When Supreme Allied Commander Dwight David Eisenhower dies in a tragic plane accident, in September 1945, ex-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill enlists ‘Blood and Guts’ General George Smith Patton to save the World from Communist takeover. General Patton forms an unlikely alliance with FDR’s widow, Eleanor Roosevelt, to be elected President in 1948. Can George and Eleanor deter Stalinist aggression in Europe and Korea? If not, can America prevent the Red Army from steamrolling across Europe to the Pyrenees?
Patton, America and the World face other challenges including the huge debt incurred by the recent war. The American economy is in turmoil. Tens of millions were suddenly released from employment in the military or war industries. Inflation and labor unrest are at record high levels. There are aggravating shortages of everything from hamburger to houses. Industry is struggled to establish a prosperous peacetime economy where a stumble could send the world into decades of depression.
Domestically, systemic racism has not yet been totally erased despite the best efforts of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Overseas, new nations struggled to rise among ancient hatreds.
Not relying on a hero status second only to Dwight David Eisenhower in the recent war, George Patton promotes wonderful innovations in both technology and government policy. Innovations range from simply supplying the B-36 Peacekeeper strategic bomber with the engines designed for it to the fantastic notion of lowering taxes to increase both employment and government revenue.
President Patton is a stand-alone novel that shares the theme of preparedness with other titles in the Alternate Presidents series but is otherwise un-connected.
I read a LOT of books, but rarely bother to write a review. This was a good story, but I was troubled by several different things. President Patton was featured much less than I expected after reading the sample. Secondly, and far more irritating was the lack of article words like a, an and the in the "Russian" parts of the book. I know it's been a long time since I took Russian classes in high school and college, but damn! The lack of articles made half of the book difficult to read. I have KU and actually paid extra to read this book. I'm as much an unreconstructed Cold Warrior as anyone, but making the Russians sound stupid was unnecessary.
If only in an expanded wish. I wish for a past where Vietnam was a nice place to vacation and no one was scarred by the ravages of war. Where the world was without the millions murdered by all the communist fanatics. This is the dream of a better time and place, where the United States was led by a man who knew the evils of communism and was prepared to stand up Stalin.
Enjoyed the pace and story building. The premise of having a president with the will and desire to fight another world war to end the stain of communism was cool to explore. Wish it would have happened.