He went off to war an unknown soldier and returned a beloved national hero. Often dismissed as a "do-nothing" president and a good-natured bumbler, Dwight D. Eisenhower -- the last American president to be born in the 19th century -- was actually a skillful politician, a tough Cold War warrior, and one of America's most misunderstood and unappreciated presidents.
Eisenhower Library & Museum
http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/ Visit the Web site of the Eisenhower library, and see a collection of exhibits, speeches, quotes, audio recordings, and links to information about the library's holdings and related Web sites.
American Experience: Battle of the Bulge
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bulge This site provides harrowing details about the WWII battle that was the single biggest and bloodiest American soldiers ever fought.
American Experience: D-Day
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/ A pivotal turning point in history and the most dramatic single event in World War II, this is the story of the "battle of the world."
American Experience: Fly Girls
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls During World War II, more than a thousand American women signed up to fly for the military. This is their story.
American Experience: America and the Holocaust
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/ Complex social and political factors shaped America's response to the Holocaust, from "Kristallnacht" in 1938 through the liberation of the death camps in 1945.
American Experience: Race for the Superbomb
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/index.html At the dawn of the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union raced to build the world's most powerful bomb. Access maps, a timeline, a virtual tour of a secret government bunker, film footage of nuclear blasts, and comparisons of U.S. and Soviet nuclear stockpiles and tests. Then take a 1953 quiz to see how "panic-proof" you are.
The Literature and Culture of the 1950s
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/home.html Produced by University of Pennsylvania English professor Al Filreis, this site is a searchable, annotated list of links to literary and cultural materials produced during -- or related to -- the American 1950s.
Cold War Hot Links
http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/dprice/cold.war.htm A collection of interesting primary and secondary sources regarding the Cold War.
Soviet Archives Exhibit (Cold War)
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/entrance.html This site gives a guided tour through the exhibit in two parts, "Internal Workings of the Soviet System" and "The Soviet Union and the United States." Includes images of many documents as well as translations.
National Civil Rights Museum
http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org This site contains a virtual tour of the civil rights movement as well as information on upcoming exhibits and events at the museum.
Adams, Sherman. Firsthand Report: the Story of the Eisenhower Administration. New York: Harper, 1961.
Allen, Peter. Origins of World War II. New York: Bookwright Press, 1992.
Geared to students, this is a useful overview of the events and people involved in the beginnings of World War II, including many illustrations, maps and photographs, a timeline, and biographical sketches of the major figures of the time.
Ambrose, Stephen. Eisenhower. Vol. I: Soldier, General of the Army, President Elect, 1890-1952. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.
Based on 20 years of research, this definitive biography in two volumes led to a reassessment of Ike as president.
----. Eisenhower. Vol. II: The President. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984.
Beschloss, Michael. Mayday: Eisenhower, Krushchev, and the U2 Affair. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
Brendon, Piers. Ike: His Life and Times. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
Burk, Robert F. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Hero and Politician. Twayne Publishers, A Division of G.K. Hall & Co., 1986.
----. The Eisenhower Administration and Black Civil Rights. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. The Declassified Eisenhower: A Divided Legacy of Peace and Political Warfare. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.
David, Lester. Ike and Mamie: The Story of the General and His Lady. New York: Putnam, 1981.
Based on hundreds of interviews, this is a highly readable and revealing account of the Eisenhowers' long and successful marriage. Includes photographs.
Donovan, Robert. Confidential Secretary: Ann Whitman's 20 Years with Eisenhower and Rockefeller. New York: Dutton, 1988.
Eisenhower, David. Eisenhower at War: 1943-1945. New York: Random House, 1986.
Eisenhower, Dwight David. At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967.
A collection of stories and anecdotes told by Eisenhower himself about various times in his life, from his boyhood through his two terms as president.
---- Crusade in Europe. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1948.
A first-person military history of how the Allies conducted World War II. Includes battle maps and a glossary of military terms.
----. Letters to Mamie. Edited and with commentary, by John S.D. Eisenhower. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978.
Edited by their son John, this is a collection of over 300 letters Eisenhower wrote to his wife, Mamie, during his time as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II.
----. The White House Years. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1963-65.
A two-volume account in the president's own words of his two terms in the White House. Eisenhower offers information about his political campaigns, his health, his attempts to contain communism and much more. Includes many photographs.
Eisenhower, Susan. Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996.
A lively account of the life of Eisenhower's first lady.
Ewald, William Bragg. Eisenhower the President: Crucial Days, 1951-1960. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981.
Ferrell, Robert H., ed.. The Eisenhower Diaries. W.W. Norton & Company, 1981.
Edited extracts from Eisenhower's own diaries, which he kept from 1935 through his retirement. Included are useful commentaries by the editor and many photographs.
Greenstein, Fred. The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader. New York: Basic Books, 1982.
Hughes, Emmet. The Ordeal of Power: A Political Memoir of the Eisenhower Years. New York: Atheneum, 1963.
Larson, Arthur. The President Nobody Knew. New York: Scribner, 1968.
May, Elaine Tyler. Pushing the Limits: American Women 1940-1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Written for young adults, this is part of "The Young Oxford History of Women in the United States" series. It examines the role of women during World War II and in the post-war years; includes photos and a bibliography.
McKissack, Patricia and Floyd McKissack. The Civil Rights Movement in America from 1865 to the Present. 2nd ed. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1987.
Written for young readers, this is a history of the American civil rights movement.
Morgan, Kay Summersby. Past Forgetting: My Love Affair with Dwight D. Eisenhower. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976.
Pogue, Forrest. The Supreme Command. Washington: Office of Military History, Department of the Army, 1954.
Sandberg, Peter Lars. World Leaders Past and Present: Eisenhower. Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
Wexler, Sanford. The Civil Rights Movement; An Eyewitness History. Facts on File, 1993.
Speeches, articles and writings of those involved which trace the history of the civil rights movement, primarily from 1954 to 1965.
America's Robin Hood who robbed not only the rich but the poor and defenseless as well, always saving the treasure for himself. Part of the Wild West collection.
The Chiricahua Apache medicine man and warrior who refused to accept white man's 'civilization.' Part of The Wild West collection.
A great playwright's turbulent story, from childhood through the years of his Nobel Prize-winning career to his lonely, painful death.
The bizarre saga of the Symbionese Liberation Army and Patty Hearst's kidnapping and conversion to her captors' cause.
How five abolitionist allies turned a despised fringe movement against chattel slavery into a force that literally changed the nation.
During the defining months of the offensive against Germany, American forces faced a moral and strategic dilemma.
The story of the dramatic post-World War II tribunal that brought Nazi leaders to justice and defines trial procedure for state criminals to this day.
"The Wizard of Menlo Park," Inventor Thomas Edison, built the first practical light bulb and revolutionized the world.
