The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961

828 Pages·2015·11.73 MB·English

by  Irwin F. Gellman

T P A
HE RESIDENT AND THE PPRENTICE
This page intentionally left blank
T
HE
P
RESIDENT

AND THE
A
PPRENTICE
Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952–1961
Irwin F. Gellman
New Haven & London
Published with assistance from the Mary Cady Tew Memorial Fund.
Copyright © 2015 by Irwin F. Gellman. All rights reserved. This book may
not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in
any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the 
U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without
written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or
promotional use. For information, please e- mail sales . press@yale . edu (U.S. offi ce) or
sales@yaleup . co . uk (U.K. offi ce).
Set in Electra type by Westchester Publishing Ser vices. Printed in the United States
of Ame rica.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015935011
ISBN 978-0-300-18105-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
A cata logue rec ord for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Ruth Ann Segerstrom Moriarty
with
gratitude and love
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Ac know ledg ments xv
Introduction: Changing the Story 1
Part One 1952–1957
1 The Nominees 15
2 The Fund Crisis 29
3 To Victory 55
4 The General as a Manager 69
5 The Worst Kind of Politician 91
6 The Collision 103
7 Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Civil Rights 125
8 Eisenhower and Civil Rights: The First Term 136
9 Ike, Nixon, and Dulles 157
10 Nixon in Asia 170
11 The Battles over Asia 193
12 Trou ble with Good Neighbors 206
13 The U.S. Response to Neutralism 222
14 Incumbent Politics 232
15 The Ill- Will Tour versus the Big Lie 240
16 The Incapacitated President 259
17 The Hutschnecker Fiction 273
viii Contents
18 Ike’s Decision to Run 285
19 Nixon’s Agony 302
20 Stassen’s Folly 314
21 The Land of Smear and Grab 331
22 The Hungarian Revolution and the Freedom Fighters 348
Part Two 1957–1961
23 Ike and Dick Return 363
24 Prelude to the Strug gle 372
25 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 379
26 Little Rock and Its Consequences 402
27 The Implosion 425
28 The Steel Solution 448
29 Nixon in Africa 462
30 Ike’s Cold War 483
31 A Near- Death Experience 494
32 Inside and Outside the Kitchen 514
33 Ike’s Hopes Collapse 536
34 Ike, Nixon, Kennedy, and Castro 543
Conclusion: Ike and Dick 563
Appendix: Eisenhower’s Notes on the “Checkers Speech” 571
List of Abbreviations 577
Notes 579
Bibliography 711
Index 777
Illustrations follow page 268.
PREFACE
When Herbert Brownell Jr. told Dwight D. Eisenhower that his advisers had
selected Richard M. Nixon as his running mate in 1952, the general readily con-
curred. Ike saw in Nixon a young, talented politician who, like himself, was a
strong foe of communism and had distinguished himself as a congressman in
1948 by his pursuit of Alger Hiss, later shown to have spied for the Soviet Union.
Eisenhower would also come to value Nixon’s po liti cal insight and his ability
to connect with his Republican constituency. Not yet forty years old at the time
he was nominated, Nixon saw his place on the 1952 ticket as a priceless oppor-
tunity, and he never lost his determination to make the most of it. Yet he never
completely understood Ike’s military character and would be left dumbfounded
by some of Ike’s decisions.
The two men w ere never partners. Theirs was not a “strange pol itic al mar-
riage,” as Jeffrey Frank claims in Ike and Dick. Eisenhower, the supreme com-
mander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II, the former chief of
staff of the Army, the fi rst supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ga ni za tion, did not have partners. He led a team of subordinates, who were ex-
pected to go where Ike sent them, be his eyes and ears, provide intelligent and
informed advice, deliver his messages, execute his decisions, and occasionally
become casualties. Whether the battlefi eld was military or po liti cal, Ike often
had his soldiers take the heat instead of himself.
Having seen how unprepared Harry S Truman was to assume the presidency
on Franklin D. Roos ev elt’s death, Eisenhower kept Vice President Nixon aware
of most of the decisions made in the White House. Nixon attended Ike’s weekly
meetings, presided in Ike’s absence, acted as a liaison with both houses of Con-
gress, met with dozens of foreign heads of state, and tirelessly represented the
administration on the campaign trail. He had more responsibility and more
ix