The President and the Apprentice

Irwin F. Gellman

Irwin F. Gellman

The President and the Apprentice

Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961

Yale University Press | 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300182255

Overview
Contents

About this book

Based on twenty years of research, a book that rewrites the history of the Eisenhower presidency

“Irwin Gellman has emerged from years in the archives to tell the fascinating story of President Dwight Eisenhower and his relationship with his vice president, Richard Nixon. Gellman dispels the fog that has long enveloped this subject and casts new light on a critical Cold War presidency. Masterfully written, The President and the Apprentice is a must-read for anyone who, like me, loves good political history.”—Allen Matusow, author of The Unraveling of America

More than half a century after Eisenhower left office, the history of his presidency is so clouded by myth, partisanship, and outright fraud that most people have little understanding of how Ike’s administration worked or what it accomplished. We know—or think we know—that Eisenhower distrusted his vice president, Richard Nixon, and kept him at arm’s length; that he did little to advance civil rights; that he sat by as Joseph McCarthy’s reckless anticommunist campaign threatened to wreck his administration; and that he planned the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. None of this is true.

The President and the Apprentice reveals a different Eisenhower, and a different Nixon. Ike trusted and relied on Nixon, sending him on many sensitive overseas missions. Eisenhower, not Truman, completed the desegregation of the military. Eisenhower and Nixon, not Lyndon Johnson, pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 through the Senate. Eisenhower was determined to bring down McCarthy and did so. Nixon never, contrary to recent accounts, saw a psychotherapist, but while Ike was recovering from his heart attack in 1955, Nixon was overworked, overanxious, overmedicated, and at the limits of his ability to function.

Based on twenty years of research in numerous archives, many previously untouched, this book offers a fresh and surprising account of the Eisenhower presidency.

“Irwin Gellman’s superb research and plausible reconstruction of the Eisenhower-Nixon relationship may well revolutionize the meaning of historical revisionism. The President and the Apprentice is an unsettling tour de force.”—David Levering Lewis, author of King: A Biography and W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography

Author information

Irwin F. Gellman is an independent scholar. His books include The Contender, an account of Richard Nixon’s time in Congress.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
CONTENTS Free access PDF PDF	vii
Preface Free access PDF PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Free access PDF PDF	xv
Introduction: Changing the Story Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
Part One: 1952–1957
1. The Nominees Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	15
2. The Fund Crisis Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	29
3. To Victory Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	55
4. The General as a Manager Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	69
5. The Worst Kind of Politician Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	91
6. The Collision Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	103
7. Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Civil Rights Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	125
8. Eisenhower and Civil Rights: The First Term Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	136
9. Ike, Nixon, and Dulles Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	157
10. Nixon in Asia Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	170
11. The Battles over Asia Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	193
12. Trouble with Good Neighbors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	206
13. The U.S. Response to Neutralism Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	222
14. Incumbent Politics Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	232
15. The Ill- Will Tour versus the Big Lie Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	240
16. The Incapacitated President Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	259
17. The Hutschnecker Fiction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	273
18. Ike’s Decision to Run Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	285
19. Nixon’s Agony Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	302
20. Stassen’s Folly Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	314
21. The Land of Smear and Grab Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	331
22. The Hungarian Revolution and the Freedom Fighters Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	348
Part Two. 1957–1961
23. Ike and Dick Return Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	363
24. Prelude to the Struggle Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	372
25. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	379
26. Little Rock and Its Consequences Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	402
27. The Implosion Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	425
28. The Steel Solution Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	448
29. Nixon in Africa Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	462
30. Ike’s Cold War Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	483
31. A Near- Death Experience Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	494
32. Inside and Outside the Kitchen Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	514
33. Ike’s Hopes Collapse Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	536
34. Ike, Nixon, Kennedy, and Castro Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	543
Conclusion: Ike and Dick Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	563
Appendix: Eisenhower’s Notes on the “Checkers Speech” Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	571
List of Abbreviations Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	577
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	579
Bibliography Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	711
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	777

The President and the Apprentice

Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961

Details

Formats