Eisenhower : A Soldier's Life

by Carlo D'Este

• ISBN13: 9780805056860
• ISBN10: 0805056866
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2002-06-04
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Summary

In the weeks leading up to D-Day, Dwight D. Eisenhower seethed with nervous energy. He had not expected his military career to bring him to this moment. The son of pacifists, Ike graduated from high school more likely to teach history than to make it. Casting new light on this profound evolution, Eisenhower chronicles the unlikely, dramatic rise of the supreme Allied commander. Beginning with the lasting effect of Eisenhowers impoverished youth, bestselling biographer Carlo DEste follows his subject through West Point and a sometimes troubled marriage; toil under MacArthur in the Philippines during the 1930s; the inner sanctums of the War Department; the generals painful North African apprenticeship; and, finally, the dramatic events leading to the Allied victory in May 1945.Exposing for the first time numerous myths that have surrounded the war hero and his family (such as his romance with his wartime driver, Kay Summersby), DEste also probes Eisenhowers famous clashes with his American peers and the British chiefs of staff, as well as his relations with legendary figures, including Winston Churchill and George S. Patton.Unlike other biographies of the general, Eisenhower captures Ikes true character, from his youth to the pinnacle of his career and afterward.

Author Biography

Carlo D'Este, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a distinguished military historian, is the author of Patton: A Genius for War and three other books on World War II, all of which received high praise. He lives in New Seabury, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Prologue: ``An Astonishing Man''	1	(8)
I. THE EISENHOWERS, 1741-1909
``Say Eisenhauer for Ironcutter:''	9	(5)
The Promised Land	14	(9)
``A Good Place for Boys to Grow into Men''	23	(15)
A Young Man's Education	38	(13)
II. THE ACCIDENTAL SOLDIER, 1910-16
Abilene to West Point	51	(8)
The Long Gray Line	59	(13)
``Popular but Undistinguished''	72	(13)
``1915-the Summer Dwight Came Back from West Point''	85	(6)
Miss Mamie Doud	91	(18)
III. WORLD WAR I, 1917-19
Roses Have Thorns	109	(15)
``I...Will Make Up for This.''	124	(14)
``A Journey Through Darkest America''	138	(7)
A Friendship Forged	145	(16)
IV. THE INTERWAR YEARS, 1920-39
``The Man Who Made Eisenhower''	161	(14)
``A Watershed in My Life''	175	(9)
Fort Benning, Washington, and France, 1926-29	184	(13)
``Nothing Short of a Genius''	197	(6)
The Indispensable Staff Officer	203	(15)
``Shame! Shame!''	218	(7)
Toiling for MacArthur	225	(9)
Mission Impossible	234	(16)
``I'm a Soldier. I'm Going Home:''	250	(9)
V. THE UNITED STATES PREPARES FOR WAR, 1940-42
``This Work Is Fun!''	259	(13)
Third Army Chief of Staff	272	(12)
Marshall's Protege	284	(15)
``I'm Going to Command the Whole Shebang.''	299	(9)
The Architect of Cooperation	308	(20)
An Unlikely Friendship	328	(6)
Sailing a Dangerous Sea	334	(17)
VI. A GENERAL'S EDUCATION: THE MEDITERRANEAN, 1942-43
``I Am Nothing but a Soldier.''	351	(9)
``The Dreariest Chapter in the History of Allied Collaboration''	360	(15)
Four Stars	375	(16)
``Ikus Africanus''	391	(15)
Monty and Alex	406	(9)
``What in Hell Does Eisenhower Command?''	415	(14)
``Everything That Planning Should Not Be''	429	(14)
``A Grinding War of Attrition''	443	(18)
``Who Will Command Overlord?''	461	(1483)
VII. THE INVASION OF EUROPE, 1944
Supreme Allied Commander	477	(15)
``A Monument to the Imagination of British and American Planners''	492	(20)
``O.K., We'll Go.''	512	(18)
``I Thank the Gods of War We Went When We Did.''	530	(16)
The Battle for Normandy	546	(13)
``Dear Ike, To-day I spat in the Seine.''	559	(14)
Triumph and Controversy	573	(12)
VIII. CRISIS IN COMMAND: NORMANDY TO THE ELBE, 1944-45
``A Tactician's Hell and a Quartermaster's Purgatory''	585	(9)
Which Way to Germany?	594	(16)
``Coins Burning Holes in SHAEF's Pocket''	610	(15)
The Autumn Stalemate	625	(12)
``There Will Be Only Cheerful Faces at This Conference Table.''	637	(13)
``If I Can Keep the Team Together, Anything's Worth It.''	650	(12)
The Invasion of Germany	662	(17)
Roads Lead to Berlin	679	(9)
Armageddon	688	(17)
Epilogue	705	(2)
Notes	707	(102)
Sources and Selected Bibliography	809	(14)
Acknowledgments	823	(2)
Index	825

Excerpts

The noise was deafening. Eisenhower and the members of his party climbed onto the roof of the division headquarters to watch in silence as hundreds of aircraft and gliders lumbered into the rapidly darkening sky, again saluting as each aircraft passed by. For Eisenhower, a man unused to publicly expressing his emotions, it was a painfully moving, yet exhilarating experience, and the closest he would come to being one of them. NBC correspondent Merrill Mueller stood nearby and noted that Eisenhower, his hands deep in his pockets, had tears in his eyes.

Eisenhower remained after the last aircraft had taken off and their sounds had faded away in the night. Strolling back to his staff car, deep in thought, his shoulders sagging as they did whenever he was troubled, Kay Summersby thought him the loneliest man in the world at that moment. The knot of apprehension in his gut can only be imagined, but the expression on his face revealed more than words. "Well, it's on," he said somberly, again looking up at the night sky, "no one can stop it now."

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Excerpted from Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life by Carlo D'Este
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