this book. He and his assistant, Betty Heller, provided guidance, counsel, sympathy, and understanding as the work proceeded. I cannot thank them enough.
The staff of the University of New Orleans library provided me with expert, professional help at every turn. I am also grateful for assistance from the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, the New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress. The staff at the Modern Military Branch of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., was superb. Without the aid of that staff, the World War II sections of this book could not have been written. I am especially in the debt of Mr. John Taylor of the Archives.
When I was just beginning to write the World War II section, I had the great good luck to meet Dr. Richard Immerman of Princeton University. Immerman had just finished his dissertation on the CIA in Guatemala in 1954. He was working with Professor Fred Greenstein at Princeton on a major project to reassess the Eisenhower presidency. On a beautiful Fourth of July, 1979, at Princeton, I discovered in a six-hour nonstop conversation with Immerman that here was a brilliant young historian who knew the sources for the Eisenhower era as well as anyone in the country.
I asked Immerman if I could use his Guatemala material, especially the Howard Hunt interviews. He readily agreed. A few days later, back home in New Orleans, I realized that I had dozens of questions for Immerman. I therefore asked him if he would collaborate with me. To the great benefit of the book, he agreed.
Immerman was the first researcher to go through, in a systematic and professional manner, the recently opened Eisenhower papers in Abilene, covering the presidential and retirement years. The fruits of his hundreds of hours of research include, among other items (allprinted here for the first time), the quotations from Eisenhowerâs private diary, the notes of the meetings of the National Security Council, the summaries of telephone conversations, General Goodpasterâs notes on various informal meetings in the White House, and Ikeâs private correspondence with his closest friends.
Immerman made an equally valuable and essential contribution through his interviews. He had previously interviewed Richard Bissell and Howard Hunt on Guatemala; he returned, as my collaborator, tape recorder in hand. He interviewed a number of others; as all the subjects can testify, he is an intelligent and probing interviewer who is adept at getting his subjects to relax and tell the full story.
Some might say my writing habits are a bit extreme. When writing a book, I normally get up at 3 A.M . and write until 8 A.M . I go to bed immediately after dinner. Such a schedule disrupts the household regime, to say the least, especially with five teen-agers in the house and a wife finishing her M.A. and beginning her teaching career.
Moira and the children were models of patience and understanding. Without their support, I couldnât do the work. Without their love, it wouldnât be worth doing.
STEPHEN E. AMBROSE
New Orleans
December 19, 1979
ALSO BY S TEPHEN E. A MBROSE
CRAZY HORSE AND CUSTER
The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors
On the sparkling morning of June 25, 1876, 611 U.S. Army soldiers rode toward the banks of the Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory, where 3,000 Indians stood waiting to battle. The lives of two great warriors would soon be forever linked throughout history: Crazy Horse, leader of the Oglala Sioux, and General George Armstrong Custer of the Seventh Cavalry. Both were men of aggression and supreme courage. Both had become leaders in their societies at very early ages; both had been stripped of power, and in disgrace had worked to earn back the respect of their people. And to both of them, the unspoiled grandeur of the Great Plains of North America was an irresistible challenge. Their parallel lives would pave the way, in a manner unknown to either, for an inevitable clash
The staff of the University of New Orleans library provided me with expert, professional help at every turn. I am also grateful for assistance from the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, the New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress. The staff at the Modern Military Branch of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., was superb. Without the aid of that staff, the World War II sections of this book could not have been written. I am especially in the debt of Mr. John Taylor of the Archives.
When I was just beginning to write the World War II section, I had the great good luck to meet Dr. Richard Immerman of Princeton University. Immerman had just finished his dissertation on the CIA in Guatemala in 1954. He was working with Professor Fred Greenstein at Princeton on a major project to reassess the Eisenhower presidency. On a beautiful Fourth of July, 1979, at Princeton, I discovered in a six-hour nonstop conversation with Immerman that here was a brilliant young historian who knew the sources for the Eisenhower era as well as anyone in the country.
I asked Immerman if I could use his Guatemala material, especially the Howard Hunt interviews. He readily agreed. A few days later, back home in New Orleans, I realized that I had dozens of questions for Immerman. I therefore asked him if he would collaborate with me. To the great benefit of the book, he agreed.
Immerman was the first researcher to go through, in a systematic and professional manner, the recently opened Eisenhower papers in Abilene, covering the presidential and retirement years. The fruits of his hundreds of hours of research include, among other items (allprinted here for the first time), the quotations from Eisenhowerâs private diary, the notes of the meetings of the National Security Council, the summaries of telephone conversations, General Goodpasterâs notes on various informal meetings in the White House, and Ikeâs private correspondence with his closest friends.
Immerman made an equally valuable and essential contribution through his interviews. He had previously interviewed Richard Bissell and Howard Hunt on Guatemala; he returned, as my collaborator, tape recorder in hand. He interviewed a number of others; as all the subjects can testify, he is an intelligent and probing interviewer who is adept at getting his subjects to relax and tell the full story.
Some might say my writing habits are a bit extreme. When writing a book, I normally get up at 3 A.M . and write until 8 A.M . I go to bed immediately after dinner. Such a schedule disrupts the household regime, to say the least, especially with five teen-agers in the house and a wife finishing her M.A. and beginning her teaching career.
Moira and the children were models of patience and understanding. Without their support, I couldnât do the work. Without their love, it wouldnât be worth doing.
STEPHEN E. AMBROSE
New Orleans
December 19, 1979
ALSO BY S TEPHEN E. A MBROSE
CRAZY HORSE AND CUSTER
The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors
On the sparkling morning of June 25, 1876, 611 U.S. Army soldiers rode toward the banks of the Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory, where 3,000 Indians stood waiting to battle. The lives of two great warriors would soon be forever linked throughout history: Crazy Horse, leader of the Oglala Sioux, and General George Armstrong Custer of the Seventh Cavalry. Both were men of aggression and supreme courage. Both had become leaders in their societies at very early ages; both had been stripped of power, and in disgrace had worked to earn back the respect of their people. And to both of them, the unspoiled grandeur of the Great Plains of North America was an irresistible challenge. Their parallel lives would pave the way, in a manner unknown to either, for an inevitable clash
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