Sublime

“His reliance on the staff system stopped at the deciding line. His grasp of complex issues was profound, and his exposition of his own views was forceful and clear.” The mythical Eisenhower, who left decision making to subordinates, whose mind was “lazy” and who was not very bright, cannot be found in the minutes of the National Security Council,

Taylor was soon off the reservation, arguing that the United States should abandon massive retaliation and the New Look in favor of what he called Flexible Response. Much to Eisenhower’s consternation, Taylor argued that a future war between the United States and the Soviet Union could be fought with conventional weapons.

THE ARAB BATTLE TO destroy Israel was far from over. Having lost on the battlefield, Israel’s enemies took their campaign elsewhere. For years, the Palestinians had also been engaged in a diplomatic assault on Israel. Now, European countries, intimidated by the Arab oil embargo, kowtowed to Arab and Palestinian pressure, enabling that diplomatic as

We should favor those who seek peace over those who have shown a preference for war. We should favor those who are not seeking to destroy a U.N. member state over those who are.

When our discussion turned to the sorry state of the economy and politics, he offered a few sharp opinions about the lack of strong leadership around the world. “I’m disappointed in Obama,” he said. “He’s having trouble leading because he’s reluctant to offend people or piss them off.” He caught what I was thinking and assented with a little smile:

I’d learned the hard way that when hiring executives, one should follow Colin Powell’s instructions and hire for strength rather than lack of weakness.

Tugwell could not resist. “You said Huey was the second most dangerous person.” “You heard right,” smiled Roosevelt. “Huey is only second. The first is Douglas MacArthur.