| Why We Liked Ike |
November 2002
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Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life, by Carlo D'Este
Among the commanders of World War II were some of history's most colorful warriors -- Patton, Montgomery, Rommel. Yet the commander of the entire western Allied effort was a rather grey fellow from the drab state of Kansas. A 700 page biography of Eisenhower has to overcome the essential dullness of its subject, and the newest work by military historian Lt. Colonel (ret.) D'Este does so more than adequately.
Extensively footnoted and researched, the tale starts with Eisenhower's German ancestors a good century before his birth, and moves with reasonable speed through Ike's childhood and career at West Point. What it avoids is Ike after May 1945. And many may deem this a fault; Eisenhower was, after all, the first military head of NATO and President of the United States after the war.
However, a good historian knows not only his history but also how to keep his story focused and his audience engaged. The Eisenhower presidency was unspectacular, and except for Herbert Brownell's Justice Department dealing with the Rosenberg's and Little Rock, it was perhaps eight years too long.
Lt. Col. D'Este stays within his area of expertise, the military of the US, and resists the temptation to go beyond the natural end of Ike's military career. Having liberated Europe from Nazism, whatever else the general did was insignificant, the damage done to the American body politic by the selection of Richard Nixon for veep notwithstanding. The author knows this and provides us with an excellent analysis of the military career of the man from Abilene.
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Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life.