Review of Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith

Dwight D. Eisenhower is viewed by most Americans today as a great military commander, but not necessarily a great president.  In Eisenhower in War and Peace (2012), historian and presidential biographer Jean Edward Smith attempts to confirm the former perception and correct the latter.  Because I find myself incredibly busy these days, I will again rely heavily on the thoughts of presidential biography review extraordinaire Stephen Floyd and add a few thoughts of my own at the end.  This time, I am not posting Floyd’s entire review but am instead posting excerpts, because the review is lengthy. 

The first comprehensive biography of Eisenhower in more than a decade, Smith’s review of the 34th president is lengthy (with 766 pages) and occasionally exhausting. But rarely is it dull, and the author’s enthusiasm for his subject infuses nearly every page of this well-documented book.

Smith rates Eisenhower as one of the two most successful of twentieth-century presidents (behind only FDR) and covers his personal foibles and battlefield failures with candor and clarity. But he is unfailingly complimentary toward Eisenhower’s two-term presidency. And in the end, the character who emerges from this book is ambitious, flawed, an excellent politician and a capable (if not quite great) president…but stubbornly enigmatic. 

Smith devotes half the book to Eisenhower’s military career versus about one-quarter to his presidency. Many readers will puzzle at this imbalance but Ike’s pre-presidency is where the book shines brightest. The author vividly and thoroughly describes his steady march from West Point cadet to Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. And no reader will miss how Eisenhower’s military career well-prepared him for the presidency… 

In contrast to discussion of his military career, the eight-year Eisenhower presidency is organized topically and not chronologically.  As a consequence, readers unfamiliar with American history during the 1950s will learn a great deal about the decade’s most important moments but may be unsure of (or flatly confused by) their sequencing.

This portion of the biography often seems strangely organized, with occasional non sequiturs. In one instance, no sooner has Smith introduced the reader to legendary House Speaker Sam Rayburn than he launches – with no transition whatsoever – into a discussion of Eisenhower’s interstate highway initiative. 

But this book’s high points far outweigh its shortcomings and any committed reader will find much to enjoy and absorb. Smith is excellent when incorporating new characters into the dialogue and in the case of General Marshall even provides an astute comparison of Eisenhower’s attributes with those of his fascinating one-time mentor… 

Overall, Jean Edward Smith’s biography of Dwight Eisenhower is a revealing, detailed and colorful look at a man described by many (including his wife) as mysterious and somewhat unknowable. And while Smith’s intention in writing this biography seems to have been burnishing Eisenhower’s presidential legacy, the man described here is less great and more wonderfully complex, interesting and human than may have been intended.

I concur with nearly all of Floyd’s insights, with one possible exception.  I would be more willing than Floyd to describe Eisenhower as a great president.  Or, if Eisenhower does not deserve to be included in the top tier of our chief executives, surely he must sit at the top of the second tier.

One interesting feature of the biography is that Smith constantly draws parallels between Eisenhower and our only other career soldier-turned-president, Ulysses S. Grant. This is not terribly surprising, given that Smith’s first presidential biography was of Grant.  The frequent parallels between Grant and Eisenhower will prove to be highly interesting to readers who are Civil War buffs (like me), but to those who know little about Grant, they may seem beside the point and possibly even annoying.  Still, Eisenhower in War and Peace is an engaging read and a fascinating and enlightening study of our 34^th president.  I cannot recommend it enough.

Review of Truman by David McCullough

President Harry Truman arguably faced more challenges of global significance than any other American president in history.  Immediately upon his unexpected accession to the presidency, Truman was faced with the task of presiding over the end of the World War II in Europe and the Pacific, including the monumental decision of whether or not to use the atomic bomb on Japan.  In the years right after the war, Truman had to formulate the American response to the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, Communist revolutions in Turkey and Greece, the Berlin Blockade, the Soviets’ development of the atomic bomb, the Communist takeover of China, and the North Korean invasion of South Korea, just to name a few.  

How did Truman handle these crises?  At the time, many Americans answered in the negative.  During the nearly eight years of his presidency, Truman’s presidential approval rating averaged only 45%, and during his second term (1949-53), it dipped as low as 22%.  Over time, however, Americans have grown increasingly appreciative of Truman’s performance.  In the 2000 CSPAN poll of presidential historians, Truman’s overall ranking was fifth, behind only Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt.  This high ranking has persevered, staying at fifth in 2009 and slipping to only sixth in 2017.  One key influence in the recent rise in Truman’s stature was the publication in 1992 of David McCullough’s massive biography Truman.  Rather than try to write my own review of Truman, I will quote a brief but insightful review by reviewer extraodinaire Stephen Floyd.  I concur 100% with what he writes.

Heeeeeeeere’s Stephen!

Truman is David McCullough’s 1992 biography of the 33rd president.  It was the first comprehensive biography of Truman and earned the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in the Biography category. McCullough is a highly-acclaimed author and historian who is probably best known for his 2001 biography of John Adams. He is currently working on a book about the early settlers of the Northwest Territory tentatively titled The Pioneers.
True to its reputation, this biography is remarkably lively and engaging for a hefty 992-page tome.  McCullough once again demonstrates himself to be an expert storyteller, crafting a fascinating and articulate narrative that generally reads more like fiction than actual history. 

A decade in the making, this well-researched biography began to cement Truman’s reputation as something more than a simple man of inferior talent who survived politics only by riding coattails and affiliating himself with powerful political bosses. McCullough works assiduously, but not obtusely, to demonstrate Truman’s optimism, diligence, perseverance and unshakable moral compass…as well as his intrinsic talent for politics. 

There are too many praiseworthy moments in this book to mention, but among the best are the discussion of Truman’s military service during WWI, chapters reviewing Truman’s time in the U.S. Senate, description of the covert maneuvering which resulted in Truman’s selection as FDR’s fourth-term VP and the review of Truman’s 1948 Whistle Stop tour. McCullough also adroitly compares and contrasts FDR’s personality with Truman’s (their differences far outweighing their similarities, of course). 

Beginning with Truman’s ancestry and moving deliberately (though not speedily) to his death, this is more a “popular” biography than a rigorous academic or analytical examination of his politics and personality. And although McCullough is occasionally critical of Truman’s actions, this is very likely a biography that Truman would have appreciated and enthusiastically endorsed. 

Ironically, my least favorite sections of the book were its beginning and its end. While Truman’s humble roots are hardly unimportant to McCullough’s thesis, I found the narrative involving his lineage and early years slow to ramp up. And the eighty or so pages describing his post-presidency seemed relatively uneven and unexciting…but this later period of his life lacks large moments and critical decisions, so it is unsurprising the final chapter suffers by comparison. 

Overall, however, David McCullough’s Truman proves one of the best presidential biographies of the 164 I’ve read thus far. It is wonderfully animated, thoughtfully revealing, consistently engaging and surprisingly lively. If the hallmark of a great presidential biography is providing a comprehensive (and fascinating) understanding of its subject – and bringing to life the broader history of the era – then David McCullough’s biography of Harry Truman could hardly be more successful.

James here again.  At nearly 1000 pages in length (and 54 hours in the audio version), Truman is not for the casual reader.  Still, as anyone who has read a McCullough book before knows, McCullough is a master storyteller, and any of his books reads like a novel, at least most of the time.  Like John Adams, Truman is a tour de force in biography writing and a must-read for anyone interested in American History.