The President and the Apprentice

June 8, 2015
This gargantuan tome from Gellman (The Contender) is an avowed revisionist history of its subject, a brief for the Eisenhower-Nixon defense that takes on the many historians who rate the two men poorly. Striking at the “lingering mythology” and “unsubstantiated argument” that Ike and Nixon didn’t get along, that the general ignored his vice president, and that Nixon secretly saw a psychotherapist, Gellman does his best to rehabilitate Nixon and along the way further Ike’s rise in presidential rankings. He succeeds surprisingly well. While his take on the two men sometimes approaches a whitewash, the two presidents’ detractors will have a tough challenge responding to Gellman’s spirited book. Part of its strength lies in the author’s efforts to make Eisenhower more liberal and engaged than he’s often depicted to be. For instance, Gellman credits Ike with ending Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist reign of terror and Ike, not Truman, with desegregating the military. But for all the book’s revisionist energy, it lacks art. Wearying, unnuanced declarative sentences march across the page without interruption or much variety, and too many details obscure Gellman’s arguments. Nevertheless, this is an important work, and one sure to cause controversy.

July 1, 2015
For several decades after he left office, President Eisenhower and his administration were generally described by most historians as ineffectual and reticent in confronting many domestic challenges, including McCarthyism and civil rights. Eisenhower'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 military-industrial complex. His vice president, Nixon, has received no such rehabilitation. The narrative of a red-baiting, shifty schemer who was distrusted and disliked by Eisenhower has, fair or not, stood the test of time. Gellman, an independent scholar and writer of four previous books on American presidents, strives mightily here to balance the scales. In a massive and sometimes ponderous tome, Gellman further reinforces Eisenhower's emerging reputation as an engaged, savvy politician and statesman, even claiming he was actually an early but cautious proponent of civil rights for African Americans. Although he doesn't discount Nixon's character flaws, Gellman asserts that Eisenhower respected Nixon and valued his views on a variety of issues. This is hardly the final word on their relationship, but Gellman has certainly made a worthy effort at reappraisal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)