You may be interested in why scholars write books about particular people. Under Eisenhower, that kept the peace for eight years. Under Ike, the United States would not go to war unless national survival-not national security-was at stake, and if it did so it would be with nuclear weapons. In Ike’s case, he totally dismissed the idea of limited war, which he thought was a contradiction in terms. Much to the consternation of Sherman and Sheridan, Grant made peace with the Indians on the Great Plains, resolved long-standing differences with Great Britain, and twice rejected demands for war with Spain over Cuba. Like Grant’s total victory in the Civil War that eradicated slavery, Ike’s victory in World War II made it possible for a new Germany to join the family of nations with absolutely no longing or nostalgia for Hitler or the Nazi past.īoth Grant and Ike hated war. That of course is hindsight, but conceding that it may be correct, let me suggest that the additional eight months of the war-with all of the destruction and loss of life it entailed-made it absolutely clear to the Germans that the Nazis had lost the war. That the broad-front strategy that Ike followed added another six or eight months to the war. Many military historians argue that after the fall of Paris in the summer of 1944 the Allies could have driven straight to Berlin with a single thrust and the Germans could not have stopped them. It had to be long, he told Bismarck, and the South had to be totally defeated otherwise the United States could never have ended slavery. One afternoon over coffee Bismarck commiserated with Grant about the Civil War-brother against brother-and regretted that it was so long. He spent two weeks in Berlin and got along famously with Chancellor Bismarck. Everywhere he went he was given a royal welcome and received by heads of state and adoring crowds. After Grant left the presidency he undertook a two-year world tour. In Grant’s case, the war involved the total destruction of the Confederate army. The point of this is that both Grant and Eisenhower had seen war at its most extreme, and both were determined to prevent it from recurring. And when Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt to seize the Suez Canal in 1956, Eisenhower forced them to withdraw. Eisenhower twice resisted calls from the members of the National Security Council and the joint chiefs to use nuclear weapons, once to relieve the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu and once to defend Formosa. After he made peace in Korea in 1953, not one American soldier died in combat for the next eight years. The fact that Lee never won a battle after Grant came East in early 1864 is rarely mentioned. Lee became the hero for lost cause historians. Grant’s generalship was also disparaged, and Robert E. We lived in a world of segregation and “separate but equal,” and Grant suffered accordingly. But for the next three generations that view of racial equality was rejected. So long as Grant was president, the United States Army remained in the South and the rights of former slaves were protected. “Grant was the last of the radicals,” Frederick Douglass once said, and he genuinely believed in equality for African-Americans. In Grant’s case, his fall from grace traces to the return of white supremacy after Reconstruction. They also suffered significant erosions in their reputations in the years following, and are now experiencing a renewed appreciation. They were both professional soldiers, were educated at West Point, commanded victorious armies in wars of unprecedented magnitude, were elected and reelected president with overwhelming majorities, and left office at the height of their popularity. Having written about both, let me suggest there are many parallels. I notice that you will also be looking at Eisenhower. This is about military conflict, and it is always a great tragedy for everyone involved. This is not the Super Bowl, or the World Series, or an NCAA basketball tournament. One cannot talk about great military commanders out of context. War is a terrible thing, and it should not be romanticized. Let me begin, however, by offering a word of caution. It is a pleasure to speak at the conference on “The Great Captains in American History,” and to talk about General Grant.
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