by Jim Newton
First published 2011
Dwight Eisenhower takes office as America's thirty-fourth president facing enormous pressures. Critics dismiss him as a mere babysitter while generals push him toward nuclear solutions in Korea, Vietnam, Quemoz, and Berlin. Jim Newton draws on newly declassified documents and rare interviews to show how Eisenhower navigated these crises through careful management rather than military force. The president inherited the atomic bomb but refused to deploy it. He systematically dismantled Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism until both became what he called "McCarthywasm." Behind his winning smile and golf clubs, Eisenhower proved a meticulous administrator who could unleash a fearsome temper that would "peel the varnish off a desk." He appointed liberal justices Earl Warren and William Brennan, then sent federal troops to enforce school desegregation. Newton reveals a complex leader who mourned his first son's death, adored his grandchildren, and consistently chose peace over war while transforming an $8 billion deficit into a $500 million surplus.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, political-science, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: leadership, political-intrigue
Setting: Korea, Vietnam, Quemoz, Berlin
Period: 1950s, Cold War
464 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday