Eisenhower and Churchill: The Partnership That Saved the World

Rating:
Summary: "History Lite" is Easy Reading but Error Prone.
Review: For someone looking for very light reading on Ike and Churchill, this may be an appropriate choice. I could envision a high school history teacher assigning this to 16-18 year old students. It is generally enjoyable but it certainly isn't thorough or definitive. It can't be compared to masterpiece works of history,... This, indeed, is "history lite."

But what is supremely disappointing about this book is its factual errors. For instance, at one point in the book Mr. Humes writes of Ike and Churchill meeting in '59, apparently AFTER their respective political tenures were completed, with Ike lamenting JFK's handling of the Bay of Pigs and Berlin Wall crises, and Churchill disparaging Anthny Eden's tenure as PM of Great Britain. But they certainly DID NOT have this discussion in '59. Ike's Presidency lasted until January '61 and our setbacks in Cuba and Berlin didn't happen until later in 1961-62. How could Humes, or more importantly the editor, get this wrong? At another point in the book, he dates the Suez Crisis to 1959 - it happened in October 1956! Earlier he writes of the tragic death of Ike's son at age 3. Hume identifies the baby as Dwight David. His actual name was Doud Dwight, his first name being Mamie's maiden name. He dates Wilson's entry into WWI in 1916. It was 1917, after the 1916 election wherein Wilson campaigned on the "He Kept Us Out Of War" slogan.

If it weren't for these inexcusable factual errors, I could endorse this as light summertime reading for the casual historian... I'm also surprised that David Eisenhower wrote a forward to the book (well done) and that Bill Buckley provided a jacket-cover recommendation. These guys obviously didn't read it - they surely would have noticed the aggravating factual errors I found.

Finally, while I'm an Ike fan and believe he's one of America's finest leaders of the 20th century - both as General and President - I think Humes gives too much credit with the suggestion that he "saved the world" along with Churchill... Professor Humes would be advised to remember,... that other heroes ... deserve lots of credit...

Rating:
Summary: A Huge Disappointment
Review: Mr. Hagerty, who wrote the prior review of this book, was kinder than I can be. I read David Eisenhower's Foreward and recalled what a fine writer he is - as is his father, John Eisenhower. Unfortunately, Mr. Humes has done a remarkably poor job of telling the story of the Churchill - Eisenhower relationship. I first became uneasy while reading Humes' own acknowledgments, replete with what appeared to be mere namedropping than acknowledgment of assistance in preparing the book. In fact, it appears more likely that the author simply put the thing together relying on faulty memory rather than on independent sources.

I cannot recommend this for anyone who wants to know something about either Churchill or Eisenhower. The factual errors are so many as to make one wonder how the thing got published. I found myself wondering about factual statements I knew to be correct because of all the errors. For the casual historian, this book could in fact prove to be misleading. To be avoided.