Reevaluating Eisenhower : American foreign policy in the 1950s /

Since the late 1960s, as the editors of this volume point out, ``first journalists and then scholars have been busy rehabilitating Eisenhower'' as president. This trend has been accelerated by access to recently declassified materials. Eisenhower, it now appears, was much more than a caretaker president, and had many foreign policy successes to his credit, as well as many long-run failures. These are clearly brought out in the essays by nine historians and political scientists that make up this volume-all thoroughly documented, well written, and of unusually high quality. The essays treat Eisenhower's basic philosophy and major aspects of US foreign policy during his two terms: his attitudes toward Communism and the Soviet Union; his decisions during the Dienbienphu crisis in 1954; his foreign economic policy (with particular reference to Latin America); his policies toward the Middle East and Germany; and his efforts at arms control, which, like most of his policies, were ``full of apparent contradictions''-an observation that could be made about the foreign policy of the US under every subsequent president. Probably the most balanced analysis of Eisenhower's handling of foreign and national security policy that has yet appeared, this book deserves to be widely read. Highly recommended for academic and general collections.-N.D. Palmer, emeritus, University of Pennsylvania