet yoke, and he permitted covert action by the CIA in Guatemala and Iran, as well as allowing them to lay the groundwork for what later became the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in the Kennedy administration. Perhaps most tragic was Eisenhower's clumsy handling of the U2 fiasco, leading to the collapse of disarmament talks with Khrushchev--even more disappointing given Eisenhower's opposition to excessive military spending, a runaway arms race, and the growing influence of what he dubbed the "military-industrial complex."

His Presidency saw the dramatic growth of the American highway system, the development of the St Lawrence Seaway and the creation of NASA; and he managed to control American panic after Sputnik and the perceived "missile gap" with Russia, partly through intelligence collected by the U2 spy plane that later plagued his Presidency.

McCarthyism collapsed during the Eisenhower Presidency, but Ike himself seemed to have decided to stay above the fray, maintaining a studious silence in the face of McCarthy's most blatant claims and egregious behavior. Eisenhower's assertion of a broader interpretation of executive privilege, a response to McCarthy's attempts to subpoena key White House personnel, has lasting effects to this day.

A genial and hardworking example of the American midwesterner, Eisenhower had already accomplished great things before going to Washington. Though far from perfect and occasionally prone to bad decisions, he exerted a calming fatherly influence on an America that might have strayed into armed conflict or extreme militarization under a less steady and respected leader. No truer and more succinct campaign slogan can be found in American history than "I like Ike."

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Harry S Truman occupied the White House when I was born, my childhood recollection of the presidency took the form of a grandfatherly gentleman who even kids were allowed to call “Ike.” Dwight David Eisenhower served as the 34th President of the United States from the time I was just approaching my 4th birthday until I was a year short of being a teenager. Ike defined what the Presidency was all about and, in my family, as in lots of other American families, we all “liked Ike.”

By the time I was paying any attention to politics, the Korean conflict had been brought to an uncertain but welcome end. The “Cold War” was underway and, although we were taught to duck and cover in school, somehow we trusted that the government was protecting us and that Ike would manage to keep us safe.

Surprisingly, given my interest in American history and the presidency in particular, I approached reading about Eisenhower with little beyond those naïve observations and impressions. I decided to get my feet wet by reading Tom Wicker’s slight biography simply entitled “Dwight D. Eisenhower.” This volume is part of The American Presidents series designed to provide accessible summary biographies of each of our chief executives. Wicker was, in many ways, an unusual choice of an author to take on Eisenhower. Wicker was more journalist than historian and is generally associated with Nixon, Kennedy, and LBJ rather than with Eisenhower. Nevertheless, Wicker turned out to be a fairly good, and even-handed, selection as a starting point.

Wicker’s coverage of Eisenhower starts strong and finishes with even more of a flourish. Unfortunately, the book bogs down and becomes too much of a simple chronology in the middle. The premise of this book is that most of us share an inaccurate view of the Eisenhower Presidency. To Wicker’s way of thinking, we discount Ike’s international accomplishments primarily because of the badly botched handling of the U-2 affair and we give Eisenhower too much credit on the domestic side based on his intervention into school desegregation in Little Rock. In recent decades, many historians have tended to agree with this perspective and the narrative concerning the Eisenhower Presidency has moved from portraying Ike as a benign non-entity to a skillful behind the scenes player shaping world affairs.

Gone is the traditional view of a President who spent most of his time playing golf and bridge. In its place is a much more serious viewpoint that underscores Eisenhower’s profile as a world leader (for good or ill). Questions concerning nuclear proliferation and missed opportunities to affect progress in civil rights take the place or the simplistic view. There is certainly plenty of room for disagreement on where Eisenhower should rank among other Presidents. What is no longer in dispute is that Ike’s Presidency was consequential.

This is not the Eisenhower biography that you should read if you’re looking for much insight into Ike’s military career, nor should it be your sole source of Eisenhower information. It’s a launching point for further investigation and, in that regard, serves a real purpose.

[Michael Loveless · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a good introduction to Eisenhower’s presidency. Wicker doesn’t say much about Eisenhower’s early life, but gives a basic summary. The focus of the book is on the major foreign affairs events of Eisenhower’s presidency. In the area of domestic affairs, only McCarthyism and civil rights were covered in any depth.

The book is quite readable and thought-provoking. However, Wicker seems to have a pretty liberal bias. He applauds him for things like keeping the peace and ignoring the hysterical voices around him who were calling for more and bigger weapons. He is very critical on issues like his interventions in Iran and Guatemala, his lack of leadership on civil rights, and his failure to oppose McCarthy more forcefully. He implies that he was wrong to guard his popularity rather than cash in on it. When there was something difficult to deal with, Eisenhower asked subordinates to handle it. For instance he had Nixon make a speech against McCarthy (p. 67), and had Meade Alcorn, Republican Party Chairman try to fire Sherman Adams (p. 102). Wicker is also critical of Ike’s failure to support Nixon, suggesting that since he didn’t like Nixon, he couldn’t bear to see him (or anyone) succeed him (p. 115). The strong bias makes the book more interesting than some in this series that were more vanilla.

The book does a good job analyzing how Ike’s personality affected his policy decisions. There were also some excellent and usable quotes.
“Young man, I would vote for Eisenhower if he were dead.” (p. 1)
“I personally believe the decision was wrong…” The court should only have required “equal opportunity…” (p. 46).
“These [southerners] aren’t bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big overgrown Negroes.” (p. 54).
“Don’t join the book-burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend your ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.” (p. 59)
“Ike always had to have a prat boy.” (p. 75)
“Don’t worry Jim…I’ll just confuse them.” (said about avoiding tough questions at a press conference). (p. 80)
“Ike, what in hell does a man have to do to get your support.” (a friend to Eisenhower when he was trying to dump Nixon in 1956) (p. 86)
“We may have to hit ‘em…with everything in the bucket.” (when the Soviets were threatening to intervene in the Suez Crisis) (p. 92)
“If you have to use force, use overwhelming force, and save lives thereby.”
(p. 92)
“If you give me a week I might think of one. I don’t remember.” (when asked to give a major idea Nixon had contributed the Eisenhower’s administration)
(p. 118)

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, brief biography of Ike

There is much to say critical about Eisenhower, and Wicker brings these topics up. Eisenhower gave Nixon too much of a platform. He didn’t directly oppose Sen. Joseph McCarthy, but instead gave us the doctrine of “executive privilege.” He only reluctantly enforced Brown v. Board of Education, and while giving us the first modern equal rights legislation, gave us a lackluster law, with no real enforcement. And he supported anti-democratic coups in Guatemala and Iran, for which the United States is still paying penalties.

But Eisenhower also defused the Suez crisis, avoided a war with China, limited the engagement in Vietnam (it was Kennedy and later Johnson, Democrats who did not want to appear soft on communism, who escalated US involvement). He opposed what he termed in his farewell speech the “military-industrial complex,” and the notion from Republican hawks and Democrats such as Kennedy, that there was a missile gap with the Soviets.

The real tragedy of the Eisenhower administration, called out eloquently in Wicker’s book, is how close the great soldier was to a nuclear test ban with the Soviet Union, and how his hubris and that of his subordinates led to the U-2 incident that gave Khrushchev the opportunity to storm out of the Paris talks.

Wicker writes well. There is a bone-head error in describing the time between the collapse of the May 1959 talks in Paris and the end of Eisenhower’s presidency as “7 months,” when in fact it was nineteen. This should have been caught by the most junior copy editor. However, the book is well researched, and shows an overall strong understanding of the subject and the times, which Wicker had as a NY Times political correspondent when Eisenhower was still alive.

The nature of this series of presidential biographies is of course brevity, but Wicker’s book is one that feels like it covers the whole subject and does not skirt issues or portions of the life. Wicker’s reminisce of a trip with Eisenhower, one aide, and another reporter, during the 1962 campaign was an interesting coda and lead up to Wicker’s summary that Eisenhower was a great man, but not a great president.

[Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many in The American Presidents series, the book is a quick and substantial enough primer to get you to have a general understanding of the president in the years in which he served.

With Eisenhower, Wicker does a wonderful job of giving Ike credit where it's due, but also giving criticism where it is warranted. Eisenhower's legend is likely greater than the reality. He isn't a great president, but was competent enough. His great accomplishments were the interstate system, NASA, and working tirelessly for peace as well as keeping defense spending in check before it became out of control in the intervening years. However, Eisenhower did do a terrible job at trying to solve Civil Rights; being aggressive against McCarthyism; brought about awful covert missions in Iran and Guatemala; and even sabotaged his own attempts at bringing the Cold War to an early end by sending in one last U-2 spy plane mission as those talks were nearing an end. That final U-2 mission was discovered, and shot down, by the Soviets and angered them that the U.S. would distrust them at a time in which a deal was nearly signed. Eisenhower fumbled big time. This event helped to lead to the Bay of Pigs and Eisenhower helped to plant the seeds of what would become the Vietnam War.

While the book is fairly good, I do have two criticisms: 1) Wicker's writing tends to be overly long; inserting many side thoughts within sentences that makes following his main thoughts confusing and lost. Organizing the points he wanted to make would've been so much more helpful and made the book a smoother reading experience. 2) Not much is spent on the second term other than talking about how Eisenhower fumbled peace talks with Russia and how much he didn't want Nixon to be president (which is another pro to Eisenhower's career as president). Otherwise, the book is sufficent enough to give you a decent idea of Eisenhower's time as president.

[Zachariah Zdinak · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re (Gently in Manner, Strongly in Deed)"
- Claudio Aqua Viva, a Jesuit priest
(the words that sat on President Eisenhower's Oval Office Desk).

Documents in the Eisenhower Presidential Library reveal Ike’s admiration for Teddy Roosevelt extended to Roosevelt’s motto, “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” Ike surmised the motto had Latin origin. When his staff researched the phrase, they discovered a similar Latin proverb which applied to Ike’s leadership style, Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re, or “Gently in manner, strongly in deed.”In August 1954, former State Department official Dudley Kirk wrote his friend Gabriel Hauge, Administrative Assistant to President Eisenhower. Kirk’s letter closed with a hope that Hauge was “helping to justify our motto for the President – ‘Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.’” Hauge wrote to Ann Whitman, Eisenhower’s personal secretary, suggesting she mention the motto and its translation to Eisenhower. She verified the translation and origination from a 1606 treatise by Claudio Aqua Viva, a Jesuit priest. On August 24, Hauge wrote to Kirk indicating he had shared the motto with the President. He continued, “Shortly thereafter I was sitting across his desk…when I noted facing me the quotation placed on the back of his pen set. I thought that you would want to know that he was obviously pleased that these words could be interpreted as a symbol of his approach to his work.”
(https://estore.archives.gov/eisenhowe... that sells the replica and explains the history.

Tom Wicker's 2002 biography on President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is part of an ever-expanding and growing series (and one of my personal favorites as a Presidential Historian), The American Presidents Series. As the General Editor, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., states at the opening of each novel in the series "It is the aim of the American Presidents series to present the grand panorama of our chief executives in volumes compact enough for the busy reader, lucid enough for the student, authoritative enough for the scholar." These books do just that, they give you just enough to touch the surface of the men who came to run this nation at one point, but leave you wanting more, to go and find those more scholarly works on each individual man who would come to be called, Mr. President.

While Wicker was an extremely bright journalist for over 30+ years a The New York Times, there were a few dates in the book that I found to not be correct, of course at the time of writing this 20+ years ago, he did not have the resources we have today, in that respect I understand completely. Other than that I learned quite a lot about Eisenhower in this short but informative novel, I read this book along with Brett Baier's, Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission (2017), and Ike's granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower, How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions (2020); both incredible books. Between these three biographical insights into Eisenhower's Presidential & Military life, as well as some background on his upbringing, I learned quite a lot about the General.

Along with my recommendation to this book, as well as the American Presidents Series itself, I also recommend Baier & Eisenhower's book on the General, as they give quite a detailed and intimate look into the man who would become known to the world as, Ike.

[William Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like IKE! I mean who doesn't like IKE? Author Tom Wicker likes IKE! He does not however let that interfere with presenting a balanced picture of the Eisenhower presidency. This is a reread for me. I think highly of Eisenhower the General not as highly of Eisenhower the politician and president! There are two subjects on which Eisenhower failed to measure up morally during his run for office and his presidency. They are disappointing to me. The first is his failure to defend his military mentor, General Marshall, from vicious personal attacks by Senator Joseph McCarthy accusing Marshall of being soft on Communism. Ike removed his defense statement from a speech he was giving in Wisconsin to placate McCarthy followers in his home state. I think that was unconscionable! The second is his lackluster support of Civil Rights. I recognize that a Civil Rights bill was passed during his Administration however, it was weak and was largely ignored. He did sent military forces into Little Rock to support the law but it wasn't because he believed in the Supreme Court's decision in Brown V Board of Education, in fact he thought the decision went too far in supporting integration. Wicker's assessment is: "Eisenhower also was a man whose personal tastes and preferences fitted all too well into the staid and conventional atmosphere of America in the fifties, and unfortunately did nothing to uplift or enlighten it" (Wicker, p. 134). Politics definitely reveals character flaws.
That said, this is another of the American President series by Time Books, Henry Holt and Company edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Sean Wilentz. They are easy reads and very informative. They should be required reading in High School civics! All in all, I like Ike! You will also.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dwight D. Eisenhower is the thirtieth-third book in The American Presidents series – a biographical series chronicling the Presidents of the United States. Tom Wicker wrote this particular installment and edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was an American army general and statesman who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States from 1953–1961. During World War II, he was a five-star general in the Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful Invasion of Normandy in 1944–45 from the Western Front.

Only a few pages are devoted to his Eisenhower's first sixty-two years on earth, and jumps straight into his 1952 presidential campaign. This cursory biography is a fine introduction to 1950s political history and covers the domestic and international crises that occurred on Eisenhower's watch, including the Supreme Court's decision to racially integrate public schools, the poisonous influence of Senator Joe McCarthy, tensions with the Soviet Union, and the threat of nuclear war.

All in all, Dwight D. Eisenhower is a good, albeit brief biography of the thirtieth-fourth President and it is a good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series of presidential biographies, which I plan to read in the very near future.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent short biography of Ike that concentrates on his two terms as president.

What impressed me the most about this bio is the author's even-handedness. He doesn't hesitate to give Ike credit for his triumphs (his handling of the Suez crisis or his use of troops to enforce federal law in Little Rock), but also calls him to task for his failures (such as his initial opposition to Brown vs. the Board of Education and his lack of moral leadership in this regard prior to Little Rock). The author also is clear when he (the author) is using the benefit of hindsight to analyze Eisenhower's presidency.

In the end, the author (I think accurately) credits Eisenhower with being "a great man--but not quite a great president..." I especially like a conclusion in the final paragraph of the book: "We seldom have need of a great president, after all, but we can never do without good men, in or out of office. Dwight Eisenhower was a good man, at times a great man, and it seems unnecessary to try to make him out to be a great president, too." As president, Ike had his highs and lows. As a man, he really was a remarkable person.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative book about a period in American history that I knew little about, as it was before I was born but not long enough before to be covered in history classes in school. I would have liked to have seen more about Eisenhower as a military leader, since it was that leadership that made him such a popular candidate for president. Wicker merely mentions a few highlights of Eisenhower's military career without giving any sense of what sort of leader he was, other than that he was effective. As for the history of his presidency, I sometimes found some of the details boring, but it's the details that make up the big picture, and I learned a fair amount about civil rights issues, international issues like the Suez Canal, and other bits of 50's history I had heard of but never knew much of anything about.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story but "inconclusive" ending.
I mean, I know Ike dies, but we don't get much of anything of Eisenhower's post-presidency at all.
Hence the three stars. Wicker is an okay writer (for a reporter I was expecting a LITTLE more) but his story lacks panache and urgency. The truncated ending was jarring; no reference at all to Camp David (which was originally named Shangri-La but renamed after Ike's son (who is actually an author of another of the books in this series)); no real discussion of his life with Mamie; no genuine attempt to explain how his actions led to the debacle that eventually became Vietnam. Not one of the best offerings in this series, but Ike is a likable enough subject that the work gets three stars instead of two.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wicker's biography of Eisenhower meets the general requirements of the American Presidents series-- it's thorough enough to interest historians, but basic enough to provide context to those who might be less familiar with the subject's life. It is one of the better volumes of the series that I've read, because it never seems to waste space, focusing on the pivotal areas of Eisenhower's presidency directly but fully in rapid succession. Maybe it's because I'm more conversant with the details of the 20th century, but this one read much easier than some of the earlier volumes of the group. Recommended.

[Victor Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a review of the Eisenhower presidency than a biography of his whole life, but it's still an interesting read. A large focus is placed on foreign affairs, but some domestic issues like civil rights are also included. Surprisingly, the Interstate Highway System named after him is only mentioned in passing. I suppose that is not surprising for such a short book.

The writing style is somewhat informal and is easy to read, though it is dense with details and names at times.

If you want to get more in-depth than a wikipedia article, but don't want to spend months digesting a huge detailed biography, this is the Eisenhower book to get.

[john sellinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

President Eisenhower

Post WW 2 left the United States as the preeminent power in the World. Eisenhower inherited that status, and while he was able to maintain that position in world affairs, he also didn't increase it. By his blunders with the U-2 program before the Paris summit, he squandered an opportunity to make a meaningful reduction in the arms race which continued until the 1980's.
He did little to advance civil rights, and seemed unconcerned with a forward semiotic policy.

[Debbie Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for tracing the presidential trajectory of Dwight D. Eisenhower. There are facts galore, but little that makes the reader feel who Eisenhower the man really was. There is no real biographical information, which was very disappointing. Standing alone as a book about Eisenhower's presidency, I'd give it a five, but as part of a biographical series it's hard to give it more than a three.

[Ed McDermott · Rating 2 out of 5]

99% political hit piece with 1% niceties in order to keep you reading, almost as bad as the biography I read of Grant by a confederate just cause supporter. Glad I got it at a thrift store. I gave it 2 stars just because parts were enlightening.

[Quintin Reitzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

[Blake Knudsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

If your looking for a book on his military career and leadership, this isn’t the book. Read about 30 pages and just couldn’t get into it.

[Marcos Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informational, concise, and balanced.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. Reminded me a bit.