In his second installment of the life of Eisenhower, Ambrose paints a man, both decent and complex, whose presidency is increasingly regarded as one of this century's most successful.

Wide-ranging and inclusive, the book covers Eisenhower's rejection of advice to use nuclear weapons, his thinking on defense policy and the Cold War, his actions on civil rights and his views on Communism. We also see Eisenhower in action with Nixon, Truman, Churchill, Khrushchev, de Gaulle and other world leaders.