This is the true inside information on the nomination of Ike for President. Along the way learn about New York and the New York Young Republicans. A well written story. I feal like I know the man. May he rest in peace.

I have kept the paperback version of this book nearby ever since it was published. It acts as an antidote to the warm and fuzzy image of 'Ike' as everyone's weekend golfing grandad, and restores a sense of the Cold War's origins and global strategies to Ike's presidency that pursued it covertly in the Western Hemisphere [Guatemala.] Wiesen Cook's scholarly treatment is anything but sensational; its long footnotes often contain the most startling revelations. Revisionists are often simply realists, and this study's realism is long overdue as a corrective of the highly PR-spun 'memorialization' of The Eisenhower Era.

This unique format for a biography helps young people remember all about Ike's life, by intrducing each chapter with one of the many hats he wore. The illustations, in watercolor, line drawings, and historic photos, add tremendously to the story. The history is presented in an accurate and easily read style and covers Eisenhower's childhood, West Point years, WWII, Columbia Univ., the Presidency, and his retirement years. Perfect for ages 12 to adult.

As part of the Our Presidents series this juvenile biography of Dwight E. Eisenhower by Sarah Bowler devotes half the book to his two terms in the White House, although much of his life was devoted to his military career. The second chapter covers Eisenhower's service during World War II, when he rose to Commander in Chief of the Allie Forces in Europe. I like how Bowler makes a point of starting with a quote from Eisenhower: "I hate war as only a solider who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity." His two terms in the White House focus on the issues that confronted him, giving young readers a sense for what was happening during the Fifties, when the issues that would explode in the following decade were beginning to come to a head.

Illustrated with historic black & white photographs from Eisenhower's life and career, there is also a color reproduction of one of his paintings of three members of his Cabinet. There are also detailed side-bars on his Family Life, the Axis Powers in World War II, the 1950s as A Decade of Prosperity, and the Civil Rights Movement, and the margins of the book include Interesting Facts, such as Eisenhower being the first President to be seen on color television and how he got the idea for the international highway system that bears his name when assigned to determine how long it would take military convoys to get across the country. If you want more information on Eisenhower's career then you can check out Jim Hargrove's book for the Encyclopedia of Presidents series, but for a first-rate introductory biography, this is the book.

I'm the author and I want to quote the review from the 11/15/2001 issues of Booklist. The review is by Roger Leslie
"Eisenhower evolved from a hot-tempered, free-spirited West Point cadet to a meticulous military strategist and shrewd if seemingly detached commander in chief. Weaving together private, familial and professional threads, Young reveals Ike's story with a flair that makes both the man's questionable and admirable traits interesting. Without judging, Young relates details about Ike's remote personality and relationships with key historical figures - among them Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman - and about myopic presidedntial decisions such as stalling desegregation and ingnoring Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt. Colorful portraits of Ike's wife Mamie, and cold war rival Krushchev, add interest. There is enough drama here to make the story of the thirty-fourth president a surprisingly dynamic tale."

Jim Hargrove begins his juvenile biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower on the most pivotal day in his life: June 5, 1944, the day he made the decision to go ahead with the invasion of Normandy despite the prospects of bad weather. The D-Day invasion would succeed, the Nazi Germany of Adolf Hitler would be defeated, and all that Eisenhower would have to do to follow George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Ulysses Grant and other great American generals into the White House was decide to which political party he wanted to belong.

After telling the story of D-Day, chapters are devoted to Eisenhower's boyhood in Abilene, Kansas, his early military career, and his service during World War II when he became Supreme Commander of Allied Troops in Europe. Hargrove covers Eisenhower's two terms in a single chapter, focusing on the dominant issues of his administration, Communism (both the Cold War with the Soviets and McCarthyism at home) and Civil Rights. Young readers will get a sense of the times and how Eisenhower governed by reacting to the times rather than having a clear program of leadership. A final short chapter deals with his retirement to his farm in Gettysburg. The book is illustrated with historic black & white photographs and like all of the volumes in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series, is the most informative juvenile biography of Eisenhower you are probably going to find.

This book is one of the best I've ever read. It relates the power of the presidency to the Suez Crisis. This book is a good read and perfect for research on this topic.

"Let us have no part in the profitless quarrels in which other men will inevitably engage as to what country, what service, won the European war." Eisenhower's Victory Order of the Day, 8 May 1945.
The profitless quarrels emerged early, on both sides of the Pond, initiated by unscrupulous journalists and soon drawing in the principals, neither of whom welcomed the controversy. Murray carefully and effectively traces the newspaper stories, memoirs, and official histories to clarify the nature of Ike's and Monty's strategic and tactical disagreements, and to reveal the sources of the ethnocentric axe-grinding which marred the victory, and provides employment for unprincipled muck-stirrers to this day, to the detriment of Anglo-American unity. Professor Murray has been kind enough not to name them, but they know who they are.
"Extremists on both sides of the water can indulge in all the backbiting and name-calling that they please - they can never get away from the historical truth that the United States and the British Empire, working together, did a job that looked almost impossible at the time it was undertaken". (Eisenhower).

(The "score" rating is a feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)

David L. Snead's The Gaither Committee, Eisenhower, and the Cold War examines President Dwight D. Eisenhower's struggle to expand national security while maintaining a balanced budget during the height of the Cold War. Snead analyzes the Gaither Committee, a panel of influential scientific and military experts named after its first chairman, H. Rowan Gaither, and the influence of its report on Eisenhower and officials in Washington in 1957. The Gaither Committee determined that the United States remained vulnerable to the Soviet Union in case of nuclear war. Citing the nation's weakness in limited military operations, fallout shelters, offensive striking power, Strategic Air Command (SAC), and the defense establishment, the committee recommended that the president initiate measures to correct these limitations. Contrary to previous historians, Snead argues that Eisenhower did not dismiss the report, but instead incorporated several of its proposals into his military planning. The author, a graduate of the University of Virginia and presently a professor of military and diplomatic history at Texas Tech University, utilizes an extensive array of primary and secondary sources to support his argument and provide a comprehensive background of how other historians have viewed the Gaither Committee. The study is invaluable for the reader or scholar interested in Eisenhower or the Cold War. The unmistakable strength of Snead's study is the preponderance of archival evidence he gathers in forming a clear picture of Eisenhower, his views, and the administration's struggle with maintaining public confidence in the military in the wake of the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik space satellite and domestic unrest in 1957. Although Snead treats Eisenhower with guarded empathy, he does not fail to criticize the president's decision-making process and use of non-elected officials to compose the Gaither Committee. Moreover, the study's comprehensive background information for each of the committee's key members and his treatment of American public opinion in the 1950s adds authority to the author's analysis of the tensions surrounding U.S.-Soviet relations. Snead's examination of the Gaither Committee, its later influence on President John F. Kennedy's administration, and the subsequent escalation of the nuclear arms race during the 1960s, proves significant to the scholarship of the Cold War era.

Hughes's close contact with Eisenhower allowed him to produce a terrific book. I think this memoir gives the reader a real feeling for Eisenhower's personality. Hughes does a good job at giving you the nuances of Ike: his facial expressions, his philosophies, his leadership style. I also liked how Hughes told of the development of some of Eisenhower's most important speeches. All said, I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it to anyone interested in this great and good man.