BOOK REVIEW: THREE DAYS IN JANUARY by Bret Baier reviewed by Charles Johnson

THREE DAYS IN JANUARY: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission
By Bret Baier
368 pages
Published by William Morrow
ISBN-10: 006259031
ISBN-13: 978-006259035
Reviewed by Charles Johnson

President Dwight Eisenhower gave us a life of service to our country – namely, a distinguished military career followed by a fine two terms as our president. In the book THREE DAYS IN JANUARY, author Bret Baier focuses how the flow of Eisenhower’s life led to the transition of his presidency to that of a young John F. Kennedy, complete with the hopes and concerns that Ike (Eisenhower, that is) shared with the incoming man from Massachusetts.

The author Bret Baier, using a clear, informative style, fills the first part of the book with a biography of Ike – his family, his schooling, his military training – all of which shaped his philosophies in what became his style as he took over the White House in 1952. From there, the reader is surrounded effectively by the author’s explanation of how Ike’s past influenced decisions made as he served as president – and then as he prepared himself to hand over the presidency. There are organizational skills, there’s seeking the advice of the experts and those who were learned in the field in which Ike needed guidance, there’s the strong leadership that Ike brought to the White House that was so very perfect. To wrap up the book, Eisenhower’s thought processes of how to end his eight years in the White House come to bear upon the reader. Ike had seen the merger of the military world and the industrial world – and how those two entities had come to unite into a strong unit, capable of both great and horrible things that ranged from the obvious military and economic factors to the philosophical notion that the military-industrial complex might wield an influence on government that could be crucial to the future. Also, how was Ike to pass this concept onward to his successor while a world is dealing with a nuclear arms race, Castro in Cuba, Russian leadership wavering for a while and finally settling on Nikita Kruschev?

Bret Baier spells it out for us. The transition from Truman to Eisenhower was not necessarily a smooth, amicable time. Because of this, Eisenhower wanted ensure that JFK was fully informed, totally ready, and as comfortable as possible. If there were to be a successful passing of the torch, all this need to occur.

Baier concludes his book with the thought that it such transitions must the smooth. He concludes the book, noting that as he wrote the end, Donald Trump was about to receive the reins of government from Barak Obama – and would there indeed be as smooth a transition as there was from Ike to JFK.

Time will tell if Baier’s record of the switch in 1961 had any bearing on the switch in 2017.

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SOMETIMES I WANT THE INTERNET TO SHUT UP.

FOR EXAMPLE, OUR PRESIDENTS DESERVE BETTER.  PERIOD.

I’ve been around since 1953.  Every president has had his alleged faults about them.  Eisenhower was a military man.  Kennedy was denigrated at times for being Catholic, even considered unelectable because of that.  Johnson was a war hawk. Nixon was a crook.  Carter didn’t have a clue.  Reagan, especially in his last years, didn’t seem to have a clue.  Bush I didn’t get a chance.  Clinton was horny.  Bush II was misled by the people around him.  Obama is a socialist.  For some folks, these statements are how they felt.  For others, these statements were myths of varying degrees.

I see no benefit in the slams we’ve seen over especially the last two administrations.  I was not a Bush supporter, but I was still bothered by the highly focused diatribes that came at him.   I think I actually called out a few people about the cheap shots taken at him.  As for Obama, I had thought perhaps he’d offer something new.  He hasn’t, not for me. But I do not see the benefit in the slams and cheap shots directed at him.  I have disagreed with those folks at times, too.

Why so much denigration of these past two administrations?  The explosion of internet, I fear.  It has allowed us to vent feelings like never before – and almost in an anonymous way…. And like so many vents, some of them have no filters, causing pollution that we just don’t need.

I’ve said this before in other ways here… and I’m saying it again.  Internet will not filter you– and your friends who read what you share will not necessarily see the real YOU about all this.  “Sharing’ stuff therefore is risky – it would be better for you to sit down, write out your thoughts, edit them clearly, and then put them out there, and by all means take credit for what you write.

You know what?  No president has been perfect.  No president has had a corner on honesty and integrity.  No president made everyone happy.  Not Washington, Lincoln, Jackson, Hoover, Wilson, Taylor, Fillmore, Adams.

Like I said, I’ve been around since Eisenhower.  I wasn’t really aware of our presidents as individuals until I was old enough to be aware of the Nixon administration.  I have a few that I liked, I have a few that I wished would go away quicker than they did.

You know what again?  I would be highly honored to shake the hand of any person who has served in the office of president.  Any of them.  Any of them.  Eisenhower to Obama.  The ones I admired, the ones I didn’t.  The ones that I learned to admire later, and the ones that I learned to question later.

Any of them.