Eisenhower, Dwight D. At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends. New York: Doubleday 1967. Print.
Talking to oneself in Abilene, in the days of my youth, was common enough. Generally speaking, it was a sure sign of senility or of preoccupation with one's worries. Now, it is nationally advertised as the hallmark of the efficient executive.
Description:
But President and author Dwight D. Eisenhower takes a new approach. Assuming that every event in his life as a military, political, and academic figure had already been covered by multiple biographers, Eisenhower decided to honestly and humbly tell a behind-the-scenes series of episodes in his life that truly reveal his character.
His collection of these reminiscences, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, reveal his thoughts, dreams, conversations, decisions, ambitions, and failures in such an casual, often humorous manner that you feel he is talking just to you as a intimate friend, revealing himself and how occurrences that shaped his life and even the world really happened.
The book spans Eisenhower's years from birth in Kansas and childhood in Texas, training at West Point, military career, family life, and being nominated to run for president just as he was just settling in as president of Columbia University. Each episode in between is matter-of-factly unfolded as Eisenhower "talks" about situations and people that affected his life.
Early years
- As a five-year-old he finally overcame the torment dished out by a huge gander by taking a stick to defend himself, and thus admitted he learned "Never to negotiate with an adversary except from a position of strength.'
- A great reader of history, he so neglected his chores that his mother locked his books in a closet ... an effective punishment until Eisenhower found the key one day and continued to read whenever his mother was not present.
West Point
- Admitted, "Where else could you get a college education without cost?"
- Assigned to the "Awkward Squad" for his inability to march with coordination.
- In his first weeks, just after learning how to salute every officer, tried three times to salute a highly-decorated man he passed in uniform, only to discover he was saluting the local drum major.
- As punishment from an upperclassman, he and a friend had to report in "full dress coats," which they did, but did not put on any other clothes.
- His disciplinary file, partially printed in the book, reveals him to rank 125th in discipline out of 162 cadets.
Family
- The first time he met his future wife, Mamie, she accompanied him on his Fort Sam Houston guard duty patrol.
- At Camp Colt in Gettysburg, PA, the base suffered an outbreak of Spanish Influenza that killed many men. Ike, his family, and staff were spared due to an experimental nasal spray and throat medicine given by the camp's doctor
- He and Mamie lost their two-year-old first born son, Ikky, to Scarlet Fever, “the greatest disappointment and disaster in my life, the one I have never been able to forget completely."
Military
- He had a long-time friendship with George Patton, and constantly tried to stop his friend from saying controversial statements in public.
- Learned to fly at age 46, 30 years after the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, communicating with the ground by dropping paper messages tied to rocks, then flying low to buzz buildings until someone came out to see what was up and retrieve the notes.
- His WWII orders were "Land in Europe and, proceeding to Germany, destroy Hitler and all his forces." There was nothing about invading Berlin, something Eisenhower was widely criticized for not pursuing.
Columbia University
- Took over for the previous University president who had served there for more than 50 years. Eisenhower was not recognized as the new president and denied access by a watchman to the president's office on the first Saturday when the university offices were closed
- Eisenhower felt his greatest contribution to Columbia was his persuading of their beloved football coach stay at Columbia rather than taking the coaching job at rival Yale.
Anecdote after story is gracefully rolled out by a master storyteller. Each insight, carefully woven into a chronological timeline of his life's events, is captivating and insightful. While there is little about the specifics of WWII battles, there is plenty about his discussions with his officers, advisors, and other military leaders as well as the results of his decisions.
The book ends as Eisenhower reluctantly gives up his position as Columbia's president to accept the nomination (which he did not desire) to run for President of the United States. I
loved it and now feel a new respect for President Dwight Eisenhower the
man as well as the military figure and academic leader.
Please give this book a try if you have interest in great storytelling, interesting people, and the life of one important figure in American history. Now, I just need to look for a follow-up book by him detailing his later years.
The making of history, the shaping of human lives, is more a matter of brief incidents, quiet talks, chance encounters, sudden flashes of leadership or inspiration, and sometimes simple routine than it is of heroes, headlines, grand pronouncements, or widely heralded decisions.
Happy reading.
Fred
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Sassoon, Sigfried. The Memoirs of an Infantry Officer: (Book Two in the The Memoirs of George Sherston trilogy) .
A fictionalized but very realistic depiction of World War I in France as seen through the eyes and mind of an French officer./ Based on Sigfried Sassoon's real heroic life and later disillusioned memories of his military experiences during that War, including his eventual pacifism and protest to end the conflict.
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