For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence & the American Presidency from Washington to Bush

by Christopher Andrew

From the co-author of The Inside Story and an acknowledged authority on the subject comes "the most important book ever written about American intelligence."--David Kahn, author of The Codebreakers and Hitler's Spies

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, Military Fiction, Espionage, Military History

688 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Christopher Maurice Andrew, FRHistS is an Emeritus Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Cambridge with an interest in international relations and in particular the history of intelligence services. (military.wikia.org)

Reviews

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the Presidents Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush is exciting reading for fans of secret intelligence or presidential history. The book answers the all important question "what did the president know and when did he know it" and more importantly to secret intelligence buffs "how did he know it." Professor Christopher Andrew provides a through analysis of the intelligence provided to the presidents of the United States during their tenure and how the presidents used that intelligence. He further explains how the President felt about intelligence and how well the Presidents understood what intelligence could and could not do for him. In addition Andrew examines the state of the intelligence services, how the intelligence services changed during each president's term and the president's impact on the intelligence community during their administration.
Christopher Andrew is a Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Cambridge University's Corpus Christi College. He has written many books on secret intelligence including The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev, Her Majesty's Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community, and "Comrade Kryuchkov's Instructions: Top Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations, 1975-1985. Andrew is a frequent host of British Broadcasting Corporation television and radio history productions. He holds the Chair of the History Faculty at Cambridge University, the Chair of the British Intelligence Study Group and is a former Visiting Professor of National Security at Harvard, Toronto and Canberra. Andrew has presented guest lectures at numerous American universities and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Andrew essentially dismisses the intelligence services available to presidents George Washington to William H. Taft as ineffectual or non-existent in the modern sense and gives a quick one-chapter overview of intelligence during their terms. Andrew then gets into the heart of the book with another chapter for presidents Woodrow Wilson to Herbert Hoover. Here he credits the First World War with creating the first modern intelligence service, but then says it was rapidly lost due to the actions of Woodrow Wilson after the war. He claims that the intelligence services were not really reconstituted until the Second World War. The most interesting story here was how British intelligence intercepted the Zimmerman telegram and manipulated the United States into entering the war earlier than it might have otherwise. Andrew then devotes a chapter each to presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt to George H. W. Bush. Each president is covered in-depth and the book gives the details behind every major crisis of the 20th century up through the first President Bush. The later presidents are not covered as the book was published in 1995.

Andrews writing style is very easy to read. The book reads almost like a novel. The only thing difficult is the Professor's use of the original acronyms and abbreviations when describing the various government agencies discussed in the book. The Professor provides a three and a half page table of acronym and abbreviation meaning at the front of the book. However, someone without a military or intelligence background will find the necessity to keep referring to the table a little distracting. The chronological organization of the book provides a logical progression through the material and allows for easy access if one is only interested in a particular President or crisis. It is very interesting to see the contrast between the information that was publicly available at the time of each crisis and what the intelligence was behind it. It is amazing to see what The Presidents kept hidden and why they did. For example, early in the Eisenhower administration there was a public flap over the Bomber Gap. President Eisenhower had the secret intelligence showing that there was no gap. If he had disclosed the information he could have quieted his critics quickly, but wisely refused to disclose the information publicly to keep the fact that we had the U2 spy plane secret. Nearly every president has had similar circumstances and situations. In other instances the book makes one wonder how the United States survived with the inept handling of intelligence and the intelligence services by some presidents. The behind the scene infighting between the different intelligence services led to some of The Presidents worst failures. The biggest case here was the bombing of Pearl Harbor that brought us into World War Two. A similar situation will probably turn up behind the September 11, 2001 bombings. In other cases Andrew describes outright corruption and misuse of the intelligence services that created some of the biggest scandals during United States history. One only need look at the Andrew's description of the "Bay of Pigs" scandal to see how the misuse of the intelligence services can lead to disaster. Andrew is not shy about expressing his opinion of The Presidents or their actions. In his conclusion Andrew claims that only four American Presidents had a flair for intelligence: Washington, Eisenhower, Kennedy and George H. W. Bush. The book is extensively documented with both primary and secondary sources of information and has a very good index. The notes and bibliography alone are over 100 pages. However, they are all in the form of endnotes and placed at the back of the book and so are not readily visible while one is reading.

Andrew succeeds in everything he set out to accomplish in "For the Presidents Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush." The book is well worth reading. It is very eye opening to anyone who has not read about the American Intelligence Services before. It makes one wonder what our Intelligence Services are up to now. One can certainly look forward to what Andrew will write about current events but if one is at all interested in American History one needs to pick up this book now.

However, this book deals mainly with the Agency's history of espionage and intelligence collection. For an excellent and very well-balanced and relatively recent review of the Agency's history of covert action see Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA by John Prados.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is assigned reading for the counterterrorism graduate class I'm taking. It's a wonderful look, president-by-president, at the use of intelligence and covert action by the United States over the years. Another assigned book for the class, The Presidents' Secret Wars, covers the same topics, but in a rather boring way. The President's Eyes Only is both entertaining and enlightening. It will make you wonder how the United States is ever successful, given the number of mistakes and missteps made by our leaders through the World Wars, the Cold War and beyond.

[Rich Rimkunas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would you have guessed that the first aerial battlefield photographic intel was submitted to President Abraham Lincoln? I would have guessed no president in office before Wilson. This book is painfully fascinating but I will warn that you should only endeavor to read it if you are EXTREMELY interested in the intelligence world as at times it can be highly technical, slow-moving, and verbose.

[Alex Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Intelligence is and always will be our first line of defense, enabling us to ward off emerging threats whenever possible before any damage is done” - George HW Bush (1991).

Andrew comprehensively outlines every piece of notable intelligence history from the the perspective of each presidential administration. He shows how intelligence was used and misused, evolved and adapted, and only going up to HW Bush’s presidency, forecasts many of the shortcomings of the IC leading up to the post 9/11 world. Although a dense one to get through, it is a fantastic insight into the history of American intelligence.

[Addison Mooradian · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Intelligence is and always will be our first line of defense”

This was a long read but worth it for anyone even remotely interested in counterterrorism and the birth of our intelligence community. Through this novel, Andrew shows how intelligence was used and misused, evolved and adapted, forecasting many of the shortcomings of the IC leading up to the post 9/11 world.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a better read than Andrew's authorized history of British intelligence. Here, presumably, there was no censor standing over his shoulder nor was there any need to appear to be thorough.

Contrary to the title, this is not a history of intelligence through the presidencies. Washington is covered. Lincoln is briefly mentioned. Wilson is treated at some length. The focus, however, is on the presidencies of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush--from the thirties into the nineties. Although counterintelligence, i.e. the FBI, gets some treatment, the real attention is given to C.I.A. and the N.S.A.

While author Andrew sees spying as necessary, even beneficial, he is less sanguine about black-operations such as US assassination attempts and coup attempts. This is not, for him, primarily a moral position. As he presents the history of such things, they simply don't pay off very well.

[Ferris Mx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three point five stars, I guess.

The "Washington to Bush" is a bit misleading. The book has very little to offer pre-WWII. Post WWII, this is all very familiar territory. I did gain insight into a couple of points.
1) The courage of a second-level CIA officer to tell Johnson that Vietnam was unwinnable. He was not listened to. After the meeting, senior CIA people told him he did a good job sticking to his position. Um, thanks? Maybe you could have supported me in the meeting with the President.
2) Renewed appreciation for how Nixon's plumbers were initially created to track down leaks, hence the name. The Nixon regime was as crooked as our current regime, but not NEARLY as criminal.
3) Carter was almost intentionally bad at using intelligence.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A expansive yet detailed survey history of the relationship between American Presidents and their intelligence community, from Washington to GHW Bush. Interesting in the passages dealing with things on my event horizon and informative about things I would not have been aware of. Going back on my shelf instead of out the door for its contribution across a number of periods and events. It should also be read by those interested in how and why the USG has screwed this up over decades.

[Dave Hunt]

If I were to recommend one book form Profs. Christopher Andrew to read this would be the one: this is Andrew at his very best. This book is the gold standard for Cold War studies. Highly prophetic even today.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this for a course called US intelligence and foreign relations since 1914 - interesting portrait of various presidents, but a bit disconnected at times and the conclusion left much to be desired

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read for historical insights into intelligence in the US and what it has provided to the President and how the President of the time often chooses to ignore telltale signs of conflict when it doesn't fit their preferred narrative.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of how the Presidents from George Washington to George H.W. Bush viewed intelligence and used it in their decision-making. It was fascinating to read about the various Intelligence Community agencies, their interactions, and how their products were viewed and used (or not) by the White House. Reading like a novel, which makes it very readable, it still isn't for the faint-hearted. At almost 700 pages, it is a fascinating read for fans of secret intelligence or those who live (or have lived) in the IC.

[Jennifer Morgan Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a Masters course in Intelligence Studies. Although I find Christopher Andrew overly chatty for an academic resource (the relevant info could be made into a MUCH smaller book) he is an accomplished historian in the intelligence field and has access to archives off limits to most. The book is impeccably researched and gives insight into the role of intelligence in American foreign policy.

[Drea Damara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This went through each Presidency and covered major issues their cabinets faced. While it is an unclassified work, of course, it did reveal interesting stories and decisions our leaders had to make. The most fascinating thing is seeing how these leaders had to make these decisions, while the public had no knowledge of all the circumstances at the time or for years to come, for that matter. A great history lesson.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers a lot of ground. Christopher Andrew seems to be the go-to guy on this topic, and each chapter (corresponding to a particular presidential administration) can be a stand alone read. Ton of detail and very eye-opening. The chapter on Nixon alone is worth it...pretty outrageous stuff.

[Motherhouse]

I read this for a class, but I found it really interesting. It's a history of how American Presidents used intelligence and has just enough good anecdotes to keep it from being too dry. - Lindsay Reimschussel

[Alexanderbernard.patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really insightful book; I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in 20th century history. History is too often viewed by non-historians as a chronology of inevitable events. Reading this book made it all seem up in the air and unfolding before my eyes.

[Henry]

This book is boring with twenty dollar woods to disguise what is seriously a lack of journalistic effort. The author uses sensationalism to try to keep you interested. Thank goodness this was a library book I checked out.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a comprehensive look at the subject matter, but unfortunately the writing is extremely dry. The books could use an updated edition, too, as its coverage ends during the first Bush administration.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best history of U.S. intelligence.

[Joe Wisniewski]

Currently reading for a class on the history of the CIA.

2/23 After a slow start, I am getting the gist of the writer's style.

[Anna Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dry at times - but a whole lot of interesting information. It really gave me a different perspective on some of the decisions our presidents have made.

[Mike Salmans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not all this material is true but it was still a lot of fun to read

[Greg Fanoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit, it was a bit tough to get through this, but it had a lot of great information and made every president from Truman on through George HW Bush look pretty bad! Good work.

[Michael Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done and engaging. The only flaw is the publication date.

[Inmylife Ididitmyway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

[Patrick McGarry · Rating 3 out of 5]

slow but interesting.