How Ike Led

The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions

By: Susan Eisenhower

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Susan Eisenhower

"The work is clear-eyed but naturally imbued with a granddaughter's affection. Narrator Bernadette Dunne's amiable manner is a good match for the author's tone, objective but tinged with warmth...Dunne manages to go beyond the plain sense of the text to give us the author as an intelligent, sensible, well-spoken person who is examining an important life in a way that informs, pleases, and serves as a lesson for the present day." (AudioFile Magazine)

This program includes an audiobook exclusive introduction written and read by Susan Eisenhower and a newly remastered version of President Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address.

How Dwight D. Eisenhower led America through a transformational time — by a DC policy strategist, security expert, and his granddaughter.

Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to Little Rock, from the Korean War to Cold War crises, from the Red Scare to the Missile Gap controversies, he was able to give our country eight years of peace and prosperity by relying on a core set of principles. These were informed by his heritage and upbringing, his strong character and his personal discipline, but he also avoided making himself the center of things. He tried to be the calmest man in the room, not the loudest. So instead of seeking to fulfill his personal desires and political needs, he pursued a course he called the "Middle Way" that tried to make winners on both sides of a situation.

In addition, Ike maintained a big picture view on any situation; he was a strategic, not an operational leader. He also ensured that he had all the information he needed to make a decision. His talent for envisioning a whole, especially in the context of the long game, and his ability to see causes and various consequences, explains his success as Allied Commander President. Then, after making a decision, he made himself accountable for it, prizing responsibility most of all his principles.

Susan Eisenhower's How Ike Led shows us not just what a great American did, but why — and what we can learn from him today.

A Macmillan Audio production from Thomas Dunne Books

"[Susan Eisenhower] lays bare the essence of her grandfather’s leadership in war and peace — his singular devotion to the unity and security of the American people and the nation’s allies.” (Wall Street Journal)

©2020 Susan Eisenhower (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

WHAT MADE THE 50S EXCEPTIONAL

I GREW UP IN THE 50S AND REMEMBER THE TIME FONDLY—WE ARGUED THE STEVENSON-EISENHOWER PRESIDENTIAL RACE—BUT NO KID WENT TO THE PLAYGROUND AND SOCKED ANOTHER KID IN THE JAW—IF WE HAD, THE PRINCIPAL WOULD HAVE CALLED YOUR PARENTS TO DEMAND THAT THEY COME TO THE SCHOOL IMMEDIATELY. NO MATTER WHO SOCKED WHO - NO ADULT WAS GOING TO SAY IT WAS OK. WE HAD 3 CHURCHES IN TOWN, AND THEY WERE FILLED EVERY SUNDAY, NO ONE WAS UNCHURCHED. WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT DURING THAT TIME WAS NOT THAT IKE WAS UNUSUAL, BUT THAT IKE WAS SO VERY MUCH LIKE NEARLY EVERYONE ELSE IN OUR ORDINARY LIVES. AMERICA NEEDS TO RECOVER THE MORAL ROOTS WHICH PRODUCED WHAT HAS BECOME KNOWN AS THE GREATEST GENERATION, OF WHOM IKE IS A SHINING EXAMPLE.

Wow, What a leader!

Great book, I’m so impressed with the man and disappointed with the lack of historical recognition of Ike’s accomplishment to our history.

I like Ike

A wonderful look at a great man. Well done We need another lesser with those ideals today. A truly great man. Thank you for your service

A President of the UNITED States

We already have a good understanding of our current political situation thanks to excellent investigative reporting. Susan Eisenhower's superb memoir of her grandfather's presidency is what we need to hear now. My generation remembers him as a real, living person, but for the majority of Americans, he is a historical character.

I cannot thank Ms. Eisenhower enough for bringing one of our most thoughtful and capable leaders back into public consciousness. This book is brilliant and essential reading for those who want to know what worked before and how to go forward into the future.

We know where we are. Thank you Ms. Eisenhower for showing us where we need to go.

How Ike led.

Great book. Great general, great president. I wish same of today’s leaders would take lessons from this outstanding man.

very timely in our political age

As the title implies, this is a narrative and analysis of Ike's defining moments of leadership. Great commentary on some of the more controversial moments such as the space race and civil rights. His leadership style is sometimes misunderstood and not appreciated in our era of "perception over results" leadership and politics.

Ike’s selfless leadership, always putting nation above his party and himself

I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of this book and will recommend to our book club.

Wonderful inside info on Eisenhower

Thanks to Susan Eisenhower, we now have record of anecdotes that show us that Eisenhower was a very nice guy as well as a great military leader and president. For example, it’s great to know that in the famous photo of Ike talking to the troops before D-Day, he was talking about his fishing experience in one of the regions that one of the paratroopers was from. Ike deeply cared about individual people as a general and president.

His legacy as president has been underrated. His handling of McCarthy worked despite what critics said. His bipartisanship, although impossible today, worked well for his era when most politicians had the good of the US at heart. His shaping of the Republican Party brought it into the 20th century after twenty years in the background. His civil rights stand created a beachhead for Lyndon Johnson’s policies in the next decade. And, of course, we can’t ever forget his interstate highway system!!

Eisenhower is in the top 5 leaders of the nation’s history. Thanks, Susan Eisenhower, for keeping your grandfather’s legacy alive!

Best book in decades

This book should be a required prerequisite to citizenship, and be required reading especially for anyone seeking public office.

Useful but Idealized

The book provides a good context for understanding Ike’s place in history. Perhaps not surprisingly, the author presents him in an idealized way throughput, So, not necessarily a well-rounded account of this important American.