Eisenhower in War and Peace

In his magisterialbestseller FDR, Jean Edward Smith gave us a fresh, modern look at one ofthe most indelible figures in American history. Now this peerless biographerreturns with a new life of Dwight D. Eisenhower that is as full, rich, andrevealing as anything ever written about America's thirty-fourth president. AsAmerica searches for new heroes to lead it out of its present-day predicaments,Jean Edward Smith's achievement lies in reintroducing us to a hero from thepast whose virtues have become clouded in the mists of history.

Here is Eisenhower the young dreamer, charting a course from Abilene, Kansas,to West Point, to Paris under Pershing, and beyond. Drawing on a wealth ofuntapped primary sources, Smith provides new insight into Ike's maddeningapprenticeship under Douglas MacArthur in Washington and the Philippines. Thenthe whole panorama of World War II unfolds, with Eisenhower's superlativegeneralship forging the Allied path to victory through multiple reversals offortune in North Africa and Italy, culminating in the triumphant invasion ofNormandy. Smith also gives us an intriguing examination of Ike's finances,details his wartime affair with Kay Summersby, and reveals the inside story ofthe 1952 Republican convention that catapulted him to the White House.

Smith's chronicle of Eisenhower's presidential years is as compelling as it iscomprehensive. Derided by his detractors as a somnambulant caretaker,Eisenhower emerges in Smith's perceptive retelling as both a canny politicianand a skillful, decisive leader. Smith convincingly portrays an Eisenhower whoengineered an end to America's three-year no-win war in Korea, resisted callsfor preventative wars against the Soviet Union and China, and boldly deployedthe Seventh Fleet to protect Formosa from invasion. This Eisenhower, Smithshows us, stared down Khrushchev over Berlin and forced the withdrawal ofBritish, French, and Israeli forces from the Suez Canal. He managed not only tokeep the peace-after Ike made peace in Korea, not one American soldier waskilled in action during his tenure-but also to enhance America's prestige inthe Middle East and throughout the world.

Domestically, Eisenhower reduced defense spending, balanced the budget,constructed the interstate highway system, and provided social securitycoverage for millions who were self-employed. Ike believed that traditionalAmerican values encompassed change and progress.

Unmatched in insight, Eisenhower in War and Peace at last gives us anEisenhower for our time-and for the ages.

JeanEdward Smith isthe author of the highly acclaimed FDR, winner of the 2008 FrancisParkman Prize; Grant, a 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist; John Marshall:Definer of a Nation; and Lucius D. Clay: An American Life. A memberof the faculty at the University of Toronto for thirty-five years, and atMarshall University for twelve, he is currently a senior scholar in the historydepartment at Columbia.