Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy - Softcover

Bowie, Robert R.; Immerman, Richard H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195140486 ISBN 13: 9780195140484

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Waging Peace offers the first fully comprehensive study of Eisenhower's "New Look" program of national security, which provided the groundwork for the next three decades of America's Cold War strategy. Though the Cold War itself and the idea of containment originated under Truman, it was left to Eisenhower to develop the first coherent and sustainable strategy for addressing the issues unique to the nuclear age. To this end, he designated a decision-making system centered around the National Security Council to take full advantage of the expertise and data from various departments and agencies and of the judgment of his principal advisors. The result was the formation of a "long haul" strategy of preventing war and Soviet expansion and of mitigating Soviet hostility. Only now, in the aftermath of the Cold War, can Eisenhower's achievement be fully appreciated.

This book will be of much interest to scholars and students of the Eisenhower era, diplomatic history, the Cold War, and contemporary foreign policy.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert R. Bowie is Emeritus Director of the Center for International Studies at Harvard University. Richard H. Immerman is a Professor at the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy at Temple University.

Review:

"Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy is a thorough analysis of the ideas, concepts, and objectives behind the Eisenhower Cold War strategy based on an impressive array of recently declassified documents in the United States....Waging Peace is an imprtant contribution to our knowledge of U.S. containment policy during the 1950s. The authors present a highly sophisticated and interpretive approach to U.S. national security policy while suggesting that there are a number of valuable lessons to be learned from Eisenhower's methods of tackling U.S. national security problems....Bowie and Immerman have skillfully upheld the revisionist conviction that Dwight D. Eisenhower was the most influential U.S. president during the Cold War."--Diplomatic History

"Together, the two authors have thoroughly researched and elegantly analyzed Eisenhower's basic national security strategy....the authors present their points and supporting evidence on the Eisenhower administration so clearly that it is not difficult to draw larger conclusions. This book provides an invaluable contribution to scholarship on Eisenhower, American foreign policy, and presidential decision making, and will be of great interest to faculty and students alike."--Political Science Quarterly

"Immerman and Bowie have written a stimulating, indispensable account of the Eisenhower Administration's Cold War strategy."--Melvyn P. Leffler, Stettinius Professor of American History, University of Virginia

"A detached history, striving for objectivity but informed by firsthand knowledge of people and events, Waging Peace is an extraordinarily important contribution to our understanding of U.S. foreign policy in the 1950s. It will reshape thinking and writing about both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations."--Ernest R. May, Charles Warren Professor of History, Harvard University

"It is a superb contribution to our understanding not only of the ways in which President Eisenhower and his Administration dealt with the challenging security and foreign policy issues of that period but more broadly of the nature and value of responsible leadership in the American presidency. The account the authors have provided is authentic and informative, and will be of lasting value."--Andrew J. Goodpaster, Co-Chair, The Atlantic Council of the United States

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0195140486
• ISBN 13: 9780195140484
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 426