Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941 - Hardcover

Eisenhower, Dwight David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801856744 ISBN 13: 9780801856747

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Dwight D. Eisenhower's meteoric rise to prominence during World War II was not -- as popular myth would have us believe -- accidental, but the logical outcome of years of preparation. Eisenhower had enormous talents, opportunities to develop them, and an attentive corps of senior officers who watched and encouraged his ascent to high command. The diaries, letters, and documents assembled in this volume for the first time present a fresh, detailed examination of Dwight D. Eisenhower's formative years and the evolution of his genius for organization, logistics, and strategy.

Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941, edited by Daniel D. Holt and James W. Leyerzapf, follows Eisenhower's career from his tenure as Tank Corps commander to his studies at the Command and General Staff College and at the Army War College. It covers his duties in Western Europe with the American Battle Monuments Commission, his assignment to the office of the Assistant Secretary of War, his service in the War Department with Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur, and his role as Assistant Military Advisor to the American Mission to the Philippines under MacArthur. [The five diaries, personal and family letters, official military correspondence, speeches, published writings, and reports that constitute this volume offer the most compelling evidence yet of the impressive range of Eisenhower's experiences with the interwar army.]

Eisenhower emerges from these documents as a man with uncommon insight into the critically important relationship among military preparation, economic imperatives, public opinion, and bureaucratic politics. His diaries -- particularly the "Notes on Men," the diary entries expressing his mounting exasperation with MacArthur, and his appraisal of the Philippine Army's officer corps -- also reveal a natural leader who could instinctively discern the assets and liabilities of those around him. Eisenhower's conduct of coalition warfare in World War II, when he welded so many strong, disparate personalities into a unified command, is foreshadowed in Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941. Helpfully annotated, with an introduction by John S. D. Eisenhower that places his father's papers in professional and personal context, this volume greatly enhances the portrait we have of Eisenhower's military career and his maturation as a soldier and a leader.

Published in cooperation with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

About this title

Review:

"Admirable... The material that Holt and Leyerzapf present from Eisenhower's personal and official correspondence and diaries provides considerable insight into and explanation for his later success, in both the military and politics. Significantly, Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941 dispels -- once and for all -- the lingering myth that Eisenhower's spectacular rise to supreme commander during World War II was somehow a fluke, or that he was politically naive when he became president in 1952... A superb book that is a major contribution to our knowledge of Dwight Eisenhower... A fascinating examination of the least known years of Eisenhower's military career and is highly recommended." -- Carlo W. D'Este, Journal of Military History

"This is a wonderful book. It consists of diary entries never before seen, from various periods in Eisenhower's life, that reveal his character, his intelligence, the breadth of his knowledge, and his human side. It is fascinating to watch this making of a great man, to see his growth, in the development of his self-confidence, his assumption of responsibility, his exercise of initiative. As a bonus, it never occurred to him that anyone would be interested in reading his diary, so he is brutally honest -- especially about Douglas MacArthur." -- Stephen E. Ambrose, author of Citizen Soldiers and Undaunted Courage

"This extraordinary collection will keep historians busy for a long time. Here is the preparation of a Kansas youth, West Point cadet, tank commander (without tanks) at Gettysburg during World War I, aide to Generals John J. Pershing and Douglas MacArthur in France and the Philippines, planner of the Louisiana maneuvers of 1941 -- all the fascinating experiences that made possible the general of World War II and the president of the 1950s." -- Robert H. Ferrell, author of Harry S. Truman: A Life and editor of Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman

"This volume adds greatly to our understanding of Eisenhower's professional development and contains rich materials for the study of professionalism in the interwar army. These papers are wonderful for setting the Eisenhower presidency in context: readers will learn much about Eisenhower's 'great equation,' balancing military strength and a healthy economy. They also contribute to our understanding of the New Deal and American colonialism." -- Daun van Ee, co-editor of The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower

"Holt and Leyerzapf have produced a work not just for scholars but for anyone interested in the career of Dwight David Eisenhower. Indeed, the book is, in a sense, an autobiography, and one that perhaps better than any of Eisenhower's other autobiographical works, gives us the real Ike." -- Loren E. Pennington, Kansas History

About the Author:

Daniel D. Holt is director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. James W. Leyerzapf is an archivist at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0801856744
• ISBN 13: 9780801856747
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 624
• Editor: Holt Daniel D., Leyerzapf James