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>> good evening. i am the president and ceo of the history center. this is a living some lecture made possible through the support of the living 10 -- livingston foundation and we are always single for their support. the next lecture is me 16 will feature james stewart officer of tangled web. i have seen some of the previous of the book and you would be well advised to be here. also joining us for a lecture for eric larson who will be here discussing his new book in the garden of

beast. tonight's lecture is recorded by c-span and check local listings you can see it again. please turn off all cellphones or pagers or any other electronic devices that may disrupt our program or as the delta of airline flight attendant said turn not everything that does not keep you alive. we hof david nichols tonight you will speak with for about 40 minutes then take questions. a leading expert on the eisenhower presidency. he will discuss his new book "eisenhower 1956" the president's year of crisis - suez and the brink of war" which the "christian science monitor" called one of seven history books worth checking out in 2011. author of matter of justice. and linkdin and the indians.

he currently resides in kansas. please join me in welcoming david nichols to our stage. [applause] and. >> thank you. it is an honor to be here with the lovers of history that is always the best audience. first we need to shoot down a nasty rumor that is going around that my publisher simon & schuster stirred up the trouble in the middle east just to sell my book. that is not true. this is also a day when the news tells us once again the author allegedly has been making up stuff. i want you to know this book, excepting commentary and the conclusion, nothing

in it is not rooted in a document or in a compelling circumstantial evidence. "eisenhower 1956" is a new story in so many respects because it is based on hundreds of top secret documents that have been declassified since the suez crisis was published 30 years ago. when i get done with the presentation if you have not read the book, i assume that you have not you think you'll know the story but the book is better than the speech. i guarantee that. [laughter] it is a deeply personal story about the man we call affectionately, like. and a world about this complex man in an hour was a military man but not militaristic and did not think war was a solution to anything but he was slow to pick up the sword.

his public persona, the grandfatherly man with a large smile was his personal invention but behind the scenes u.s. strategic in the tough-minded commander in chief. the people who worked for him never doubted who was in charge. eisenhower was a citizen of the world more than any other president and he had never forgotten where he had come from then when the presidential library is near abilene texas. he was not a professional politician but yet one of the most successful in our history and a supremely protective of the hero's image. i did not hesitate to use the board and its as lightning rods for controversial policies that were the creation of ike. he had a bad temper that exploded like a rocket but that tense moments requiring great decisions he was calm

cool and deliver it. this was a profoundly religious man who had prayers at the beginning of meetings but when the famous temper erupted he could turn the air blue with profanity and did so frequently. above all he saw himself not as a warrior but as a peace maker, and that is what this book is about. tonight come at a time of unrest it is fitting we have the most dangerous international crisis, that it was also in the middle east. in the sale of nail biting drama, number one on september 23rd, 1955 on the golf course in denver colorado. eisenhower had not enjoy a vacation so much. barely better not the president of the united states had cut a huge breakfast that morning golf was the priority for the day

and after a briefing eisenhower headed for the cherry hills country club and his secretary remembered she had never seen him look or act better. his golf game was interrupted four times for phone calls from the secretary of state john foster dulles. this was before cellphones so the irritated and profane ike had to return to the clubhouse for each call only $1 through east that one got through. it was important he said the soviet union had made an arms deal with egypt. ike in new this would open a new chapter of the cold war and they agreed to the president should send a message to the soviet premier. but he told vellis he would

call him the following morning. the phone call was never made. ike would back to golf with his game deteriorated as the day wore on he had discovered and have little appetite for dinner and retired early and in the middle of the night ike appeared by his bedside i have a pain a lowered part of my chest for a he complained earlier about indigestion she gave her husband milk of magnesia. to 54:00 a.m. may be called the president's physician who rushed to the white house. initially the word was put out this was digestive upset when he knew it was a massive heart attack. he waited until midafternoon that day before transporting the president and even then had he walked to his car as

seven calling an ambulance. a few more details of the mismanagement of this situation, read the book. eisenhower was in the hospital for six weeks and in those days with the gold standard for her part attack patients was told address. his doctor would not permit him to read a newspaper, watch a movie or listen to a football game on the radio let alone do serious presidential business. he did not take once step out of his room for one month. this incredibly active man felt like a caged animal pratt the very moment the soviet union attempted to change the balance of power in the middle east eisenhower was out of commission. secretary of state was on his own unable to consult with the president so to bury the myth he ran the foreign policy.

everyone close to both men come the new that ike was in charge. to write eisenhower was out of the white house three and a half months excepting two nights on his way to recuperate in gettysburg. drama number two is that of thought heart patient is so restrictive whether not he should run for a second term in 1956. i am satisfied they he always intended to run in the derozan bill you have to have a second term to be a great president and he wanted to be a great president of the heart attack face the question whether physically he could run. he consul ase discussed successors none of whom had

a snowball's chance in hell to be nominated or elected. the only republican was chief justice earl warren of the supreme court and if you want to know why he put cold water on that option you have to read my other books civil-rights chapter five. [laughter] he shot down every argument against running in convinced himself he would be healthier serving than retiring. he also feared that no one else could prevent a nuclear holocaust. , jr. 1956 eisenhower was informed the nuclear exchange with the soviet union 65% of the american population would be casualties. years later sherman adams said will surely what applies to obama's a day the real reason the president wants to run again because

he doesn't think anybody else can do as good a job as he is doing. after waiting so long that nobody else, so long nobody else could put together a viable candidacy, he announced his candidacy february 29, 1956. drama number three. it is about the ass want dam will -- aswan 56 historians ignore the fact the attempted to resolve the arab-israeli conflict to this day 1956 john foster dulles had publicly

announced the plan code-named alpha for the arab-israeli conflict and read like it was written in 2011 discussing the borders and palestinian refugees in the plan aid to the aswan dam would make peace with israel. like most mideast peace plans it was dead on arrival. was a began to recover eisenhower picked up a to z aswan dam and said united states should make an offer to head off the soviet financing of the aswan dam. in the following months negotiations with the egyptians broke down and he paid little attention to those negotiations and was preoccupied with his health, a decision about

running for a second term of and the campaign. by june 7, 1956, eisenhower appeared to have recovered from his heart attack. that morning he presided over national security council meeting, had another 15 appointments and that evening attended the white house news photographers' dinner staying up until midnight a schedule his doctors would have vetoed earlier. it dropped schneider off at his home and ike went to bed almost immediately. the doctor was removing his close. then the phone rang. schneider reached for it. only the first lady could be calling it such an hour. another languishing medical drama claims sorry to say that you need to read the book. if it turns out he had an instruction in his upper intestine.

13 doctors agonize for hours whether or not to stick a knife in a president who suffered a heart attack eight months earlier. they waited until 2:00 a.m. to operate and the doctor schneider said it would have taken place hours earlier if it would have been mrs. murphy. once again eisenhower was out of commission for weeks. but the middle east, the timing could not have been worse. by the time ike returned to the white house july 15, 1956, john foster dulles decided to remove from the aswan dam because congress was opposed. on july 19, 1956, dulles and a 12 minute meeting, and obtained his consent to a decision to withdraw the

offer of aid to the aswan dam. his recovery from surgery was difficult and had depression and that afternoon dulles and for the egyptian ambassador of the decision that the next day dulles told friends the united states had made a big chess move and now they were in one hell of a spot. one week later after retaliation nasser nationalized the suez canal company. saying he would use the profits to build the aswan dam. the british and french had control of that company for decades. two-thirds of the oil from western europe came through the canal. now it was the united states and its allies power in one

hell of a spot. immediately the british and french prepared to go to war. but eisenhower was adamant war was not justified. said egypt had a right to nationalize it because it was located in egyptian territory. the only question is if they would keep an open to make it function effectively. eisenhower and shook off the effects of his surgery and for three months he and dulles made frantic efforts to keep their british and french talking. remember all the 11 years after world war ii. still shellshocked, the british and french make nasser into another hitler and by late september 1956 eisenhower allies give up on him have and any support for taking on nasser and implemented a program of blatant deception. that the earlier of a

million -- american intelligence did not foresee the nationalization and mr. applauding among the british french and israelis. now the plot come on wednesday, october 24, in a villa outside paris, the french foreign minister, prime minister of israel and the deputy undersecretary of state of great britain, signed a secret protocol providing israeli troops invade the sinai peninsula on october 29. this was a plan. was the israelis and vans in britain and france addition the old man and to israel and egypt to cease fighting and except occupation. if as accepted each a projected, they would have the bombardment of egypt on october 31st.

remember. this is secret. that was not in the newspapers. what was is that the soviet union has sent troops into budapest killing dozens of protesters broke eisenhower knew nothing of the secret meeting in paris. that day the intelligence of pfizer a committee chaired by the cia director that war was not imminent and postpone further room revision of intelligence estimates. the ignore the fbi report the unnamed country was considering military action against nasser. eisenhower campaigning in florida was handed a note as he boarded the plane from richman virginia saying the israeli army had attacked egypt and israel's forces are within 25 miles of the

suez canal. back and the white house and angry and profane eisenhower ordered secretary dallas fire a message to the israelis to tell them we are going to apply sanctions we will do everything there is so we can stop this ike new if the pipeline was destroyed the british and french would attack. he did not know they already planned to do that. if the british intervened it may open a different -- deep rift between us with the election eight days away eisenhower declared he did not care in the slightest whether he was reelected or not. october 30th the british and french implemented the secret plan they have endorsed on the 24th and deliver the 12 hour ultimatum to cease military

operations and withdraw the forces and except occupation of the canal zone the british and french mistakenly assumed that once they acted world war ii allies would bail them out with military equipment. were they wrong. instead and angry eisenhower told an aide those who began the operation should be left to boil in their own oil. that night u.s. security council british and french vetoed the american resolution called for a cease-fire and less than half an hour later the deadline for the ultimatum expired and the largest naval armada since world war ii steamed toward egypt for of the next morning october

31st, eisenhower was heartened by the news that troops have pulled back from budapest hungary and the soviet government had declared its intention to practice non-interference in the internal affairs of the satellite state. and egypt say the airfield imports and communications centers turning meet the rose of aircraft and nasser's troops sold a ship loaded with rocks and cement and to the suez canal. the first of 32 ships. eisenhower concluded he should address the nation that night on a october 31st and dulles exhausted wrote a draft and declared an absolute disaster and late in the afternoon and ordered a new speech be

written minutes before the broadcast to the oval office this speechwriter fed the president was speech at a time. it was short and terse eisenhower revealed taking the unprecedented step of appealing to the united nations general assembly. in nine states was not consulted in any way about any phase of these actions. nor were we informed of them in advance. he pledged there will be no united states involvement one describe thursday november 1st as another day of great tracie san sherman adams called this the worst week eisenhower

experienced in all the years in the white house. that morning the president was besieged with rumors the soviets were planning to deploy eight aircraft on the syrian bases and a ike asked the chairman of the joint chiefs whether the russians may have split some atom bombs to the egyptians. eisenhower cancel all campaign events except for philadelphia that night. in nine whitman recalled the typewriters had to go to complete the speech in time. in philadelphia in convention hall, like nick -- ike expected a rousing campaign speech. instead he launched into by columnist called a high level speech not as a republican party and -- partisan but president of all the country. eisenhower stated that the

nation had pursued a path of honor by standing against the use of force in both hungary and egypt. united states, cannot and will not condone aggression no matter who the attacker attacker, no matter who the victim. we cannot in the world anymore of our own nation subscribe another law for those who oppose or those who are alive with us. there can only be one long or there will be no peace. president concluded we believe the power of modern weapons is preposterous. the only way to win world war iii is to prevent it. eisenhower was completely

drained from four days of unrelenting crisis and drink to scotch before dinner on the train. three highballs afterwards. arriving at union station 12:29 a.m. november 2nd. friday morning eisenhower learned at 4:00 in the morning the general assembly had passed the americans cease-fire resolution by about 64/five with the soviet union boating in favor surprisingly. stevenson candidate was harshly critical part we have alienated our chief and strongest allies. we have alienated israel. and egypt and the arab countries. and in the united nations to remain association now appears to be the soviet union. the very week when the red army is shooting down the

people in poland, he concluded, i doubt to seven -- of ever before has any policy been such a catastrophic failure. ike was not sleeping well. his doctor was concerned his blood pressure was volatile and his day she suffered constant abdominal discomfort and diarrhea. the records are so marvelously detail the. [laughter] one day i told one of the library staff that daily reports on the president's diarrhea was more information that i really wanted or needed. [laughter] late in the night of november 2nd, john foster

ike was rushed to walter reed wire a cancerous tumor was removed from his colon. saturday morning 1/3 the news from the middle east was dismal. the oil pipelines have been blown up through the syrian and egyptian troops pouring into cairo to defend the capital and the anglo-french air strikes had destroyed the egyptian air force on the ground. eisenhower political opponents continued to fears the attack his policy. eleanor roosevelt accused in illustration of favoring the arabs over israel and inserted britain and france were brought to the point* of desperation by american policy. it leaves us in a strange position, she says, of supporting the kremlin and the egyptian dictator against our own allies. six out of eight democratic

members publicly agreed with stevenson and roosevelt that the president's middle east policies have failed. eisenhower made it clear presided over "four years of in decision, and bluster" end quote. that night november 3rd november 3rd, stevenson asserted the president's age and health and the fact he cannot succeed himself make it inevitable the dominant figure in the republican party under a second eisenhower term would be richard nixon. stevenson asked the crowd, do want to place the hydrogen bomb in his hands? on sunday november 4th november 4th, dwight eisenhower confronted the perfect storm. 4:00 a.m., the soviet union ordered 200,000 troops into

hungary, tens of thousands of hungarians died or were wounded that day and eisenhower quickly concluded the united states was in no position to intervene. his allies were tied down with the war in egypt and hungary was not accessible by c and american forces could not respond combined land without violating territories of neutral states. but in the middle east israel now controls both the sinai and gaza strip held by 5,000 e egyptians prisoner. monday november 5th, the british and french paratroopers landed in egypt. and suddenly the leaders of the soviet union put more fuel on the international fire in the premier said messages to the premiers of israel alluding to modern weapons of destruction. we are full of determination

to crush the aggressors to reestablish peace in the middle east by using force. simultaneously he propose to eisenhower that the united states and the soviet union join and mobilize that naval fleet to stop the aggression to terminate further bloodshed. if this war is not stopped stopped, it is fraught with danger and could go into a third world war. eisenhower interpreted the russian proposal as the ultimate in. he 20 line in the middle east stand calling it unthinkable. that was his favorite word, that united states would join forces with the soviets when the general assembly has already ordered a cease-fire. unilateral action by the soviet union eisenhower stated, would be forcefully

opposed by the united states and he ordered the navy's sixth fleet to be placed on alert. this was an election eve. the stresses are taking a toll on the president after a tense meeting ike's doctor founded the heartbeat regular and blood pressure elevated. he lay down but developed a headache. he had only ike of a dish of carrots and a glass of yogurt. the president's agitation was due to what he termed as the ultimatum that was served upon him. ike growled to schneider that if he were a dictator he would tell russia if they move one finger he would drop the entire stock of atomic weapons on them.

tuesday, november 6, election day. he of rose to greater turmoil in the middle east. in a meeting our people should be alert. the presence of russian planes in syria would inevitably triggered british and french attacks on airfields. if that happened, the fact is in the fire. he inquired of the chairman of the director of the joint chiefs whether the new volumes were equipped with atomic anti-submarine weapons. not long after the president laughed lourdes gettysburg it was recalled the news from the middle east looked so bad that one point* this staff contemplated asking the president to turnaround to come back to the white house. rumors were rampant with the soviet intervention and some of the bad news came directly from moscow.

the american ambassador cable the soviet move had become more ominous and then he feared soviet leaders need to be prepared to take military action unless the cease-fire was quickly chief. his staff hastened the president's return by flying him back a set of having him drive. he arrived at the white house 1238 pm. following a short briefing where 18 men were waiting the vice president defense department including the joint chiefs this was a council of war the admiral brief the president of the steps and were prepared to do take over a major war. eisenhower review each step

urging careful and deliberate implementation. then the sun broke from behind. the president was informed in the middle of the meeting the british prime minister was available by phone. eisenhower interrupted the meeting to take a call. he confirmed -- conferred there's a cease-fire ordered in egypt. it is much more detail but i am presenting it was very tense with a resentful even. asking if british compliance would be without condition and he growled provided we are not attacked, eisenhower have foreseen what gains but insisted the british technical troops it would have consisted of the defacto occupational

britisher french troops serving in the proposed peacekeeping force. and even asking about foster dulles and the election. ike replied we have given our whole sought to hungary and the middle east. i don't give a how the election goes. he knew the piece was still fragile and he ordered the implementation of most of the ready missteps discussed and that night the joint chief put the pacific fleet's on battle ready alert and deploying additional ships for tactical resources in place every year troop carrier wings on the 12 hour alert. then the party travel to the

hotel in washington where a suite was reserved to watch the election returns. as you know, the president one the election by a huge margin. but ike did not go down to address his supporters in tow 14 dm -- 148 and because it stevenson tweeted until then to make his concession speech. and approximately 2:00 a.m. washington time the fighting ended in the middle east. prevent -- and epilogue eisenhower continued to be a long concerned of the soviet intervention because british french and israelis declined to withdraw the forces. eisenhower adamantly you

refuse to provide support to the bankrupt allies and the virtually bankrupt because there was a run on the pound and british finances were in terrible shape. he refused to provide support the allies were facing a cold winter he would give them nothing into a publicly committed themselves to withdraw all. it got so intense that in paris cabdrivers refuse to pick up americans than gas stations declined to sell them fuel. it took one month to get the commitment and another month for withdrawal. israeli withdrawal took even longer. another story. the israelis evacuated the sinai but refuse to leave the gaza strip and continue to occupy those two spots. after former presidential pressure israeli government

announced its intention of withdrawal because politically it is a hot potato. with the eisenhower doctrine, and a four hour meeting with congressional leaders, who else but july eisenhower 10:40 hour meeting with congressional leaders on new year's day? eisenhower presented resolutions endorsing military and economic aid to the middle east and if necessary military intervention by the united states. the house passes the resolution on january 30th the same day created said king before the cameras in a state visit for about the keying insisted the president come to the airport to greet him ike hasn't done that with any other leader but saudi oil

had a price and he finally agreed to go and now crumpled now he supposed to have to read everybody at the airport in the future. once they agreed to withdraw all that pass the senate on march 5th. in a breathtaking with speech eisenhower persuaded congress to dramatically reorient american policy toward the middle east. the eisenhower doctrine permitted the nine states to replace the british as including oil resources with the will ease. as obama has experience the past two weeks, that obligation is the cornerstone of american policy. thank you. [applause] >> please use the microphone for your questions.

>> no such thing as a dumb question. >> that was a great talk. thank you very much. i have a question. if the obama administration, did they contact you about their involvement with libya ed did you find some similarity with how he dealt with libya and comparison with the suez canal? >> no. i am meeting with former senator tomorrow in washington d.c. who i am told bought 27 copies of the

book and gave one to the president, vice president and secretary of defense and i have not talked with the senator yet but my suspicion is he is a little uncertain the intervention in libya is a good thing. it is tricky we have to be careful attain the historic figure applying to the situation 60 years later but there are principles the way he approached things that are worthy of consideration. eisenhower did not like what he called brushfire wars ended the one in korea and refuse to go into china, refuse to go into egypt. he did not do it. he disliked very much marginal interventions be leaning, colin powell gets the credit for the doctrine of overwhelming force and think general powell to remind us dwight eisenhower talked about that all the time but anyway that day

understood very well as they spin out of control. and it appears to be that way. i know the president would want to talk with me about that or not. i am concerned it is becoming a stalemate. not only in a lot of -- unilateral quagmire or multilateral quagmire as well. >> what was richard nixon's role if 108? >> there's a lot of mythology about nixon and eisenhower. not to get too involved of the eisenhower presidency has been distorted shamefully because people didn't do research. one of these relationships i

am sure eisenhower would not have kept nixon if he did not want him. she did not abide people. that is not trooper is ecap that as an option. [laughter] but today dr. schneider did but nixon basically was the political circuit. when eisenhower quick to cut campaigning, nixon went out to substitute and took on adelaide stevenson and also provided support in congress i haven't looked carefully from eight eisenhowers doctrine passage but i am sure he was deeply involved behind-the-scenes but a political operative and a very skilled one. the way nixon of the

presidency, people forget what else he did. >> was the fact of the this affects on nasser? >> eisenhower save nasser if she decided to join with the allies he would have been toast. what you would have done after that is interesting to speculate but no question, remember in those days arab nationalist were considered pretty progressive getting rid of royal throne sing colonial powers so they were pretty progressive but nasser stays in power and followed by some thought followed bayou know who? the barack. he was 28 year-old officer

already on the rise at the time of the suez crisis. eisenhower policy, a sound very you grow eisenhower but all of the unintended consequences but those policies open the door for the strong man to ruin the middle east of the same time it would not be fair to hang that around eisenhower's neck but nevertheless and personally i have the op ed i am trying to print at the moment but my prediction is the military is not done in egypt. they have been in charge for 60 years old be surprised if we don't have either a military officer who is the next president of egypt. >> aside from the fact there

different parties but what was eisenhower's relationship? >> i do not pretend to be an expert although it always forget the author's name harry and ike is the title of the book but i tell people i am old and remembering people's names has died. [laughter] it was not an easy relationship. having said that choosing eisenhower to head nato we now know through his diary he attempted to displace to run for president on the democratic ticket. how serious that was read now know that is in the truman diaries. on the other hand, there is a great chance for 1953 at the inauguration, eisenhower

did not get out of the car to go to the white house and harry was very offended by that. it was not an easy relationship although the book says they reconciled years later quite a bit but it was fairly tense partly because truman later in the oral history alleged ike wanted to come back and mary his driver in europe and divorce mamie eisenhower and had written george marshall about that and truman had taken those letters from the state department and destroy those. one scholar i know thinks truman made that up. i am not qualified i am not an expert. i am sorry. >> i heard said docked had made a statement years later

that nasser told him because we did not back our allies united states could not be trusted so they became allies with the soviets. is that true? >> i cannot dispute that. i know a lot about a little and a lot about what i talk to about. i could not dispute that. i think there is still work to be done on the evolution of things with the tendency of the diplomatic historians has been to assume that eisenhower did -- doctrine to assume they were failures in being allies with the soviets i am not sure nasser was ever, it is true they did help but i am not sure if they ever became what you could call both sides

against the middle that you could take that statement look at it two or three different ways. certainly the allies did not think they could be trusted. i am just not qualified to answer. >> i think if i know my history correctly, the role of israel after world war ii was the implementation of the belfour treaty or agreement, what was eisenhower's view of the reluctance of israel to withdraw? >> you're not asking about the creation of israel? >> no. when he was president and they were going through how israel takes over the

territories that were not involved in the agreement, what was his feeling about that? >> if you talk about the balfour agreement i only know about the suez situation i am not qualified to speak about the rest of it to. but he certainly put enormous pressure on israel to withdraw after the suez crisis. he appealed to the congress on february 20, 1957 for support for that and congress turned him down. he turned around at night and went to the people with a televised address and behind-the-scenes according to his memoirs, he threatened to cut off private contributions from american jews to israel which at that time was really major. whether he could have done that, i don't know, but it

turns the politics of the united states. eisenhower took extraordinary steps to oppose israel's policies. the earlier stuff, i am not as good. in terms of the creation of this stage generally truman recognized the state may 1948 as part of his presidential campaign and that was supposed by george marshall who was his secretary of state. i think circumstances show that eisenhower agreed with marshall certainly in the state department and lloyd 10 percent is a graduate of my school as a great diplomat who really believed that the recognition and creation of the state of israel lead to endless

turmoil in the middle east. but doesn't mean you cannot support that because there is a dramatic story from the state of israel. but the weeds are mixed in the flour spry wish i could answer you. >> did the hungarians expect the americans to come to their aid in 1956? >> there is evidence and they did between the refugees all the united states did was make a provision i forget the numbers now for the refugees to come to this country. there is great criticism of eisenhower before that. when he was clear headed it could not be done. back to the earlier

question, eisenhower who did not believe on taking on the task who couldn't be completed successful, he regretted it deeply but made the decision you have to go back to world war two's to have mythology of what happened that without the soviet union and world war ii, a case could be made the war would have come out very differently. the soviet union suffered 35 million casualties on the eastern front. and the united states did not land until 1944. britain and france were not available to help. and was roundly criticized that my book does not do justice to that particular subject. >> would you address the eisenhower and vietnam's situation?

>> i sound like an open record because i know a lot about a little. i do know about that. clearly made a decision not to intervene in 1954 and had a number of advisers who wanted him to do it. he was surrounded by a number of people who thought he should do it but came back the next day and said i will not said one soldier to die in the rice paddies and he did not. having said that, eisenhower left a mess in vietnam. of the geneva convention of 1954, i used to teach a course on this, calling for unifying elections in

vietnam. those never took place because united states supported the creation of the separate country in south vietnam's although it wasn't a separate country and never was. so eisenhowers policies of the visor open to a lot of questions. i haven't 10 detailed research but clearly a typical eisenhower not to intervene militarily. he believed putting ground troops in asia and i would submit the american experience validates the judgment. anybody else? one more question. >> along the same lines, eisenhower was involved in the bay of pigs

and that crisis arose soon after his presidency ended over the kennedy administration and his decision to be involved with the freedom fighters of cuba it sounds and consistent with everything you have said about eisenhower's reluctance to engage in a brushfire wars. >> bay of pigs is a matter of controversy right now. i cannot resolve it but historians are working on it. the historians have attempted to deify a jfk, i have a sun named john kennedy. i really like him in so many ways but the historians who are biased toward him have tried to argue that

eisenhower set this up and kennedy carried it out. i am convinced and one installer sino is convinced eisenhower never would have done it the way kennedy did. he would have withdrawn the support even that plan did not look like the eisenhower intervention. more like lebanon 1958 when he landed 14,000 troops. he believed in overwhelming force. he was open to covert action. he was not an angel when it came to the covert action but it was a strange phenomenon. the cia if they knew the contingency plans they were around some in the new

president came in there is every officer does after eight years there quite a few people who were anxious to have a president who would do something different and one of the arguments was about limited war because eisenhower said they were dangerous. she thought they could lead to the holocaust. where maxwell taylor who is the head of the joint chiefs of staff for the head of the army believed in limited war and the argument was the only kind of for you could fight was the limited one. i cannot conceive of eisenhower and that operation but that doesn't mean