Harry and Ike: The Partnership That Remade the Postwar World

by Steve Neal

Book Overview

Between 1945 and 1952, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower worked more closely than any other two American presidents of the twentieth century; they were partners in changing America's role in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684853558
• ISBN13: 9780684853550
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Shaping the Post World War II World

Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower is the partnership that shaped the post World War II world. Their impact is astounding. Steve Neal does a commendable job of charting the friendship that turned sour imcoperating the background material necessary to tell the complete story. Truman and Eisenhower both started as military man, but it became a career for Eisenhower. Truman returned home after World War I to work in the government through a political machine eventually landing in the senate. From the senate he filled a void of urgency, FDR's vice president in his final term. It was somewhat expected that FDR would not finish the term so it would important for FDR to have a capable repalcement waiting. Truman would serve little more than two months as VP before leading the country through the completion and rebuilding of World War II. Eisenhower would never reach the battle lines of World War I, but he commanded the allied forces of Europe. Eisenhower won great public approval for his victory over the Nazis at home and abroad. Even in 1948, there was popular sentiment that he should run for president. Eisenhower had no desire to run for political office, instead he supervised the rebuilding of Europe. He felt his work was of far to great importance to abandon at that time. Eisenhower work so closely with Truman during this time, most people assumed he was a Democrat. However, Eisenhower never declared a party. It strained the friendship when Eisenhower ran on the Republican ticket in 1952. It strained their friendship even more when Eisenhower shared a political platform with Senator Joe McCarthy, head of the communist witch hunt. In addition to McCarthy's open criticism of Truman, Eisenhower's political maneuver caused Truman and Eisenhower not to speak for most of the Eisenhower's presidency. Partisan bickering continued throughout most of Eisenhower's term. It was only through the tragic events on November 22, 1963 that their friendship was renewed. As both men survived through the end of the decade, their correspondence would continue. While the book starts slow and burried in fact, the middle and end of the book finish strong. Toward the end, I could not put the book down.

Flawed premise, but brilliant history

Steve Neal's historical biography "Harry and Ike" nearly fails right from the start by building on a premise that is non-existent: the `close' relationship between Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. It's well known that Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower were never close working partners, even prior to the epic, decade-long feud that began during the 1952 election. It's a stretch to building a book on the premise of such a partnership and Neal does very little support his theory. Harry and Ike were two men who initially had great respect for each other and occasionally worked together on issues of common interest, but otherwise had little to do with one another. The failure to make a case otherwise should have torpedoed this book. What saves it, however, is that, even with the flawed premise, it is a fascinating historical record. While Neal is unable support his premise, he does an excellent job and revealing the histories and backgrounds of these titans among men. He tracks their lives and developments independently until their disparate paths crossed during the last, mad days of World War II. From there, Neal uses the framework of this supposed friendship to provide informative and interesting accounts of history as it happened during that era. He covers moments like Truman offering to step aside and run as Eisenhower's Vice President in 1948 if Ike were to run as a Democrat (possibly the foundation of Neal's assertion of a `close' relationship). He covers the major events like the hostile 1952 Presidential election, the beginning of the Korean War, and firing of General Douglas MacArthur. Neal uses these events to show the impact it had on each man and the reactions it prompted. "Harry and Ike" serves as a good primer for studying the historical events of that time. It has the effect of making the reader want to probe deeper into those events. Reading this book led me to seek out and read the incredible Douglas MacArthur biography "American Caesar". Given that strong historical narrative of "Harry and Ike", Steve Neal should not be penalized too much for his flimsy premise. There's no doubting that it still serves as an effective historical record.

Finally, a satisfactory explaination

Harry was wild about Ike, until Ike gave him hell, sending Harry on a crusade in Illinois. I have read a dozen or so books by and about Harry and Ike, none of which adequately explained the root causes of their falling out or their eventual reconciliation. This book fills that gap. Ike was politically naive, as Harry feared. I agree with the author that Ike would have been a better President if he had followed the advice of more of his friends, including HST, and less advice from his political handlers. This is an excellent book.

New Information

Steve Neal presents new information from recently released primary source material and demonstrates the ability, integrity and patriotism of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower despite their differences. Few people are aware of their reconciliation, not unlike that of Presidents Adams and Jefferson also mentioned by another reviewer in these columns. One example of a little gem in the book describes President Truman's anger at Senator John Sparkman, the 1952 Democratic vice-presidential candidate, during that campaign. This volume has many well documented anecdotes that have not been told before and Steve Neal has both an ear and a voice for politics that few possess. As an individual who has spent most of his life involved in politics and public affairs I found this a fascinating, informative and enjoyable read. My wife and I have chosen to send it as a Christmas/Hanukkah gift this year because of its originality and intelligibility.

Political and Military Skill First Support and Then Separate

The relationship between Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower is a natural for biography, and this book does a superb job of portraying the initial alignment and later divisions between the two men. In many ways, I was reminded of the relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as I read these pages. The war-time and tricky post-war environments made it natural for them to cooperate. As both entered the political arena in a partisan way, their public discord was bound to grow. After both had left the White House, each could gradually come to accept the other, particularly after the death of John F. Kennedy. Although the careers of the two men had many divergences, their geographical and family roots were fairly similar. Although former president Truman was a career politician, he had served in an artillery unit in World War I, which was a rarity among U.S. presidents after Theodore Roosevelt. Each was hand-picked by FDR for a role beyond his own expectations because they were ?men of intelligence who were ambitious without being threatening.? Those qualities probably made it easier for them to work together after FDR?s death, as well as General Eisenhower?s belief that military people should remain silent about political matters and support their commander-in-chief. The book begins with brief biographies of the men prior to 1945. Then it focuses on their relationships between 1945 and 1952, when former President Eisenhower was elected to his first term. Their degree of cooperation and agreement over this time period was significant. General Eisenhower was opposed only to the dropping of the atomic bomb in their early relationship, and did not make much of the difference of opinion. Former president Truman was so taken with Eisenhower that he offered to support him as a democratic candidate for president in both 1945 and 1947. Upon meeting then General Eisenhower in 1945, former president Truman wrote to his wife, Bess, as follows: ?He is a nice fellow and a good man. He?s doing a whale of a job. They are running him for president, which is o.k. with me. I?d turn it over to him now if I could.? When General Eisenhower retired from the Army in 1948 to become president of Columbia, former president Truman smoothed the way for a tax break with the IRS that saved General Eisenhower over $300,000 in taxes. When former president Eisenhower was in office, he did not do the same for former president Trumen. General Eisenhower was very helpful to Truman in winding down the occupation of Europe, unifying the armed forces, and demobilizing the forces under arms. When Korea broke out, he came back into service to help establish NATO, lobby Congress for U.S. troops in Europe, and to support European unification and rearming of Western Germany. During the campaign in 1952, the two became embittered over former president Eisenhower?s unwillingness to defend General Marshall from Senator McCarthy. Former president Truman said,