Grant and Ike

Graeme Wood forwarded the following little review of Eisenhower’s memoirs, which includes a brief reference to Grant’s.

There are some obvious similarities between the two men: both humble Midwesterners without intense careerist ambitions, who rose swiftly to the top during wartime through sheer force of competence, and later became two-term Presidents of the USA. Both also had far more moderate views on the use of American power than many of the hotheads surrounding them.

I’ve always sort of liked Ike too. But lately I’ve been reading a Kennedy biography off and on, and Kennedy viewed Ike with utter contempt, which means that the less flattering side of Eisenhower is talked about by Kennedy a lot. Eisenhower probably did a lot to control the worst aspects of early Cold War militarism (he was of a fairly reasonable temperament), but it’s also scary to read about the “Wagnerian” nuclear war plans of his Administration, which included indiscriminate massive nuclear strikes on all of Russia, China, and Eastern Europe. Kennedy’s people cut back on that in a hurry, thank God.

Why Ike is underrated: the book
via The Best Defense by Thomas E. Ricks on 1/14/10

I’d never read General Eisenhower’s memoir of World War II, Crusade in Europe, partly because no one ever recommended it to me. So I was impressed when I began studying it over the Christmas break. The first half reminded me frequently of Grant’s memoirs, especially the similarly straightforward prose, and I think also the modest career expectations. I liked it, and wondered why no one ever steered me toward it.

Then I got to the second half of the book, around the time of D Day. From then on, I found it much less honest and a whole lot more evasive. Huertgen Forest? A little unpleasantness, nothing to see here. General Montgomery? A fine chap, a little headstrong. The prose also went mushy. This extended softshoe routine, I thought, is why this book is all but forgotten.

Even so, I found the first 200 pages enjoyable and illuminating.

The Hürtgen Forest, incidentally, is the site of the longest single battle in U.S. military history (that must not count sieges, because I can think of some longer sieges such as Petersburg, Virginia)– a five-month disaster for the Americans at the hands of German Field Marshal Walter Model. The forest is located along the German/Belgian border.