David’s Reviews > Eisenhower: Soldier and President > Status Update

Too bad that this great leader did not, as president, lead the nation in improving civil rights. But thanks to him we didn't use nuclear weapons, as he was pressured to do. He seems to have been a great good man. Ambrose's biography is an enjoyable, engaging one.

If Obama thinks being president is a thankless job he's in good company. Imagine the audacity of dismissing Eisenhower's judgment of military matters. I mean, if there was one person in the world who could be deemed an authority, it would be a five-star general. Yet politicians kept insisting that the U.S. needed more nukes. How many? More than the U.S.S.R. That's all that mattered.

"Eisenhower's calm, common-sense, deliberate response to Sputnik may have been his finest gift to the nation...."

It's chilling to think of the repeated pressure on Ike to use nuclear weapons.

Even in Ike's day Republicans wanted tax cuts without bothering to replace revenue. Ike was the radical: he actually believed in arithmetic.

Ike quit a 4 pack a day habit cold turkey. That's willpower!

Eisenhower on Montgomery: "he's just little inside as he is outside."

Neglecting Antwerp: Ike's worst error of the war?

"The contrast between Eisenhower and those generals who gloried in war could not have been greater." My respect and admiration for Ike are growing.

Four packs of Camels a day!