Synopses & Reviews
andldquo;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.andrdquo;andmdash;Allen Matusow, author of
The Unraveling of America and#160;
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 Ikeandrsquo;s administration worked or what it accomplished. We knowandmdash;or think we knowandmdash;that Eisenhower distrusted his vice president, Richard Nixon, and kept him at armandrsquo;s length; that he did little to advance civil rights; that he sat by as Joseph McCarthyandrsquo;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.
and#160;
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.
and#160;
Based on twenty years of research in numerous archives, many previously untouched, this book offers a fresh and surprising account of the Eisenhower presidency.
and#160;
andldquo;Irwin Gellmanandrsquo;s superb research and plausible reconstruction of the Eisenhower-Nixon relationship may well revolutionize the meaning of historical revisionism. Theand#160;President and the Apprentice is an unsettlingand#160;tour de force.andrdquo;andmdash;David Levering Lewis, author of King: A Biography and W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Review
andquot;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.andrdquo;andmdash;Evan Thomas, author of Ikeand#39;s Bluff
Review
andldquo;The conclusions and research are irrefutable. Gellman is spot-on about Ikeandrsquo;s management style, his and Nixonandrsquo;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.andnbsp; This will be, hands down, the most important book ever written on Nixonandrsquo;s vice presidency and his relationship to the president.andrdquo;--David A. Nichols, author of A Matter of Justice:andnbsp; Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
Review
andquot;Irwin Gellman, the worldand#39;s premier Nixon scholar, breaks new ground with his fascinating portrayal of Nixonand#39;s unprecedented and still unacknowledged activist vice-presidency and his complicated relationship with a brilliant President Eisenhower.andnbsp; Gellmanand#39;s narrative is based on his unsurpassed knowledge of a vast array of valuable but often underused source materials.andquot;--Melvin Small, author of The Presidency of Richard Nixon
Review
andldquo;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.andrdquo;
andmdash;George P. Shultz, author of
Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of StateReview
andquot;The President and the Apprentice fulfills its ambitions so successfully that no future study of the Eisenhower-Nixon years can afford to ignore what Gellman has accomplished. His insights illuminate every significant issue from Ikeand#39;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.andquot;andmdash;Herbert S. Parmet, author of Richard Nixon and His America
Review
andquot;Irwin Gellmanand#39;s superb research and plausible reconstruction of the Eisenhower-Nixon relationship may well revolutionize the meaning of historical revisionism.
Theandnbsp;President and the Apprentice is an unsettlingandnbsp;
tour de force.andquot;
andmdash;David Levering Lewis, author of
King: A Biography and
W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
andnbsp;
Review
andquot;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.andquot;--Allen Matusow, author of The Unravelling of America
Review
andldquo;Of all the presidential teams, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon had one of the most puzzling personal relationships, but Irwin Gellman has relentlessly uncovered or reevaluated every available piece of documentary evidence to explain how together they created the modern vice presidency.andrdquo;-andndash;Donald A. Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corpsandnbsp;
Review
andldquo;An important work, and one sure to cause controversy.andrdquo;andmdash;Publishers Weekly
Review
andldquo;Eisenhowerandrsquo;s reputation has recently received more positive reviews, even from liberals, who praise his restraint in foreign policy and, of course, his warnings about the andlsquo;military-industrial complex.andrsquo; His vice president, Nixon, has received no such rehabilitation. . . .andnbsp; Gellman, an independent scholar and writer of four previous books on American presidents, strives mightily here to balance the scales. . . . Although he doesnandrsquo;t discount Nixonandrsquo;s character flaws, Gellman asserts that Eisenhower respected Nixon and valued his views on a variety of issues. . . . A worthy effort at reappraisal.andrdquo; andmdash;Jay Freeman, Booklist
Review
andldquo;Gellmanandrsquo;s take on Nixon restores real balance to the study of the man, and his important role in American politics.andnbsp; This is a deeply researched book using archival and published material. It shows just how intimate [Eisenhowerandrsquo;s and Nixonandrsquo;s] relationship was, how much Nixon did for Ike, and indeed how Nixon shaped the modern GOP as Ikeandrsquo;s vice president. . . . Nixon, in short, was central to Ikeandrsquo;s widely respected presidency.andrdquo;andmdash;Geoffrey Wawro, History Book Club
Review
andldquo;Historian Irwin Gellman has a new book out on Ike and Dick. . . The lessons it offers for 2016 are many and obvious, especially when it comes to running campaigns.andrdquo;andmdash;Hugh Hewitt, The Hugh Hewitt Show
Review
andldquo;Received orthodoxies are as boring in history as they are in any other field of constant inquiry. . . No matter what the received orthodoxy. . . the field of history only benefits from dissenters consulting the records, marshaling their facts, and making a concerted assault on the ramparts. The process keeps academics on their toes, keeps interpretation from calcifying into cant, and not the smallest thing, very often makes for great reading. . . Irwin Gellmanandrsquo;s new book is as a perfect a case-in-point as the current season is likely to provide.andrdquo;andmdash;Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly
Synopsis
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
Synopsis
Based on twenty years of research, a book that rewrites the history of the Eisenhower presidency
Synopsis
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 Ikeandrsquo;s administration worked or what it accomplished. We knowandmdash;or think we knowandmdash;that Eisenhower distrusted his vice president, Richard Nixon, and kept him at armandrsquo;s length; that he did little to advance civil rights; that he sat by as Joseph McCarthyandrsquo;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.
and#160;
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.
About the Author
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.