The President and the Apprentice
Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961
by Irwin F. Gellman
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Pub Date Aug 25 2015 | Archive Date Sep 01 2015
Description
Based on twenty years of research, a book that rewrites the history of the Eisenhower presidency
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, desegregated 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.
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, desegregated 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.
A Note From the Publisher
Irwin F. Gellman is the author of four previous books on American presidents. He is currently at work on a volume on Nixon and Kennedy. He lives in Parkesburg, PA.
Irwin F. Gellman is the author of four previous books on American presidents. He is currently at work on a volume on Nixon and Kennedy. He lives in Parkesburg, PA.
Advance Praise
"The President and the Apprentice is an important, illuminating book. There has been a great deal written about Eisenhower and Nixon in recent years, but none of us has done the archival work done by Irv Gellman, or even close.”—Evan Thomas, author of Ike's Bluff
“The conclusions and research are irrefutable. Gellman is spot-on about Ike’s management style, his and Nixon’s working relationship, his strengths as a bureaucratic leader, his civil rights record, his handling with Nixon of McCarthy, his impact on domestic policy, his handling of the Sputnik episode, and his dominance of and leadership in foreign policy. Overall, a wonderfully succinct summary of very complex stuff. This will be, hands down, the most important book ever written on Nixon’s vice presidency and his relationship to the president.”--David A. Nichols, author of A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
“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
“Irv Gellman gives us a clear and carefully researched look at Ike as a leader and mentor of Richard Nixon. He provides plenty of new material that provides a fresh look at this important relationship.”—George P. Shultz, author of Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State
"No future study of the Eisenhower-Nixon years can afford to ignore what Gellman has accomplished. His insights illuminate every significant issue from Ike's election in 1952 to the rise of Nixon as his successor, all with awesome scholarship. This is a major work of history and biography."—Herbert S. Parmet, author of Richard Nixon and His America
“The conclusions and research are irrefutable. Gellman is spot-on about Ike’s management style, his and Nixon’s working relationship, his strengths as a bureaucratic leader, his civil rights record, his handling with Nixon of McCarthy, his impact on domestic policy, his handling of the Sputnik episode, and his dominance of and leadership in foreign policy. Overall, a wonderfully succinct summary of very complex stuff. This will be, hands down, the most important book ever written on Nixon’s vice presidency and his relationship to the president.”--David A. Nichols, author of A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
“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
“Irv Gellman gives us a clear and carefully researched look at Ike as a leader and mentor of Richard Nixon. He provides plenty of new material that provides a fresh look at this important relationship.”—George P. Shultz, author of Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State
"No future study of the Eisenhower-Nixon years can afford to ignore what Gellman has accomplished. His insights illuminate every significant issue from Ike's election in 1952 to the rise of Nixon as his successor, all with awesome scholarship. This is a major work of history and biography."—Herbert S. Parmet, author of Richard Nixon and His America
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780300181050 |
| PRICE | $40.00 (USD) |
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