In the 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy (Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Government Operations Committee) began his relentless search for communist spies within and outside the United States Government. He questioned people in one-senator, closed-door hearings and used senatorial privilege to protect himself from libel accusations. He doctored evidence, made baseless or exaggerated accusations, declared people guilty by association, and attacked those who wished to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights.

When the chief consultant of the subcommittee, David Schine, was drafted by the army, McCarthy and the subcommittee's chief counsel Roy Cohn sought out special privileges for him. Cohn and McCarthy acted on threats to "wreck the Army" when their requests were ignored. McCarthy made a critical misstep in targeting the United States Army. The private threats were documented and publicized, leading to the Army-McCarthy hearings. The hearings were the beginning of the end for McCarthy's unchecked power in the Senate. In Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower's Secret Campaign against Joseph McCarthy, David A. Nichols shatters the notion that President Dwight D. Eisenhower sat idly by while McCarthy wreaked havoc on American institutions.

This thorough and well-researched book mostly covers the time period between the beginning of Eisenhower's presidency in 1953 and the end of the Army-McCarthy hearings in June 1954. Eisenhower is an interesting figure because he was courted by both Democrats and Republicans to run for president. (“I don’t believe in bitter partisanship. I never believe that all wisdom is confined to one of the great parties.”) He ultimately decided to run as a Republican. When he took office in 1953, Americans had many fears: the intentions of the Soviet Union, weapons of mass destruction, another economic depression, and communist subversion. The fears of a communist conspiracy were further agitated by "the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, the communist takeover of China in 1949, and the North Korean invasion of South Korea."

Eisenhower sought to ease the public's fears by "protecting American democracy from extremism and avoiding another, more cataclysmic world war." Senator Joseph McCarthy chose to stoke those fears and divide the country into "us vs. them," going as far as accusing previous administrations of treason. Eisenhower's administration had legitimate concerns of Soviet infiltration in the government, but the president believed the threat should be dealt with inside the court system and within the bounds of the law. Unfortunately, Eisenhower made a few of his own missteps in proving his Communist-fighting credentials—there were fears that McCarthy would bring the fight directly to Eisenhower because of his own communist "associations" in the aftermath of World War II.

Ike and McCarthy is the story of the behind-the-scenes machinations, secret meetings, and planned leaks that led to the Army-McCarthy hearings and Joseph McCarthy's downfall. Eisenhower was criticized for ignoring the McCarthy problem, but he was managing the crisis in his own way. Great care was taken in keeping the president above the fray and ensuring the White House wasn't implicated in undermining an elected United States Senator. He saw McCarthy "as a symptom, not a cause," so attacking the senator directly would not effectively end the problem. Publicly demonizing McCarthy would make him “a hero and a martyr.” His public criticisms of McCarthy's methods were subtle and never personal.

One of Eisenhower's methods for dealing with McCarthy was refusing to mention him by name. He insisted on discussing “principles, not personalities.” Eisenhower knew that if he did not give McCarthy the attention he craved, he would soon self-destruct. He had to be careful about singling out McCarthy, because the entire Senate would rally around their fellow senator (not really a concern these days!). Criticism of McCarthy had to come from the Senate, not the White House. He was patient in waiting for public opinion to shift against McCarthy, while he "actively stage-managed the buildup toward action against McCarthy." His gamble paid off. According to a January 1954 Gallup poll, McCarthy’s favorable-to-unfavorable ratio was 50% to 29%. In the midst of the Army-McCarthy hearings in May 1954, it was 35% to 49% (History of McCarthy's support on Wikipedia). The 36-day hearings were televised. McCarthy came off poorly on television, so the lengthy televised hearings hastened his downfall. (Note: After watching Good Night, and Good Luck, test audiences complained that the actor playing McCarthy was too over-the-top. It wasn't an actor—the filmmakers used the actual footage.)

After contentious Senate hearings, the Senate voted 67 to 22 to censure McCarthy on December 2, 1954. The story of the escalating tensions between Eisenhower and McCarthy shows how far we’ve come, how far we’ve fallen, and how much has stayed the same. It was remarkable how much of this book reflected contemporary arguments, right down to Eisenhower being accused of playing golf and vacationing rather than leading. It was impossible not to make comparisons between the temperaments of Joseph McCarthy and the current United States president, though McCarthy was much more ideological. Imagine if he had access to Twitter! McCarthy is thought to have had presidential aspirations and Eisenhower knew a man like McCarthy should never make it to the Oval Office. He was aware that a public fight between the moderate and reactionary wings of the Republican Party would give the Democrats the advantage during midterm elections, but pursued the fight anyway. He chose country over party, because some values are too important to betray because of party allegiance.

There's a lot to learn from Eisenhower's deft handling of a demagogue and intraparty conflict. There was so much drama surrounding the McCarthy problem, it's incredible to think about how it wasn't the only major thing on the president's plate. I was also amazed by how much the Republican Party has changed over the decades. If you are interested in the nitty-gritty of politics and fly-on-the-wall accounts, this book is perfect for you. I found all the details of the political drama endlessly fascinating! As a warning, it does reflect the prejudices of the time, especially towards gay men. Many of the key players make innuendo about why Cohn was so concerned with Schine's treatment. The author David A. Nichols is a leading expert on the Eisenhower administration. He also wrote A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution, which I want to read someday.

In recent years, President Dwight Eisenhower's reputation has undergone considerable revision, from doddering old grandfather to shrewd bureaucratic tactician. Historian David A. Nichols has been at the forefront of that revision, writing a series of revisionist histories showing how Ike's "hidden hand" often operated behind the scenes to get stuff done on civil rights and foreign policy. In this book, Nichols tackles one of the most controversial topics of Ike's presidency: McCarthyism.

At the time, many commentators have criticized Ike's response to Senator Joe McCarthy's abuses as tepid. Some still consider it a stain on the former president's record. It is true that Ike never engaged in a forceful denunciation of McCarthy by name. However, as Nichols shows, that was largely by design, part of a tactic to avoid elevating McCarthy by engaging with him directly. Nichols shows how Ike criticized McCarthy indirectly while making his meaning clear.

More importantly, Ike waged a bureaucratic battle against McCarthy behind the scenes. He ordered subordinates to keep a record of McCarthy and chief counsel Roy Cohn's abuses during the Army hearings, particularly how Cohn attempted to intimidate the Army into giving his lover, David Schine, more favorable postings during the latter's tour of duty. The release of that report ultimately led to McCarthy's downfall. Ike also encouraged senators to give speeches denouncing McCarthy and tried to use his own speeches to deflect attention away from McCarthy. Throughout it all, Ike was careful to hid his involvement.

Aside from the extent of Ike's maneuvering against McCarthy, I was also surprised (pleasantly) by the depth of Ike's animosity against McCarthy and McCarthyism. Ike's denunciations of McCarthy are some of the most forceful I've ever read. However, they were all made in private to close colleagues and confidents, which meant the American people never heard about them.

Looking back, Ike's approach to McCarthyism - as well as civil rights - raises some important questions about ethics in public service. How important is it for our political leaders to speak out against moral wrongs? What is the appropriate tradeoff between efficacy and transparency? Ike's "hidden hand" approach could probably not work in the 21st century, where we often demand immediate gratification from political leaders and have less patience for long-term strategic thinking.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Eisenhower or 20th century American history. It seems especially relevant today because of all the comparisons in the media between Eisenhower and the current occupant of the White House, who like McCarthy also engages in hyperbole and prevarications (not coincidentally, Roy Cohn used to work for Donald Trump).

[Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]

Though many who lived through Eisenhower's presidency felt that he did little or nothing to stem the power of Joe McCarthy , this book brings to light the meticulous planning of a general to defeat his nemesis. The author, David A. Nichols, an Eisenhower scholar, has written a detailed account of the back room maneuvers that finally helped to bring down McCarthy. A fascinating look at behind the scenes politics, which seems relevant in today's political atmosphere.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher, Simon and Schuster. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my history book review blog. It was also posted to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book because I am interested in american history and the presidents. It is the first book aby David Nichols that I have read.

This book is well researched and written. I have not read anything extensive about the Joe McCarthy years in Congress prior to this one. Nichols does a very good job of laying out the strategy that Einsenhower employed in helping to cause the demise of Senator McCarthy (who did an admirable job by himself). To many Ike appeared uninterested and aloof from the events happening with McCarthy's committee while in reality he devised a well structured attack on the Senator that was comparable to battle plans in a war.

What struck me most about this narrative is the fact that Einsenhower refused to take the bait (on numerous occasions) and publicly comdemn the Senator. He stayed the course with his plan and in the end it resulted in the diminished popularity and power that McCarthy arrogantly and visicously applied to many innocent individuals.

I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in american history and the presidents. In particualr, those who are interested in the cold war era and the fear and paranoia that it spread during that time.

Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower's Secret Campaign against Joseph McCarthy
By David A Nichols

Joseph R. McCarthy was a junior senator beginning in 1950. He used methods without thinking or caring about the consequences, not supported or proven by evidence which caused a great deal of disturbance, confusion and uncertainty in the U.S. His targets were citizens and Government employees accusing them of being Soviet Agents. Ignoring the truth his inability to satisfy his appetite for news coverage, eager to harm reputations. Continuing this quality or characteristic undermined the power and authority of the U.S. with the Soviet Union and cold war.

As the result of Eisenhower becoming president in 1953 McCarthy obtained a new platform for his expedition. The Republicans held a one vote majority in the Senate making McCarthy'designated chair of the Government Operations Committee and its remaining investigative subcommittee. In that position of power McCarthy subpoenaed witnesses, behaved in such a manner to call One-Senator hearings, charged witnesses of guilt by association and giving information about U.S., "obvious communist" a person who chose to cite constitutional protections against incriminating themselves.

Eisenhower decided to bring McCarthyism to an end since he was more than an annoyance, he brought damage to Eisenhower's foreign policy goals and legislative programs. So Eisenhower set in motion secret facts and conditions producing an action causing general public outrage to McCarthy. His reputation was exposed and damaged by Edward R Notrow's very well known See It Now television program. On this television program McCarthy's reputation of accusing people of being a communist exposed his reputation. The American public witnessed McCarthy and did not show approval of his methods. McCarthy was shown as being argumentative with Attorney Joseph Nye Welch at the Army-McCarthy hearings. The final blow expressed severe disapproval in the vote by the U.S. Senate on December 2, 1954, which McCarthy lost 67 to 22.

The book shows that Eisenhower chose that by ignoring McCarthy and by using 6 trusted peers to identify McCarthy's methods of accusing anybody he opposed as being a communist. Many people thought that Eisenhower stood by and let McCarthy accusations continue. That was not the case. Eisenhower enlisted 6 leaders to secretly defeat McCarthy insulating himself from publicly using the presidency in accomplishing to derail McCarthy. Eisenhower's strategy worked. He had already proved in 1944 his devoted skill in outmaneuvering the Germans in World War II. Eisenhower's Operation Fortitude used fake armies and dummy aircraft. This was used to confuse the Germans of the location where the U.S. military where planning to invade. Eisenhower used deceptive radio transmissions giving the wrong location making the U.S. invasion successful.

Eisenhower used the same strategies to defeat McCarthy politically. Only six reliable aids knew what his plans really were. It is a myth that Eisenhower allowed McCarthy to destroy honest civilians and government agents by accusing them of communism. He was not a detached president. He was preoccupied with protecting the oval office as the source of defeating McCarthyism. Ike didn't think using the presidency to make speeches would expose McCarthy, he instead used six reliable aids to administer his plans. Those who thought Eisenhower unacceptable thinking he took to long to expose McCarthy were wrong because they didn't know of his plans to have his trusted aids accomplish this mission.

This book was really interesting because of it illuminating the wrong public opinion of Eisenhower's active role behind the scenes. The public opinion of Eisenhower for more than two decades didn't know how much Eisenhower defeated McCarthy. Speeches were not going to be effective in exposing McCarthy. By using his six trusted aids to carry out his goals were what brought an end to McCarthy and his prior ability to tarnish reputations by falsely accusing innocent people of being communists.
I didn't know before reading this book how much Eisenhower was involved in discrediting McCarthy and much of the public has a false interpretation by thinking that Eisenhower didn't orchestrate and put into action the end of McCarthyism. This book ends the myth that Eisenhower didn't take action. I liked and enjoyed the history and have a deeper respect for Eisenhower and his secret strategies while protecting the presidency.

Thank you to Net Galley, David A. Nichols and Simon & Schuster for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.


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Being a student of American History and specifically the Presidents I was interested in how Eisenhower handled the situation with McCarthy.
The author shows how masterful Eisenhower was in conducting his campaign against McCarthy privately but publicly coming across as being above the fray.
Well written and keeps your interest throughout the book
Highly recommend reading this book.

Nichols tells the fascinating story of how Ike worked behind the scenes to stop McCarthy's tyranny. Although the book is well researched and written , it is quite detailed and dense, putting this almost more in the category of scholarly tome than history that has a wider appeal. Nonetheless, it will be of interest to readers who are interested in the period or who read about Eisenhower and/or McCarthy avidly.

It’s hard when everyone already knows the outcome of an event (McCarthy ends up a disgrace, Ike is a revered statesman.) to infuse much of anything new into a narrative, but as I knew nothing of Eisenhower’s role in the whole downfall of McCarthy saga, this book was enlightening. It would be naive to believe that the highest ranking Republican knew nothing of the efforts to bring down Mr. McCarthy, and a certain plausible detachment would seem like a Dwight Eisenhower method. It has a great suspense level and reads fairly briskly.

I suspect this book is closer to the truth (who can really tell what the truth is), because neither Eisenhower or McCarthy comes across as having totally clean hands. McCarthy was obviously less than honest, but Eisenhower and/or his surrogates definitely startled the line of honesty/dishonesty. This is different from most books that talk about the subject and seem to want to turn it into a good versus evil lesson or something. In Ike and McCarthy there are no heroes.

Great book. A story that hasn't been told before. Interesting, well written and hard to put down.