Ike's Bluff

Event Details

The Gordon and Mary Beth Smyth Forum on American History

Upon assuming the presidency in 1953, Dwight Eisenhower came to be seen by many as a doddering lightweight. Yet, behind the bland smile and apparent simplemindedness was a brilliant, intellectual tactician. As author and former Newsweek editor, Evan Thomas reveals in his provocative examination of Ike's White House years, Eisenhower was a master of calculated duplicity. Facing the Soviet Union, China, and his own generals, some of whom believed a first strike was the only means of survival, Eisenhower would make his boldest and riskiest bet yet, one of such enormity that there could be but two outcomes: the survival of the world or its end. A book signing will follow his Forum.