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Ikes Bluff (2000)

by Evan Thomas(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 1

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English

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review 1: This important book corrects a lot of the misunderstandings of General and President Dwight David Eisenhower. My perceptions of Ike were formed by the press of the 50's, the reactions to the former administration by the Kennedy administration and by the attitudes of my father. Ike was characterized by the press of his time as disengaged, golfing while the world seemed to be spinning out of control; distant because of declining health and advancing age; inept because of his verbal ramblings in public; and weak because of inaction during swirling world events.My father's opinions of Ike were based in part on my dad's belief that Ike had re-routed fuel from General Patton to Montgomery so that "Monty" could be the first to enter Berlin during WWII, resulting in my dad's captu... morere by the Nazis during the Battle of the Bulge, along with 10's of thousands of other GI's. My dad was also a die hard Democrat.Based on now available documents, correspondence and interviews of those close to Eisenhower, a totally different picture of the man emerges. In the last decade or so, I had become aware of Ike's warnings about the dangers of the growing influence of the military-industrial complex. That prescience had already begun to impact my impressions of the president from a kindly, old man in the waning days of his strengths as a soldier to an insightful and astute observer of the political and military worlds. There is considerable evidence to suggest that Eisenhower's abilities actually saved the world from nuclear destruction during his presidency.His adamant ongoing battles with both the military and the defense contractor lobbyists are what kept the US from going bankrupt based on false logic, undue paranoia, insufficient information and a tendency to react to fear when it came to the "Arms Race" with the Soviets. Evan Thomas presents a view of Eisenhower as adept at diplomacy, wise in technical and military strategies, self-effacing and disarming to allies and enemies alike; all of which sourced from a level of intelligence and wile not easily recognized by the casual observer. This book is important for a more complete understanding of a president who was much more complex than has been portrayed in history.
review 2: I listened to the audio book, and frankly, some well researched history is always a good way to spend my commute and distract me from sitting in traffic. It was perhaps a bit redundant in some areas, but I did find out a LOT about Ike, as a man and a president, that I hadn't been aware of. I came away with a lot of respect for the balancing act he had to manage during his presidency, as well as for his overall approach to managing the Cold War, while also knowing (with the hindsight of history) that he made some fairly grave errors in judgment. A flawed man, a flawed president, but also a smart and savvy man. It was particularly interesting to hear of some of his concerns regarding the military industrial complex (that have come to pass exactly as he feared), his ideas of the US as global policeman (that have come to pass in many of the ways he anticipated), and his thoughts on small and large arms (which have also come to pass in many ways). I don't know that I would have made it through reading this--as I mentioned, there are some places where it seems a bit repetitive--but it was interesting enough as an audio book to hold my attention for two weeks. less

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