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Evan Thomas's startling account of how the underrated Dwight Eisenhower saved the world from nuclear holocaust.

Upon assuming the presidency in 1953, Dwight Eisenhower set about to make good on his campaign promise to end the Korean War. Yet while Eisenhower was quickly viewed by many as a doddering lightweight, behind the bland smile and simple speech was a master tactician. To end the hostilities, Eisenhower would take a colossal risk by bluffing that he might use nuclear weapons against the Communist Chinese, while at the same time restraining his generals and advisors who favored the strikes. Ike's gamble was of such magnitude that there could be but two outcomes: thousands of lives saved, or millions of lives lost.

A tense, vivid and revisionist account of a president who was then, and still is today, underestimated, Ike's Bluff is history at its most provocative and thrilling.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (September 10, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 495 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316091030
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316091039
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.24 x 8.25 inches
Reviewer: john ramsey
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: [Nuclear] War, children, it's just a shot away
Review: History's take on presidential performance is subject to change. Dwight Eisenhower is a case in point. As historian Richard Norton points out, Eisenhower "was considered something of a do-nothing president...Indeed, the Supreme Commander of the Normandy invasion was so subtle and self-effacing as president that historians judged him mediocre." The New Yorker's Richard Rovere, regarded Eisenhower as "a bland `standard American' incapable of nuance or subtlety." Now, fifty years after Eisenhower left office, historians are presenting his presidency in an entirely different light.No one has done so more persuasively, dramatically and definitively than journalist-historian Evan Thomas in his new book, Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World. Thomas reveals Eisenhower in thought, word and deed to be both a "deeply human" man and a courageous and consummate dissembler in the ultimate game of chance--maneuvering to prevent nuclear war.Leading while living on the brink of nuclear annihilation brought forth Eisenhower's presidential genius. "Ike governed by indirection," Thomas writes, "not just because he preferred to, but because he had to. His ability to save the world from nuclear Armageddon entirely depended on his ability to convince America's enemies--and his own followers--that he was willing to use nuclear weapons. This was a bluff of epic proportions."No one was better equipped by temperament and experience to pull off this sustained misdirection. Eisenhower was an ambitious, supremely confident, triumphant war hero, a skillful judge of character and motivation, a leader of focused purpose who inspired public trust and who retained presidential approval ratings of at least sixty percent for most of his eight years in office.And, apropos of the book's title, Eisenhower was something of a card shark. For Ike, playing cards (bridge) "was a relaxing way of doing what he did all day: reading minds, weighing options, (his own and others'), thinking ahead, and concealing his intentions." Yet despite the extent to which Ike in all ways "fit" the fundamental challenge of his presidency, the relentless pressure from foes and friends alike made Eisenhower's terms in office far more gut wrenching than glamorous. What Thomas says of Ike's sense of military responsibility applies equally to his approach to the presidency: "Always, and inescapably, Eisenhower felt the weight of command."Descriptions of Eisenhower's loneliness, anxiety, rumination, risk, excruciating pain and declining health provide a visceral and poignant sense of his presidency. Eisenhower's torment seems inevitable given the rapid advance of nuclear weapons and delivery systems by superpowers jockeying for global supremacy, a predicament made more vexing by lack of definitive information.The Korean War, leadership change in post-Stalin Russia, France's clumsy attempt to retain control of colonial Indochina and the aftermath of a partitioned Vietnam, regime change, to put it politely, in Iran, conflict over control of the Suez Canal, China's muscle flexing bombardment of the islands Quemoy and Matsu, all these and other situations were potential flash points which could have lead to wider, armed conflict. According to the classic military theory, once started, such conflict would eventually provoke the use of nuclear weapons. To this reader, each flare up Thomas chronicles seemed like a Cuban Missile Crisis in the making.Some of Eisenhower's advisers seemed eager "to see the rubble bounce" and urged the use of nuclear weapons to resolve these situations. (An entire chapter of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders could be devoted to Strategic Air Command General. Curtis LeMay, after whom George C. Scott's character in the 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove, must have been modeled.) To avoid tipping his hand to international adversaries, however, Eisenhower had to give the impression that such insanity could not be ruled out, all the while pursuing more workable and humane alternatives.The reader is mercifully given occasional comic relief from the narrative's no exit tension. Most amusing to me is Eisenhower's comment on Republican Senate Minority Leader, William Knowland of California. Reportedly "dumfounded" by Knowland, Ike wrote in his diary, "In this case there seems to be no final answer to the question, `How stupid can you get?'" There is also Eisenhower's outburst upon realizing that a meeting had not begun in the prescribed manner: "Jesus Christ! We forgot the prayer!"For the most part, though, Ike's Bluff is a razor's edge read--thought and discussion provoking. Questions about the balance between secrecy and disclosure in a democratic society come to mind. Ike's Bluff is an unusually rich source of for wide ranging inquiry and debate. The book should quickly become required reading for students of international affairs, leadership, power and the presidency itself.The 2012 presidential election also came to my mind frequently as I read Ike's Bluff. (Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be presidents!) The candidate who is driven more by ego than aspiration, who does not realize, as did Eisenhower, that war is the real enemy, will not serve himself or his country well.For Eisenhower, with his sense of purpose and duty to America, and to all the world's people, his presidency was a meaningful but self-sacrificial enterprise. Eisenhower's brilliance and Lincolnesque fortitude saved the day, or the decade. As Thomas puts it, "The 1950's were boringly peaceful (or are remembered that way) only because Eisenhower made them so."Now that we seem to be in a condition of what some have called perpetual or continuous war, an interval of peace with justice would seem anything but boring. After dealing with nuclear threats, Eisenhower famously and prophetically warned of a different kind of fallout--the way the emerging military industrial complex, with congress doing its bidding, could contaminate the atmosphere of civil society. Hopefully a leader capable of taking on this bureaucratic colossus will come forward in time to be profiled by Evan Thomas.

Reviewer: Paul
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Complex President
Review: This is a good book on Eisenhower during his presidency. Evan Thomas gives an excellent narrative, and it reads so well that there are times that you resent the call to dinner and are reluctant to put the book down.A most recent biography Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith continued my interest in Eisenhower and thus, the purchase of this book. Even after reading the story, it is still hard to define this man. You would think that the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe would have been a hard lined supporter of a strong military, but Ike was everything but that. He knew the high cost of the military, and during his presidency he worried about the smoke and mirrors that the Pentagon and their scores of generals were constantly using to promote more and improved weaponry. Ike had seen it all, and he saw it in terms that the average man could understand, for example in translating the cost of a destroyer versus the social benefits that could be attained with the same money for schools, hospitals, etc., and he was the one who warned of the military industrial complex. He simply mistrusted the people that he knew the best through decades of service to his country.As his son once said, that in forty six years of knowing him, there were things that he still did not know about hsi father, as he held his cards close to his chest. Eisenhower during his career was careful of his friends and I got the impression that he trusted no one, maybe with the exception of his family.His greatest challenge during his years in office was the recognition of the new technology that resulted in the capacity to wage atomic (or nuclear) war. For some time, he struggled with the very concept that man had at last developed weaponry that could destroy mankind and he was horrified by it. His maturation continued as advanced concepts arrived to show how artillery could be fitted with nuclear warheads, torpedos, and even a rocket launcher that could be fired from a jeep and whose blast would kill not only the enemy in the area but the very soldiers who launched the demon. And there were times that he felt, especially in Euroope that a nuclear response would be the last ditch effort against overwhelming numbers of Soviets.Eisenhower from a personal side, was an excellent and brutal bridge player and early in his career with the Army, he had to quit playing poker because he had taken so much money from fellow officers that it went beyond just a game or comradery. Indeed, he held his cards close to his chest and much of this followed with the mannner that he treated his subordinates. John Foster Dulles is an interesting case in point. While many of the intellectuals scorned Dulles (Dull, Duller, Dulles) Ike kept him for years as Secretary of State until he died of cancer. The book tells little about Richard Nixon which is understandable but there was talk of dropping him from the ticket for the second run.Also of interest is Ike's development of the interstate highway system. We take it for granted today, but Ike felt that it was necessary for people to get out of cities quickly in the event of nuclear attack.There is interesting information on Krushchev and his insecurites and dealing with Eisenhower. Finally the author shows how when Kennedy failed with the Bay of Pigs, Ike explained to him how the CIA had bungled this operation and that JFK had not gathered all the information and conducted extensive meetings to examine the proposal from a variety of sources.All in all, a good book. As the previous reviewer stated, there is no new material, but all of it is presented well and in a fast pace and the reader will enjoy this work immensely

Reviewer: Joe A. Brown
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This was a page turner and if accurate, which I'm sure it is, a great history lesson.

Reviewer: rotmanpr
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: He wasn't a genial, golf-playing grandfather who also happened to organize the Normandy Invasion and win the war in Europe. He was a poker-playing, bridge-bluffing master strategist who liked to appear bland and smiling and yet had a ferocious temper and kept the nuke-loving generals at bay in the Cold War--and only he could do it, given that he'd faced down FDR, Stalin, Churchill and Hitler. Part of the revisionist school of Eisenhower historians, it's believable and fascinating how he could be so many things at once and also tolerate Nixon as Vice President. It's starting to change my views of Ike and on the surface, Thomas, a veteran storyteller, has it right. Putting Ike in office did save the peace, even though I would have probably voted for Stevenson if I could vote then.

Reviewer: Allen L. Peters
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I grew up in the 50s and find it interesting to see what was swirling around me at the age of 10 to my teens. Always heard that Ike was somewhat the light weight, but this gives the lie to that. Good read.