Hitchcock (The Bitter Road to Freedom), professor of history at the University of Virginia, challenges the image of Dwight D. Eisenhower as a "lightweight" and "amateur" president in this comprehensive and persuasive revisionist biography. He uses fresh documentary evidence to describe Eisenhower as "a model of loyalty, dignity, and decency" who "worked wholeheartedly and passionately for the good of his country" in domestic and international contexts. Hitchcock dubs Eisenhower's 1952 election "a brilliant political conjuring trick" for his posing as an outsider despite the fact that he was a consummate insider. Ike's domestic policies were informed by a "middle way" of humanely addressing social problems "within a framework of fiscal restraint, moral rectitude, and a scrupulous observance of states' rights." Hitchcock demonstrates how Eisenhower sidestepped McCarthyism and structured a cautious approach to civil rights and explains that Eisenhower eventually "did act, and decisively, to advance the progress of civil rights." Explained in vivid detail, Eisenhower's Cold War strategy was based on deterrence and intimidation, using economics, diplomacy, and above all nuclear deterrence to structure systemic resistance to Soviet provocation and expansion. Hitchcock argues that Eisenhower's presidency is notable for its "Great Power stability and the absence of large-scale conflict," and the author succeeds in positioning Ike as a world-historical figure. Agent: Susan Rabiner, Susan Rabiner Literary. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

*Starred Review* President Kennedy found it amusing that contemporary historians ranked his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, below Truman and Hoover in political effectiveness. Hitchcock makes Kennedy's amusement appear quite premature, establishing in this probing analysis of the Eisenhower Era that the then-tremendously popular Ike deserves the high regard historians are now giving him. Readers see something of Eisenhower's strength as chief executive in the way he crafted balanced fiscal policies fostering the prosperity of the Fifties. Hitchcock also limns presidential strength in his account of the disciplined statesmanship that prevented Eisenhower from indulging in partisan impulses, even when those impulses animated powerful fellow Republicans. But no strength that Eisenhower evinced as president mattered more over the long term than that which shaped foreign affairs. Hitchcock credits Eisenhower with defining the military and political posture that set America on what would ultimately prove to be a winning trajectory in the Cold War, even as he negotiated an end to the Korean conflict and kept American forces out of Indochina. Yet in emphasizing Eisenhower's political virtues, Hitchcock still confronts Ike's troublesome failings, including those that sometimes made the CIA a foe of democracy abroad. Still, even in his defects, the Eisenhower who emerges here stands head and shoulders above his anxious and nakedly ambitious vice president, Richard Nixon. A complete and persuasive assessment.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2018 Booklist

In this admiring tome, -Hitchcock (history, Univ. of Virginia; The Struggle for Europe) briefly covers the early years of President Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower (1890-1969), beginning with his small-town Kansas upbringing, attendance at West Point, service in World War I, and victorious command of the Allied operations in World War II. Hitchcock then addresses the era in which he believes "Ike" was most consequential and also misunderstood. The 34th president oversaw much during his tenure: the burgeoning civil rights movement, robust economic growth, the Red Scare at home and Cold War hostilities abroad. He also "dramatically expanded" the power and scope of 20th-century warfare and national security measures; "The man who warned later generations about the military-industrial complex," Hitchcock writes, "did a great deal to build it." During his leadership, the former general imposed militarylike discipline within his administration, and with an average approval rating of 65 percent throughout his two terms, enjoyed bipartisan appeal. VERDICT Jean Edward Smith's Eisenhower: In War and Peace is more comprehensive, but Hitchcock impressively recasts Eisenhower and his era as more dynamic than their historical reputations.-Chad Comello, Morton Grove P.L., IL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A lengthy, well-documented argument that "the era from the end of the Second World War up to the presidency of John F. Kennedy deserves to be known as the Age of Eisenhower."Throughout his presidency (1953-1961), most commentators considered Dwight Eisenhower "a lightweight, an amateur, an orthodox pro-business do-nothing president, a lazy leader who, despite all his grinning, was often callous and distant, more interested in golf than governing." In the decades since, his reputation has risen spectacularly, and this measured, mostly admiring biography by Hitchcock (History/Univ. of Virginia; The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe, 2008) does not rock the boat. In his campaign promises, Eisenhower expressed the importance of ending the Korean War, battling communism, and balancing the budget. He accomplished all three, but the details are often unsettling. He considered using atomic weapons to break the Korean stalemate. Luckily, Stalin died in the spring of 1953, and his successors felt the war was a distraction. Eisenhower despised Joseph McCarthy, but once the senator self-destructed, the administration embraced his red-hunting agenda. The last Republican to give balancing the budget priority, Eisenhower succeeded three times and barely missed five times. Modestly opposed to discrimination, he enforced desegregation in the District of Columbia and armed forces. However, unnerved by Southern outrage when the Supreme Court ended school segregation, he confined himself to platitudes on law and order and discouraged Attorney General Herbert Brownell from enforcing it. Hitchcock praises Eisenhower for avoiding nuclear war when many colleagues yearned to get on with it, but he criticizes his enthusiasm for covert operations which, even when successful, proved calamitous. An internationalist who expanded many of Franklin Roosevelt's social programs, he never won over traditional conservatives in the party. "Modern Republicanism" peaked with Eisenhower, marked time with Nixon and Ford, crashed with Reagan, and never recovered.Despite plenty of warts, Hitchcock's Eisenhower was a hardworking, skillful president. Jean Edward Smith's Eisenhower in War and Peace (2012) remains the best modern biography, but Hitchcock's is a worthy competitor. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Hitchcock (Univ. of Virginia) relates the essential elements of a consequential presidency, highlighting Eisenhower's achievements both domestically and abroad during a period of heightened Cold War tensions. Eisenhower's early life in Kansas, his learning curve as a military officer, his success as a commander in Europe (1942-45, 1951-52), and his entry into presidential politics are given due weight. Eisenhower's profound sense of duty emerges as a salient theme. Hitchcock's judgments about Eisenhower's statecraft are well grounded and persuasive. His analysis of Eisenhower's reorientation of Cold War strategy--including his shaping of the "New Look" policy and reliance on psychological warfare--is especially insightful. Though sharply critical of the covert actions overthrowing popular elected regimes as well as the decision to authorize a U-2 reconnaissance flight over Russia days before a planned summit in Paris, Hitchcock balances these demerits with commendation for the 34th president's crisis management, deft stewardship of the economy, decisive action in 1957 at Little Rock on behalf of school integration, and his "moral authority." Based on a prodigious research effort and masterful in discussing discrete episodes, The Age of Eisenhower should become the go-to book on the Eisenhower presidency. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Michael J. Birkner, Gettysburg College