“Swede Hazlett was one of the people to whome I ‘opened up.’”—Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower and E. E. (“Swede”) Hazlett grew up together in Abilene, Kansas, and remained close, corresponding regularly from 1941 until Hazlett’s death in 1958. The letters collected in this volume, many of them surprisingly revealing, contain Eisenhower’s views on a wide range of diplomatic, military, and political issues. Taken together they constitute a remarkable inner history of Eisenhower’s public career. Robert Griffith’s introductory essay is a masterful account of the Eisenhower-Hazlett relationship and of the insights provided by their correspondence for understanding the Eisenhower years. Griffith’s substantial headnotes give additional detail and context where necessary and provide a sense of narrative continuity to the correspondence. The Eisenhower who emerges from these pages bears little resemblance to the bumbling caricature produced by journalists in the 1950s.But neither does he fit the role assigned to him by so many people today, whether liberal critics of the Cold War, conservative opponents of Democratic fiscal policy, or White House aides attempting to “Eisenhowerize” Ronald Reagan. He is, rather, a complex and multidimensional historical figure whom we must study, on his own terms, if we are to fully understand our recent past.

Algeria sits at the crossroads of the Atlantic, European, Arab, and African worlds. Yet, unlike the wars in Korea and Vietnam, Algeria's fight for independence has rarely been viewed as an international conflict. Even forty years later, it is remembered as the scene of a national drama that culminated with Charles de Gaulle's decision to "grant" Algerians their independence despite assassination attempts, mutinies, and settler insurrection. Yet, as Matthew Connelly demonstrates, the war the Algerians fought occupied a world stage, one in which the U.S. and the USSR, Israel and Egypt, Great Britain, Germany, and China all played key roles. Recognizing the futility of confronting France in a purely military struggle, the Front de Lib ration Nationale instead sought to exploit the Cold War competition and regional rivalries, the spread of mass communications and emigrant communities, and the proliferation of international and non-governmental organizations. By harnessing the forces of nascent globalization they divided France internally and isolated it from the world community. And, by winning rights and recognition as Algeria's legitimate rulers without actually liberating the national territory, they rewrote the rules of international relations. Based on research spanning three continents and including, for the first time, the rebels' own archives, this study offers a landmark reevaluation of one of the great anti-colonial struggles as well as a model of the new international history. It will appeal to historians of post-colonial studies, twentieth-century diplomacy, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. A Diplomatic Revolution was winner of the 2003 Stuart L. Bernath Prize of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Akira Iriye International History Book Award, The Foundation for Pacific Quest.

In The Supreme Court under Earl Warren, 1953-1969, Michal Belknap recounts the eventful history of the Warren Court. Chief Justice Earl Warren's sixteen years on the bench were among the most dramatic, productive, and controversial in the history of the Supreme Court. Warren's tenure saw the Court render decisions that are still hotly debated today. Its rulings addressed such issues as school desegregation, separation of church and state, and freedom of expression.

As historian and author John W. Malsberger writes in The General and the Politician: Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and American Politics, no two political figures could have taken more different routes to the Presidency than did America’s 34th and 37th Commanders in Chief. Thrown together largely for political convenience by a Republican party struggling to reinvent itself through years of post-Depression, Democratic dominance, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon came to embody two radically different styles of leadership, simultaneously defining – for the American electorate – where American politics had been, and where they were headed. While debate has raged amongst historians over the level of hostility the two men were rumored to harbor for one another, there is – as Malsberger points out – a more accurate reading of their relationship available to us if we examine all the facts. Taken in a broader context, their relationship was much less a momentary collision of dissident styles and values than a genuine watershed moment in American politics, from which our current political spectrum and electorate can trace their roots. The General and the Politician thoroughly and accessibly details the intersection of two of 20th-Century America’s most powerful figures, and examines their tenuous but transformative relationship to reveal the origins of political discussions and debates that we’re still having today.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon had a political and private relationship that lasted nearly twenty years, a tie that survived hurtful slights, tense misunderstandings, and the distance between them in age and temperament. Yet the two men brought out the best and worst in each other, and their association had important consequences for their respective presidencies. In Ike and Dick, Jeffrey Frank rediscovers these two compelling figures with the sensitivity of a novelist and the discipline of a historian. He offers a fresh view of the younger Nixon as a striving tactician, as well as the ever more perplexing person that he became. He portrays Eisenhower, the legendary soldier, as a cold, even vain man with a warm smile whose sound instincts about war and peace far outpaced his understanding of the changes occurring in his own country. Eisenhower and Nixon shared striking characteristics: high intelligence, cunning, and an aversion to confrontation, especially with each other. Ike and Dick, informed by dozens of interviews and deep archival research, traces the path of their relationship in a dangerous world of recurring crises as Nixon’s ambitions grew and Eisenhower was struck by a series of debilitating illnesses. And, as the 1968 election cycle approached and the war in Vietnam roiled the country, it shows why Eisenhower, mortally ill and despite his doubts, supported Nixon’s final attempt to win the White House, a change influenced by a family matter: his grandson David’s courtship of Nixon’s daughter Julie—teenagers in love who understood the political stakes of their union.

Throughout his two-term presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower faced the challenge of managing a period of peacetime prosperity after more than two decades of depression, war, and postwar inflation. The essential issue he addressed was how the country would pay for the deepening Cold War and the extent to which such unprecedented peacetime commitments would affect the United States economy and its institutions. William M. McClenahan, Jr., and William H. Becker explain how Eisenhower’s beliefs and his experiences as a military bureaucrat and wartime and postwar commander shaped his economic policies. They explore the macro- and microeconomic policies his administration employed to finance the Cold War while adapting Republican ideas and Eisenhower's economic principles to new domestic and foreign policy environments. They also detail how Eisenhower worked with new instruments of government policy making, such as the Council of Economic Advisers and a strengthened Federal Reserve Board. In assessing his administration's policies, the authors demonstrate that, rather than focusing overwhelmingly on international political affairs at the expense of economic issues, Eisenhower’s policies aimed to preserve and enhance the performance of the American free market system, which he believed was inextricably linked to the successful prosecution of the Cold War. While some of the decisions Eisenhower made did not follow conservative doctrine as closely as many in the Republican Party wanted, this book asserts that his approach to and distrust of partisan politics led to success on many fronts and indeed maintained and buttressed the nation's domestic and international economic health. An important and original contribution, this examination of the Eisenhower administration's economic policy enriches our understanding of the history of the modern American economy, the presidency, and conservatism in the United States.

This seminar study examines the Eisenhower presidency. The author argues that the presidency marked an important stage in the evolution of modern America, but left a decidedly mixed legacy for future presidents. Domestically Eisenhower pursued a 'middle way'. Imbued with a profound district of politics and politicians, Eisenhower sought as much as possible to concentrate public policy making in the hands of an enlightened elite of public and private experts. Internationally, Eisenhower's policies exacerbated the nuclear arms race, institutionalised the Cold War, and extended the East-West struggles to new arenas in the Third World. This new account offers an up-to-date synthesis of this newly emerging literature, and reviews Eisenhower's record - from the mishandling of the Civil Rights movement to the escalation of the arms race and the intensification of the Cold War.

As the Supreme Allied Commander in the fight against the Nazis, General Dwight Eisenhower was one of the most important leaders of the last century. His position as a five-star general was crucial in achieving a positive outcome in World War II. Today, he is considered one of the most respected US presidents, but the critical role that his religious beliefs played in his life and work is widely ignored. As one historian wrote, Eisenhower was the most religious president in the twentieth century. He was critical in influencing the nation’s enlarged accommodation to faith, specifically the Christian faith. The central role Eisenhower’s faith played in his life, from growing up in Abilene, Kansas, to becoming the most powerful leader in the world, is thoroughly documented for the first time in this book. Indeed, Eisenhower’s belief in God made him who he was and allowed him to achieve the work that made him one of the most respected leaders of the free world. This book sets the record straight about common erroneous beliefs concerning President Eisenhower and his family. It is necessary to understand the forces that shaped him so we can put his life and many achievements into perspective.

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker confronts the coldest period of the cold warÑthe moment in which personality, American political culture, public opinion, and high politics came together to define the Eisenhower AdministrationÕs policy toward China. A sophisticated, multidimensional account based on prodigious, cutting edge research, this volume convincingly portrays EisenhowerÕs private belief that close relations between the United States and the PeopleÕs Republic of China were inevitable and that careful consideration of the PRC should constitute a critical part of American diplomacy. Tucker provocatively argues that the Eisenhower AdministrationÕs hostile rhetoric and tough actions toward China obscure the presidentÕs actual views. Behind the scenes, Eisenhower and his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, pursued a more nuanced approach, one better suited to ChinaÕs specific challenges and the stabilization of the global community. Tucker deftly explores the contradictions between Eisenhower and his advisorsÕ public and private positions. Her most powerful chapter centers on EisenhowerÕs recognition that rigid trade prohibitions would undermine the global postwar economic recovery and push China into a closer relationship with the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Tucker finds EisenhowerÕs strategic thinking on Europe and his fear of toxic, anticommunist domestic politics constrained his leadership, making a fundamental shift in U.S. policy toward China difficult if not impossible. Consequently, the president was unable to engage congress and the public effectively on China, ultimately failing to realize his own high standards as a leader.

Postwar American officials desired, in principle, to promote Arab-Israeli peace in order to stabilize the Middle East. This book shows how, during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, the desire for peace was not always an American priority. Instead, they consistently gave more weight to their determination to contain the Soviet Union.