Book Reviews : The President is Calling. By MILTON S. EISENHOWER. (Garden City, New York, Doubleday and Company, Inc. 1974. Pp. xxiii, 598. $12.50.)

• Author: Roy V. Peel
• Published date: 01 March 1975
• Date: 01 March 1975
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591297502800125
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.
• Subject Matter: Articles

219

readability,

content,

and

insight.

But

neither

is

a

total

picture

of

the

legislative

process.

Indeed,

one

could

well

conclude

they

are

atypical.

Nonetheless,

they

are

enjoyable

reading,

one

more

than

the

other

to

be

sure,

and

should

receive

wide-

spread

use.

California

State

University,

Chico

ROBERT

S.

ROSS

The

President

is

Calling.

By

MILTON

S.

EISENHOWER.

(Garden

City,

New

York,

Doubleday

and

Company,

Inc.

1974.

Pp.

xxiii,

598.

$12.50.)

Anyone

who

has

lived

in

America

during

the

past

forty

years

will

known

about

Milton

Eisenhower,

brother

of

the

most

renowned

General

of

modern

times,

and

two-term

President.

They

may

be

surprised

to

learn

that

he

has

been

a

trusted

advisor

of

eight

Presidents

beginning

with

President

Coolidge.

Those

now

living

will,

of

course,

know

that

he

was

close

to

his

esteemed

brother,

General

Dwight

D.

Eisenhower.

They

may

even

know

that

Milton

was

a

trusted

counselor

to

his

brother

and

the

three

Presidents

who

followed

him

after

1960

-

but

not

that

he

was

so

active

at

an

early

age.

This

book

is

partly

a

memoir.

Naturally,

there

is

little

new

that

Milton

can

tell

us

about

the

Kansas

Eisenhower

family

or

the

brothers.

But

one

is

startled

by

Milton’s

expression

of

admiration

for

Woodrow

Wilson.

And

also

the

news

that

Eisenhower

Senior

could

read

the

New

Testament

in

Greek!

In

the

chapters

of

President

Hoover,

it

is

interesting

to

note

that

this

President

upheld

the

right

and

obligation

of

a

civil

servant

to

be

objective

and

nonpartisan.

Historians

usually

pass

by

President

Roosevelt’s

use

of

Milton

Eisenhower

in

handling

the

thorny

question

of

putting

the

Japanese

of

the

West

Coast

into

&dquo;assembly

centers.&dquo;

Aware

of

the

inevitable

criticism

of

a

President

who

seeks

and

wins

election

four

times,

Dr.

Eisenhower,

in

his

final

comment

at

a

memorial

service

said:

&dquo;History ...

will

determine

that

Franklin

Delano

Roosevelt

was

the

greatest

world

leader

our

nation

had

produced.&dquo;

Dr.

Eisenhower

carried

out

only

one

assignment

for

Kennedy,

one

that

worked

out

poorly.

He

found

some

merit

in

the

young

President,

also

a

baflling

complexity

-

but

his

final

judgment

was

unfavorable.

He

carried

out

seveal

assignments

for

President

Johnson,

the

most

important

and

last

being

acting

as

Chairman

of

the

Violence

Commission

(NCCPV).

With

the

help

of

extremely

able

associates,

the

valuable

report

on

all

aspects

of

crime,

disorder,

and

justice

was

tentatively

sub-

mitted

to

President

Johnson,

and,

in

final

form

to

President

Nixon

in

1969.

Most

rational

commentators

thought

the

report

a

splendid

piece

of

work-but

some

re-

gretted

that

it

was

ignored

by

the

public

and

Congress.

Although

Dr.

Eisenhower

had

few

calls

to

help

Richard

Nixon

until

late

in

the

latter’s

first

term,

he

liked

Nixon

and

his

family.

The

book

was

completed

before

the

full

story

of

Watergate

was

known.

But

enough

was

known

when

the

author

finished,

for

him

to

grieve

bitterly

over

Nixon’s

errors.

The

man,

he

wrote,

&dquo;was

his

own

worst

enemy.&dquo;