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.