Ike's Spies

Eisenhower and the Espionage Establishment

This classic Cold War-era history looks at the way President Dwight Eisenhower managed America’s secret operations as general and as commander in chief and is based on privileged access to the president and his private papers—from bestselling historian Stephen E. Ambrose.
 
During his time in office, Eisenhower projected the image of a genial bureaucrat, but behind that public face, he ran the most efficient espionage establishment in the world, overseeing assassination plots, the growth of the CIA, and the overthrow of governments. This book gives a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most ambitious secret operations in American history, including the 1954 overthrow of  Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán’s government of Guatemala; Operation AJAX, which toppled Iran’s Mossadegh; and the U-2 flights over Russia. Some of Ike’s most conspicuous intelligence missteps are also discussed, including the failure to predict the German attack during the Battle of the Bulge and the tragic encouragement of freedom fighters in Hungary, Indonesia, and Cuba. Ike’s Spies is indispensible to anyone interested in the development of America’s Cold War spy operations.
Stephen E. Ambrose was the author or coauthor of more than 30 books on military affairs and foreign policy. Early in his career he was an associate editor of the Eisenhower papers, and he later went on to publish the definitive three-part biography of Eisenhower, as well as many bestselling books of military history, including Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage. He died in 2002. View titles by Stephen E. Ambrose

About

This classic Cold War-era history looks at the way President Dwight Eisenhower managed America’s secret operations as general and as commander in chief and is based on privileged access to the president and his private papers—from bestselling historian Stephen E. Ambrose.
 
During his time in office, Eisenhower projected the image of a genial bureaucrat, but behind that public face, he ran the most efficient espionage establishment in the world, overseeing assassination plots, the growth of the CIA, and the overthrow of governments. This book gives a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most ambitious secret operations in American history, including the 1954 overthrow of  Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán’s government of Guatemala; Operation AJAX, which toppled Iran’s Mossadegh; and the U-2 flights over Russia. Some of Ike’s most conspicuous intelligence missteps are also discussed, including the failure to predict the German attack during the Battle of the Bulge and the tragic encouragement of freedom fighters in Hungary, Indonesia, and Cuba. Ike’s Spies is indispensible to anyone interested in the development of America’s Cold War spy operations.

Author

Stephen E. Ambrose was the author or coauthor of more than 30 books on military affairs and foreign policy. Early in his career he was an associate editor of the Eisenhower papers, and he later went on to publish the definitive three-part biography of Eisenhower, as well as many bestselling books of military history, including Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage. He died in 2002. View titles by Stephen E. Ambrose

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