I figured I'd finish off my reading of Eisenhower by reading some of his own writing. This title sounded like something light and fun, but really it's just an autobiography of his childhood, his military career, and his career in academia. It ends right as he decides to run for president.
This is pretty straightforward...by which I mean, kinda dull. He gives off square 1950 vibes for sure and while I'm sure he's factual, he's not very lively about any of it. I was mildly bored and dredged through this for months, basically. It's not badly written, but a solid three star review here of "not gonna remember this once I'm done" either.
"I had reread Grant's memoirs, which I had always admired because of their simplicity and lack of pretension." This sounds about the same here, except I think Eisenhower possibly put more interesting bits in other books he wrote. I try to bookmark interesting bits while reading to mention in a review, but this one, well, I didn't have that many bookmarks and some of them, when I pulled them, made me think, "What the heck did I think might have been interesting here?"
Notable:
"The most dramatic difference between high schools of today and those of my time is probably not in the curriculum but in the life expectancy of the students. Then, except for the common cold and chillblains, any illness might easily be fatal." He notes that he nearly lost a limb from skinning a knee.
I did read his version of the "Mamie drives to visit him" story from a previous book. "She wanted the whole road to herself and I must say she needed it."
Dwight (a heavy chainsmoker, apparently) went to England and wasn't allowed to smoke until after the toast to the King had been drunk. Oops-ness ensued, and he apologized and then said, "Last night was the end of my attendance at formal dinners in London" over it. A few days later he refused to go to a formal dinner, and then the inviter (one infamous Louis Mountbatten) said not to worry about the smoking thing and come. Mountbatten did a quickie toast and then said, "General, smoke all you want."
I like how it's mentioned that George Allen got a commemorative tablet put up at his home, saying:
"N.O.N. Historical Society. At this spot on February 29, 1776 Absolutely Nothing Happened."
Dwight was so addicted to editing and changing things on documents that he had to have them triple spaced and wide margins for extra room and he frequently couldn't read his own notes.
When going to work at Columbia University, he tried to get into his office on a weekend and the campus policeman wouldn't let him in. "When I added that my name was Eisenhower, his countenance and firm stand against my entrance changed not an iota. Nor did it when I assured him that I was President of the University." Finally another policeman came along and vouched for him. He had a similar experience later on while trying to go look around the fine arts department.
I like that Dwight mentions that he paints, but he considered his paintings "daubs" rather than paintings, and clearly he didn't like how most of his portraits came out because he destroyed more of them than he kept.
"At one point I attended a dinner where there were three previous speakers. Each had gone on at considerable length and as the evening threatened to become morning, I decided to set aside my own text. When the time came to speak, I stood up, said that every speech, written or otherwise, had to have punctuation, "Tonight, I am the punctuation--the period," and sat down. It was one of my most popular addresses."
Three stars. Okay but not memorable.
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