Eisenhower: At War, 1943-45 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Peter Goldstein, editor Arnold, A. , Afghanistan ......................................... 216 Beschloss, M., Mayday .......................................... 239 Casson and Associates, Multinationals and World Trade ............. 236 Clancy, T. , Red Storm Rising .................................... 228 Day, A., East Bank/West Bank ................................... 218 Eisenhower, D. , Eisenhower ...................................... 214 Girardet, E., Afghanistan ........................................ 216 Gordon, D., Decolonization and the State in Kenya ................. 222 Hanlon, J. , Beggar Your Neighbors ............................... 219 Heng and Shapiro, After the Nightmare ........................... 231 Hersh, S. , The Target Is Destroyed ............................... 225 Jaster, R., South Africa in Namibia ............................... 219 Johnson, R. , Shootdown ......................................... 225 Kolko, G. , Anatomy of a War .................................... 233 Lewis and Kallab, eds., Development Strategies Reconsidered ......... 235 Maull, H., Energy, Minerals, and Western Security ................. 237 Medvedev, R., China and the Superpowers ......................... 230 Netanyahu, B. , ed. , Terrorism ................................... 234 Rock, D., Argentina, 1516-1982 .................................. 223 Wynia, G. , Argentina ........................................... 223 213 214 SAIS REVIEW Eisenhower: At War, 1943-45. By David Eisenhower. New York: Random House, 1986. 977 pp. $29.95/cloth. Reviewed by Timothy J. Naftali, M. A. candidate, SAIS. At the height of the Watergate scandal, David Eisenhower, Richard Nixon's son-in-law, set out to write an account of a much happier second presidential term: the years 1957 to 1961 , when the United States was led by David's grandfather , Dwight D. Eisenhower. The younger Eisenhower reasoned that the origins of the world his grandfather faced as president lay in the titanic struggle against Nazi Germany during World War II. David accordingly decided to begin his narrative in late 1943, when Ike was given command of the Normandy invasion . This serves as the starting point for Eisenhower: At War, 1943-45, the first of three volumes that will chronicle Ike's career as a military and political leader. David Eisenhower's decision to expand his project reflected more than just a sound approach to history. President Eisenhower was often criticized for decisions that General Eisenhower had made. His grandson sensed the special importance that this legacy had for Ike's time in the White House, and David admirably took on the task of describing the circumstances that gave rise to those critical wartime decisions. The author develops two themes in the course of explicating Ike's conduct of the final allied campaign. The first challenges the standard description of his grandfather as a political general. David concludes that Ike's decisions were dictated primarily by military considerations. In the summer and fall of 1944 the general dismissed British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery's plan for a single thrust into northern Germany because he thought it militarily unsound . He did not share Montgomery's belief that the Germans were too disorganized to reestablish a defensive line west of the Rhine. Eisenhower expected stiff resistance and did not want to facilitate German defense by concentrating his forces. David Eisenhower also points to events on the Russian front that greatly influenced Ike's thinking. In the spring of 1945 upwards of 2.5 million Soviet soldiers stood within fifty miles of Berlin and a few days' march from Prague. Eisenhower's decision not to move deep into Eastern Europe at this time reflected his unwillingness to risk a military confrontation with a force that dwarfed his own. Furthermore, unlike prime minister Winston Churchill, whose preferred strategies betrayed concern about the postwar European balance of power, Ike could not afford to be distracted from the more immediate German menace — fanatical Nazi resistance was still a possibility in the U.S. zone of occupation. He was also reluctant to sacrifice additional American lives while the Pacific war was still under way. Although David carefully avoids depicting political factors as the wellspring of Ike's conduct of the war, they factor heavily in his narrative as ever-present obstacles that complicate the job of supreme allied commander. David views most of these obstacles as British inspired. There is a certain unreasonableness about this judgment, which leaves the reader wondering whether the writer is BOOK REVIEWS 215 a victim of his own prejudice. David Eisenhower sees an ulterior motive behind every British military plan. In the pivotal sixth chapter he imputes insincerity to Montgomery's strategy for ending the war. David is convinced that the British commander wanted nothing better than to have it...