Europe was now divided between the member states of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, while Austria, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland remained neutral.

Yet his vanity was common knowledge. He installed a fifteen-foot-high mirror behind his chair to heighten his image, and often sat at his desk wearing a Japanese ceremonial kimono.

diffidence

It was clear to both that the Führer had lost touch with reality.

Writing about Dien Bien Phu years later, Eisenhower said that he had been moved by public opinion, which was clearly opposed to American intervention, but that this factor was not decisive. Far more serious were the consequences that would have resulted from sending the American Army into Vietnam. “The presence of ever more numbers of white men in

Eisenhower’s preoccupation with political issues served the military cause poorly.

Never in the postwar era was American prestige higher than in the aftermath of Suez. Small nations could scarcely believe the United States would support Egypt, a Third World country, in a fight against two of America’s oldest allies, or that it would come to the aid of a Muslim state resisting Israeli aggression.

Ike was also not the best golfer to occupy the White House. That distinction goes to John F. Kennedy, who was obsessively secretive about his love for the game.

Once a month Eisenhower would host a stag dinner for sixteen or so guests, bringing together men from various professions whom he had read about and wanted to meet. Dress was usually black tie, and the conversation was free-flowing. “I used these dinners to try to draw from leaders in various sections of American life their views on many domestic