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American history, biographies, book reviews, Dwight Eisenhower, presidential biographies, Presidents, Stephen Ambrose
Six years after completing his two-volume biography of Dwight Eisenhower, Stephen Ambrose authored an abridgement of the series: “Eisenhower: Soldier and President (The Renowned One-Volume Life).” Ambrose was an author and historian whose legacy has been seriously tainted by numerous and often convincing allegations of plagiarism and exaggeration. Ambrose died in 2002 at the age of sixty-six.
Published in 1990, this biography quickly became the “standard” on Eisenhower for non-historians and remains one of the most popular comprehensive treatments of Eisenhower’s life. With 576 pages of text, it is just under half the size of the series but packs nearly as much punch – and with far greater efficiency. But it is not merely a condensation of the original series; in many areas it has been updated and refreshed.
Like the series from which it was derived, this biography is surprisingly objective given the author’s well-known fondness for his subject. While Ambrose is quick to praise Eisenhower for his successes, he is equally rapid in pointing out shortcomings and failures. In fact, Ambrose is at his best when critiquing Eisenhower for his failure to directly challenge Joe McCarthy, for his failure to enthusiastically support civil right advances and for his failure to more enthusiastically endorse Nixon for president.
But for many readers (particularly those somewhat familiar with Eisenhower) the best part of this biography is Ambrose’s assessment of Eisenhower’s legacy and his review of Ike’s post-presidency. Not only is the author’s appraisal of Eisenhower’s presidency thoughtful and balanced, but his review of Eisenhower’s interactions with his successors (Kennedy and LBJ, in particular) is both interesting and revealing.
Unfortunately for readers interested in understanding the genesis of Eisenhower’s character, however, Ambrose’s biography proves weak on its subject’s early life. After just fifty pages Eisenhower is already fifty-one years old and a senior Army officer. Most of his formative moments are touched upon…but not with the depth required to paint a fully revealing portrait of Ike. By comparison, Jean Edward Smith’s biography takes three times more space – and D’Este’s nearly six times – to cover the same span of Eisenhower’s life.
Readers will also find that, like the underlying series, this single-volume biography of Eisenhower lacks the fluidity and vibrancy of more engaging narratives. Ambrose’s style is straightforward and matter-of-fact rather than embracing and captivating; it is reminiscent of a history professor rather than a great storyteller. But unlike the series, and to its credit, this biography does not frequently wander into seemingly gratuitous detail and avoids long, tedious stretches.
Overall, Stephen Ambrose’s “Eisenhower: Soldier and President” proves a rare case where a series abridgement is worth more than the sum of its parts. All but the most committed student of Eisenhower is likely to prefer this biography to the far more detailed two-volume series. But where Ambrose’s was once arguably the preeminent biographer of Eisenhower, both his series and this even better abridgement have been surpassed by more recent, engaging and colorful accounts of Eisenhower’s life.
Overall rating: 3¾ stars
* I have rated this biography without regard to allegations of plagiarism by Ambrose (which are generally directed toward his other books), allegations he greatly exaggerated the number of interviews he conducted with Eisenhower in the preparation of this series and allegations he fabricated at least one significant quote by Eisenhower.
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Do you plan to read/review Ike’s Bluff, by Evan Thomas or Three Days in January by Bret Baier?
I read “Ike’s Bluff” a few weeks ago (review here) and liked it. I will probably add Bret Baier’s book to my follow-up list; have you read that one and, if so, what did you think?
I am on the library waiting list for Baier’s book. I read Ike’s Bluff but did not care for it. Although I learned a lot from it, I thought the book was poorly organized (in fact, I had a hard time figuring out just how it was organized). But I will now read your review to see what I missed.
It might be instructive for me to note that it was my 7th book on Ike, so by that time I had a pretty firm impression of his life. I’ll have to go back and think about how the book was organized, but I might have reacted differently to it if it had been my first or second book on Eisenhower (while I was still really figuring out his life). In addition, I don’t consider it adequate as an introductory biography per se, I really found it more an interesting “niche” read.
One question about this book…did you choose to read the condensed version versus the two volumes that Ambrose wrote earlier? I asked because you mention that this books moves swiftly through his early life.
I am trying to decide on getting the condensed version or the two volume version.
I read the condensed version rather than the two-volume series. At some point, in spite of my misgivings about the accusations lingering over Ambrose, I plan to read the two volumes as well.
Thank you for clarifying your choice. Seeing that you read so many books, I can understand not wanting to read large volumes on every president.
For me, Ambrose’s one-volume is my favorite one-volume Eisenhower biography, and although his writing style can be less engaging than a Smith or Chernow or McCullough, I felt the narrative moved along quite smoothly without getting bogged down in any one area. I like that Ambrose doesn’t jump around chronologically like other biographers and keeps to a strict, chronological order of his retelling of the events. This makes for some cliffhanger like moments (revisiting the different visions for and iterations of the Civil Rights Bill between 1954-1957, or little updates about the U2 program until Powers’ flight was shot down in 1960) throughout the chapters but it keeps things organized.
I’m curious what you think, Steve, but my main criticism with the book is that in combining and abridging his two-volume original, Ambrose did a bit of a sloppy job in some parts. For instance, people are mentioned on a last basis notice without any former introduction, and we are assumed to know who they are. “Hoover” is mentioned as being present in deliberations during the Lebanon Crisis of 1958, at first, I thought it was J. Edgar, but it was actually Herbert Hoover Jr., who had been serving as the Undersecretary of State under Dulles. Google had to help me with that one because Ambrose had never mentioned it, yet, we as the audience just had to know. I suspect in the original two-parter, Hoover had been introduced elsewhere, but Ambrose just removed the ‘extra’ passages from the original without cleaning up subsequent paragraphs. This happens a lot.
Also, Cabinet members come and go without any farewell. Charlie Wilson at Defense is suddenly replaced by McElroy, who is then replaced by Gates – they are all mentioned in passages without any introduction or mention. Ambrose also neglects to mention any of Eisenhower’s Supreme Court 5 selections – except Earl Warren. Now, Warren was arguably Eisenhower’s most important pick, and I know not everything can be mentioned in a one-volume, but still.
That being said, the book is still, for me, the definitive Eisenhower bio. With the exception of Ike’s early life up until World War II (which is rushed through, but then again, many biographers do that), I feel Ambrose gave equal and consistent weight to WWII, the first term, and the second term – which is very difficult to do, especially for someone like Eisenhower, who had such a different pre-presidency than others. I know you like JES’ book more, and I agree that the writing style is loads more engaging. I just feel that JES started strong and then lost interest when he reached Ike’s second-term. Dealing with Little Rock, Sputnik, Lebanon, the U-2 crisis and Khrushchev, the 1960 election, and the post presidency in like 50 pages is just not enough for a definitive biography, no matter how riveting JES writes.
For me, Ambrose is the definitive biography that gives equal weight to Eisenhower’s pre-presidency (well, WWII, anyway) and his presidency while also giving a critical analysis of Ike’s positive and negative points. I know Ambrose has been tainted with the plagiarism allegations but he cites everything meticulously in this book and I think those allegations were for other books. My opinion may change IF the rumors of Meacham’s upcoming Eisenhower bio are true (and if it’s a birth-to-death bio rather than one focusing just on the presidency or other aspects of Ike’s personality). Have you heard of that rumor, Steve?
Thanks for the detailed thoughts. As far as the Eisenhower bio is concerned, I’ve heard the rumor but am waiting to hear Ike’s name out of Meacham’s own mouth before getting too excited. I’m also curious to find out more about why he apparently abandoned his efforts re: James and Dolley Madison
Yes, I’ve seen that rumor mentioned in an article online but it was just one sentence and I’m not sure how accurate. It would have been interesting to see a new Madison biography by Meacham. I loved his work on Jefferson.