Under the general’s guidance Eisenhower sweated out the tropical evenings in his tin-roof barracks devouring the classics of strategy, including Carl von Clausewitz’s complex treatise On War, the memoirs of Napoleon, and campaign histories of the American Civil War. He even dove into Plato and Nietzsche, borrowing books from Conner’s splendid personal library. After their daily duties were complete, the two spent many hours exchanging ideas and provocations about history, philosophy, and leadership. These sessions were invaluable to Eisenhower, and he later acknowledged Conner’s enormous
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