Waging Peace offers the first fully comprehensive study of Eisenhower's "New Look" program of national security, which provided the groundwork for the next three decades of America's Cold War strategy. Though the Cold War itself and the idea of containment originated under Truman, it was left to Eisenhower to develop the first coherent and sustainable strategy for addressing the issues unique to the nuclear age. To this end, he designated a decision-making system centered around the National Security Council to take full advantage of the expertise and data from various departments and agencies and of the judgment of his principal advisors. The result was the formation of a "long haul" strategy of preventing war and Soviet expansion and of mitigating Soviet hostility. Only now, in the aftermath of the Cold War, can Eisenhower's achievement be fully appreciated. This book will be of much interest to scholars and students of the Eisenhower era, diplomatic history, the Cold War, and contemporary foreign policy.

The true story of how the National Security Council was transformed from a small advisory board under Truman, virtually to supplant the State Department under Nixon, and then to conduct covert, illegal operations under Ronald Reagan.

"Having watched from a front row seat as many incumbent and electoral campaign presidential teams managed administration transitions, Martha Kumar was struck by how productively the Bush and Obama teams worked together to effect a smooth transition of power in 2008. She has reflected upon what made the transition so effective, and wonders if it could be a model for future incoming and outgoing administrations. This book focuses on the preparations made by President Bush's transition team as well as those by Senators Obama and McCain as one administration exited and the other entered the White House. Using this recent transition as a lens through which to examine the presidential transition process, Kumar simultaneously outlines the congressional legislation that paved the way for this distinctive transition and interweaves comparative examples from previous administrative transitions going back to Truman-to-Eisenhower. She evaluates the early and continuing actions by the General Services Administration to plan and set up transition offices; the work on financial disclosure issues handled by the Office of Government Ethics; and the Office of Management and Budget's preparatory work. In this fascinating historical and contemporary vivisection of presidential transitions, Kumar maps out, in the words of former NSA advisor General James L. Jones, the characteristics of a smooth "glide path" for presidential campaign staffs and their administrations"--

Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster was one of the leading soldier-scholars of his time. He stood as a key figure among the dominant American military and political personalities during the Cold War. Goodpaster served Gen. Dwight Eisenhower in establishing the international military component of NATO and then served as Staff Secretary and Defense Liaison Officer in the Eisenhower White House. He achieved the highest international military command assignment possible when, after serving in Vietnam as Deputy Commander, he was appointed NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. He was called out of retirement to restore the integrity of West Point after a major ethical crisis. Upon his final retirement and for over a quarter-century thereafter, he was actively involved in both the formal and informal world of Washington policy-making, making his mark repeatedly as a respected participant.