How Dwight D. Eisenhower led America through a transformational
time--by a DC policy strategist, security expert and his
granddaughter.
Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one
person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to Little
Rock, from the Korean War to Cold War crises, from the Red Scare to the
Missile Gap controversies, Ike was able to give our country eight years
of peace and prosperity by relying on a core set of principles. These
were informed by his heritage and upbringing, as well as his strong
character and his personal discipline, but he also avoided making
himself the center of things. He was a man of judgment, and steadying
force. He sought national unity, by pursuing a course he called the
Middle Way that tried to make winners on both sides of any issue.
Ike was a strategic, not an operational leader, who relied on a rigorous
pursuit of the facts for decision-making. His talent for envisioning a
whole, especially in the context of the long game, and his ability to
see causes and various consequences, explains his success as Allied
Commander and as President. After making a decision, he made himself
accountable for it, recognizing that personal responsibility is the
bedrock of sound principles.
Susan Eisenhower's How Ike Led shows us not just what a great American
did, but why--and what we can learn from him today.
