"The Presidents Club" by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy (2012)

I've often wondered about the relationships between former Presidents; of either party; with one another after they have left office. Next to retired Five Star generals; like Eisenhower; ex-Presidents are one of the more unusual occupations leading to retirement. How do they keep in touch with one another? Have they always done so? And what do they talk about? This book is a wonderful insight into just that question.

Beginning with President Truman, who wanted to do a proper “turnover” of command with Eisenhower; who was snubbed by the General; the authors have done a very credible and organized job in presenting the story of the few men who have led our nation; in war and peace; and how their relationships have often helped to shape foreign policy and world opinion.

I have to confess that I originally picked this book up with an interest in only the Truman-Eisenhower feud. I wasn't expecting to read the entire thing, but found myself drawn in deeper with each chapter. I was fascinated by the whole Truman-Eisenhower affair; as I knew I would be; but I was also pleasantly surprised at the author’s ability to maintain my interest beyond that.

Briefly put, the Truman-Eisenhower feud began when General Eisenhower criticized; for political reasons; his ex- Commander General Marshall, who was a friend of President Truman’s and ex-President Hoover. Although the plan to feed Europe was known as the “Marshall Plan”, it was really the brainchild of former President Hoover, who had done this very thing once before, after the First World War, when he was Secretary of Commerce. His humility drove his desire to not have his name associated with the plan, so the honor went to General Marshall, who implemented it. Remember that Hoover; like Ike; was a Republican. But he was also friends with Truman, and together the two formed the President’s Club on the very day of Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953. It wouldn't be long until Eisenhower joined the club, his ongoing feud with Truman notwithstanding.

As I've said, this was the most interesting part of the book for me, as I have wondered about the relationship between the two for many years; and through many books; without ever having read such a complete and informative account as I have in this book. The feud between the two men came to an abrupt end on the day John Kennedy was buried. Eisenhower had learned that Truman was staying at Blair House, across from the White House, and in the confusion no one had bothered to provide him with transportation to the funeral of the slain President. It was Eisenhower who phoned Blair House and made arrangements for Truman to ride with him to the funeral. The last time they had ridden together was in 1953, on the way to Ike’s inauguration. During that entire ride they had not spoken to one another at all. But by the end of this day, in 1963, the two would be friends again for the rest of their lives.

It would be easy for the sitting President’s to blame many of their current troubles on their predecessors, and to some extent, that is what the club is there to prevent. All of the former Presidents agree that a show of national unity; rather than an adherence to party loyalty; is the most important role which they each play after leaving office. Even Presidents Ford and Carter found common ground, after their terms were over, by dealing with the Middle East. President Carter even delivered Ford’s eulogy in 2007.

From foreign affairs to politics at home, there are very few men the sitting President can turn to for advice or counsel. Only a few men have held the position and know the pitfalls which await each and every move they might make. At times like these, the Presidents club springs into action, with telephone calls made in the middle of the night. I can’t help but wonder at how these conversations begin. In my mind, it goes something like this, “Hello, Mr. President? This is the President. I hope I didn't wake you. But I need some advice.”

"Area 51" by Annie Jacobsen

Few other places on earth have generated as much controversy, or mystery, as Area 51,located in the desert of Nevada. To make matters even more complicated, the area simply does not "officially" exist. And therein lies the key to the enigma that has spawned TV shows, books, movies and given birth to the entire UFO debate. This book examines all of these things.

The first UFO "crash" in Roswell, New Mexico back in 1947, provided a unique problem for the United States government. We had just won the Second World War with the use of an atomic bomb. We were the only nation, at the time, to have a weapon of such destructive force. Of course, it was only a matter of time until the Soviets would catch up and develop a bomb of their own. To this end they employed the same people we did in our endeavors to perfect missile technology.

When Nazi Germany fell in 1945, among the spoils of war were the top Nazi rocket scientists. We got Von Braun and a few others. The rest were "divided" between Britain, France and Russia. While the Americans worked primarily on high altitude bombers and missile delivery systems, the Russians were working on satellites and jet propulsion. Here's where things get interesting.

Suppose, just for a moment, that you are the President of the United States in 1947. You receive the news that a Russian "craft" of unusual design has crashed in the desert outside of Roswell. Its trajectory indicates that it came from the Northwest, having crossed over several of our most sensitive military areas in the Southwest, before crashing. The "pilot" was killed and his body stored for examination. The craft itself was identified as a disc, with no wings, and had Russian markings on the interior surfaces.

The letter posted here mentions a Dr. Vannevar Bush, a man who founded Raytheon in 1922. The letter is dated within months of the events at Roswell. Raytheon is the Greek translation of "light from the gods." He headed the Office of Scientific Development which controlled the Manhattan Project. He was involved in the research and development in every aspect of Area 51. Just who was this man and how did he garner so much power in regards to "national security" and the 60 odd year coverup of the events at Area 51?

The first press release identified the craft as the object that had been plaguing the newly created United States Air Force (up until the end of World War Two it was the Army Air Corps) all that summer. There were many reports of an object on radar in the area, but the object had eluded the radar operators on several occasions. This time, however, the craft had literally landed in our laps. With questions pouring in faster than the disc had traveled, an explanation needed to be concocted which would satisfy the public's concern, while not insulting their intelligence. The next day the first press release was scrubbed and the object became the now contentious "weather balloon."

That story was then used to cover up all manner of experiments taking place at the Nevada Test Firing Range in the desert outside of Las Vegas, including Area 51, where the "alien" craft had been taken. In that same area the United States, desperate to find out what was going on behind the "iron curtain", began to test high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. This was the beginning of the U-2 program and the road that led to the 1960 shoot down of Gary Powers, a civilian employee, flying a U-2 over Russia's most secret facilities. That failure led to a cancellation of a summit between Nikita Khrushchev and President Eisenhower. It also set the stage for the most dangerous years of the "Cold War".

Khrushchev used the incident to show the world that there was a "criminal conspiracy" against the Soviet Union, based in the United States. He even named the culprits; a private contractor, the military and the President were all involved in an effort to illegally cross the Soviet border and gather intelligence to which they had no right. The program had been ongoing since 1956, and denied by the United States government. But this time the Soviets had the pilot, Gary Powers, and pieces of the plane as proof of their assertions.

Eisenhower was forced to admit that the plane existed, but insisted that it was used for atmospheric tests. His only other choice was to have admitted lying to the American people since 1956, thus lending credence to the Soviet claims of the earlier missions. Further denials were not possible, given that the pilot was still alive and in Soviet hands.

The first jet engine experiments were conducted over the Mojave desert in California during the early days of World War Two. The plane, flying out of Edwards Air Force Base, was a Bell XP-59A. With no propellers, it was an unusual sight, so “dummy" propellers were affixed to the nose of the aircraft during tests. The only problem was that the test range was right next door to the training facility being used to train P-38 pilots. When they saw an aircraft without propellers, trailing smoke, zooming high above the desert, the first real UFO stories were born. Prior to that time the only UFO stories came from science fiction books and the famous Orson Welles broadcast of "War of the Worlds" in October of 1938.

Almost all of the UFO sightings in the United States can be traced back to experiments conducted at Area 51. But those experiments pale in comparison to some of the other stuff these same scientists were working on. In addition to the experimental aircraft, there were medical tests being done on children, and adults, with Plutonium. These experiments were conducted along the lines of the Nazi "medical" experiments conducted during World War Two. Some of the experiments were even conducted with the participation of ex-Nazi scientists, working for our own government and under the supervision of Vannevar Bush. Since all of this was being done under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission, most of those details are still classified.

But, by far the most dangerous of all the experiments conducted were the two named Teak and Orange. Teak would scare Werner Von Braun so badly that he simply walked away from the program. Teak was the first of two nuclear test explosions undertaken to see what would happen with a high altitude detonation of a thermo-nuclear device. It was expected that the range of fallout would be greater with increased altitudes. To this effect they decided to go way up - as high as the ozone layer, for the tests. There was some concern about what would happen if the ozone layer were breached, but these concerns were brushed aside, the assumption being that Mother Nature would repair the damage by itself. To this day we have no idea of how much damage was done by these two tests. Think about that the next time someone talks to you about your responsibility for the depletion of the ozone layer. It's not just the result of your car. A strong case could be made that the ozone depletion began with these experiments. Evidently, Werner Von Braun thought so, too. Still, the experiments continued, under the secrecy surrounding Area 51.

As late as 1958, on August 27th, the 30th, and again on September 6th, three nuclear tipped warheads were fired atop X-17 rockets launched from the USS Norton Sound off the Coast of South Africa. The missiles pierced the stratosphere and the nuclear devices exploded 300 miles into space - this time above the ozone layer. The architect of this brainchild was a former elevator operator who had become a physicist, Nicholas Christofilos. He reasoned that a nuclear explosion above the atmosphere, but still inside the earth’s magnetic field, would disrupt the arming devices aboard any Soviet missiles seeking to make their way into the United States. The experiment was a failure. The price paid by our Ozone layer has never been divulged.

The ionization of fuel was another series of tests which were conducted at Area 51. It was reasoned that by adding cesium to the rocket fuel the radar returns of the Soviets against our missiles would be rendered useless. That experiment did have some limited success, but the question remains, what did we do to the atmosphere? Once again, the answer is still classified.

The book is quite expansive, even delving into the history of military aviation as it regards the United States. The nation's first aviation reconnaissance for military purposes was in 1916 when the Texas based First Aero Squadron sent planes over the Mexican border to track Pancho Villa. Over the next 90 years this program would gain in popularity, eventually giving way to the unmanned drones used today, which were first developed within Area 51.

Actually, that story is compelling as well, although it does not directly involve Area 51. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. was flying a classified mission aboard a B-25 bomber when he was lost over Germany in the later days of the Second World War. What was that mission? It was the world's first remotely controlled bombardment of an enemy installation. Kennedy, flying the B-25, which was loaded with the explosive Torpex, would fly the plane close to the target, bail out, and then be retrieved by the plane following him. That plane would radio direct the B-25 to its final destination. Great idea, but it didn't work. The plane exploded before the target was sighted, killing the entire crew.

There is so much information in this book that I will have to read it a second time in order to really absorb it all. With its meticulously detailed 150 page section of sources and notes, this book is the most revealing look ever produced about Area 51. If you are willing to approach this book with an open mind, and can put TV shows such as "Roswell" behind you, this book just might teach you something about the relationship between the military and private defense contractors. The biggest questions posed in this book are how we allowed this all to happen in the first place, and why we allow it to continue today.

"Bridge of Spies" by Giles Whittell

This is the true story of 3 men, poised at the center of the Cold War, and whose actions, although not intended to do so, changed the direction of that conflict. Their story is the beginning of both Russia and the United States making a committment to what later became known as detente. That they did so out of a confluence of events which were designed to produce results of the opposite nature makes this incredible story even more so. This also marked the beginning of both the CIA and the KGB in the administration of govermental policy. President Eisenhower, as well as Premier Kruschev, have acknowledged that they both felt "not in control" of the situation as it unfolded.

President Eisenhower knew of, and condoned the high altitude U-2 flights. But not this one. Officially, the existence of these flights were denied by the United States. On May 1st, 1960 just months before a summit between Eisenhower and Kruschev in Moscow, one of the U-2's, carrying pilot Gary Powers, was shot down over Russia. This is precisely the incident which Eisenhower was trying to avoid in the months leading up to the summit.

The U-2's mission was to photograph the last remaining area of Russia that had not been searched for nuclear missles, or, as we call them today, WMD's. Lee Harvey Oswald, a US Marine, working radar out of Atsugi Air Base in Japan, was later implicated as having provided some of the intelligence necessary for the shoot down of Gary Powers' U-2 to have taken place.

Powers was flying a defective plane that day. It was known throughout the unit as a "dog." When the Soviets got lucky and downed the plane with one missle, Gary Powers had plenty of time to think as he fell from 70,000 feet. He was able to climb out of the plane rather than eject. He decided not to use the poison needle with which he had been provided, saving it for future use if needed.

As all of this was happening, an American student, Frederic Pryor, who had taken advantage of a summer program allowing foreign students to take a rare look inside Russia, was arrested and charged with espionage. He had been unwittingly recruited by the CIA in "tourist" style espionage, taking pictures of bridges and buildings, some of which were of military significance.

Powers and the American youth would both be eventually exchanged for the biggest Soviet Spy ever caught in America, William Fisher, aka, Rudolf Abel. He had resided in deep cover in the United States for years, and such was his value to the Soviets, that he would later be exchanged for both Pryor and Powers. That this exchange would later take place during the same week as John Glenn successfully orbited the earth aboard Friendship 7 was no coincidence. But that was still 2 years away. First would come the trial, and imprisonment of Gary Powers for espionage. He was faced with life imprisonment, or possibly death.

The trial took place in the waning days of the Eisenhower administration, just after the Soviet-American summit, which had been scheduled for the same time, had been cancelled. Powers received 10 years imprisonment, as a sign of Soviet humanity. He would not have to serve the entire sentence, as the Soviets wanted Rudolf Abel returned.

The exchange was to take place at two locations, and at the same time. The first was to be at the so-called "Bridge of Spies", actually named the Glienicke Bridge, in Berlin. This was the "other" check point used during the cold war for transfer between East and West Germany. The most famous one was "Check Point Charlie", located only a few miles away. It is recreated in exact detail in the film version of John LeCarre's novel "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold." That check point would be the location for the second exchange.

This is a fascinating book for serious students of the Cold War. There are so many layers to this story that it is possible to get lost in the myriad of secrecy. What is true? What is true, but misleading? The book also delves into the 1960 Presidential election between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. Was there a connection between politics and the ill advised flight of the defective U-2? And what was the common link between news reporter Joe Alsop and John Kennedy in this operation? Why did they lie about a Soviet missle gap when there was none? Remember, there would have been no need for the U-2 flights had the truth of the missle gap been known.

Had Gary Powers been successful in his flight over Plesetk, he would have discovered the 4 operational ICBM's. This was the extent of the Soviet nuclear arsenal with which Premier Krushchev had threatened to "bury the West." It is also the nuclear stockpile which John Kennedy, along with the help of Joe Alsop, purported to exist.

With it's careful research, and a cast of real life characters, this is a gripping read of the Cold War, and three of its principal players.

At Ease- Stories I Tell to Friends by Dwight D. Eisenhower

The first President I remember is Dwight Eishenhower. The Commanding General of Allied Forces in Europe during World war II, he is mostly remembered as a taciturn and reserved fellow. This book will dispel that notion.

Written in 1965-6 and published in 1967, this book is an unusual insight to a most unusual man. While the years of his Presidency are known for their “Father Knows Best” type atmosphere- bland, black and white - everything perfect- this book displays a side of Eisenhower we don’t really see or hear of too often.

This book delves only slightly into his family history- the story really begins with his appointment to West Point in 1911. One big surprise to most readers will be that Ike never saw combat in the First World War. He was assigned to the Quartermasters Corp. And the Ambulance Corps. And the fledgling Tank Corps. These assignments would take him on a cross country trip at the end of the war- testing tanks and rewriting battle tactics. This was also the period in which Eisenhower became interested in road building in America- envisioning a 2 lane cross country highway along the lines of the nascent Lincoln Highway- at the time the best road in America. As we all know now- that idea was bolstered by his service in Europe in World War II and his admiration for the German Autobahn. This led to his efforts, as President, in establishing the present day Highway system that we have all come to depend upon and bears his name.

It is during these first post war years that he forms a lifetime friendship with a returning Veteran of the Combat in Europe- George S. Patton. Having had experience in battle with French Renault tanks made him a very desireable friend for Ike and the two lost no time in concentrating their efforts on “rewriting the book” so to speak on tactics.

The book covers the Panama troubles in the 1920’s and 30’s- the Bonus Army in Washington in 1932 and some of the World War II years. The book is written plainly and captures the style of Eisenhowers demeanor- in a word- measured.

Loaded with anecdotes and stories of his many travels, this book is a very enjoyable and interesting read- sort of like having your Grandfather telling you about the old days.