Eisenhower at Columbia

Rating:
Summary: Delightful honest account of Ike's successes & failures
Review: General Eisenhower's five year tour of duty as president of Columbia is told with great gusto and just the right amount of detail by historian Travis Jacobs. It's jammed with stories that make it fun to read from beginning to end. Plus you really get a sense of history about this nationally renown university. It starts with Murray Butler's 44 year reign--old, blind, and deaf--and the desparate search for a new dynamic replacement.

Was Ike anti-intellectual and anti-academic? Here you see both sides: He refused to honor John Dewey at a 1949 banquet; He was found sitting at his clean desk one day reading a Western novel; yet he spoke eloquently before a history class about the military books that influenced his decisions in Europe during WW2; he made surprise appearances in classes, including an economics course, although he was clearly more fond of Baker Field and the football games.

Critics said he vacationed too much, played too much golf and bridge with his buddies, made too many off-campus appearances, and was seldom available to Columbia professors and administrators. But some of that was due to his staff handlers, who shielded him from his Columbia colleagues. Jacobs tells a delightful story of how history professor Robert Livingston Schuyler got around his handlers and met up with the General on his way home for lunch (pp. 125-26).

After reading Jacobs' biography, I'm amazed how much Eisenhower accomplished, given his constant interruptions--trips to Washington, NATO leader, and running for President in 1952. Yet he gave a lot of good publicity to Columbia, which was hurting financially after the war, and got involved in many university projects (although he hated fundraising).

Jacobs is even handed in reporting on Ike's supporters and detractors. His conclusion is that Ike was ultimately good for Columbia, and Columbia good for Ike even into his presidency; a surprise ending. My only complaint is that you learn very little about his wife Mamie in the book. She's around, but you never know what she's thinking. Otherwise, a mighty enjoyable reading of a little-remembered part of Eisenhower's career.