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When the 1952 presidential election campaign began, many assumed it would be a race between Harry Truman, seeking his second full term, and Robert A. Taft, son of a former president and, to many of his fellow partisans, "Mr. Republican." No one imagined the party standard bearers would be Illinois governor Adlai E. Stevenson II and Supreme Allied Commander in World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower. I Like Ike tells the story of a critical election fought between two avowedly reluctant warriors, including Trumans efforts to recruit Eisenhower as the candidate of the Democrat Party - to a finish that, for all the partisan wrangling, had more to do with the extraordinary popularity of the former general, who, along with Stevenson, was seen to be somehow above politics.In the first book to analyze the 1952 election in its entirety, political historian John Robert Greene looks in detail at how Stevenson and Eisenhower faced demands that they run for an office neither originally wanted. He examines the campaigns of their opponents - Harry Truman and Robert Taft, but also Estes Kefauver, Richard B. Russell, Averell Harriman and Earl Warren. Richard Nixons famous "Checkers Speech," Joseph McCarthys anti-Communist campaign, and television as a new medium for news and political commercials - each figured in the election in its own way; and drawing in depth on the Eisenhower, Stevenson, Taft and Nixon papers, Greene traces how.I Like Ike is a compelling account of how an America fearful of a Communist threat elected a war hero and brought an end to twenty years of Democrat control of the White House. In an era of political ferment, it also makes a timely and persuasive case for the importance of the election of 1952 not only to the Eisenhower Administration, but also to the development of presidential politics well into the future.



About the Author

John Robert Greene

AVAILABLE FOR SIGNINGS, READINGS, AND LECTURES: contact author at: rgreene@cazenovia.edu

John Robert Greene is the Paul J. Schupf Professor of History and Humanities at Cazenovia College, Cazenovia, NY, where he has taught for the past thirty-eight years. He is the director of the Social Science program, and serves as the College Archivist.

Dr. Greene's teaching and writing specialty lies in American Political History, particularly the American presidency. He has written or edited seventeen books.

His most recent book is I Like Ike: The Presidential Election of 1952 (2017) . Of his updated and revised edition of his critically acclaimed The Presidency of George Bush (2015) , Lewis Gould, author of many highly praised books on the American presidency, wrote: "The revised edition of Bob Greene's study of the George H. W. Bush presidency is even better than the very good first edition. Wise, balanced, and lively, Greene's narrative does ample justice to an administration whose achievements and failures deserve just this kind of lucid, fair-minded, and absorbing treatment."

Greene's other books include one on the election of Dwight Eisenhower, one on the Nixon presidency, three on the Ford presidency, a biography of Betty Ford, three on the presidency of George H.W. Bush, and one on the presidency of George W. Bush. His America in the Sixties (2010) is rich in both anecdotes, stories, and thoughtful analysis, as it utilizes the author's three decades of teaching and publishing on that fascinating and volatile period. Of his four books on the history of higher education, his Generations of Excellence: A History of Cazenovia College continues to raise funds for scholarships at Cazenovia College. He is presently updating his a history of the presidential election of 1952.

Both his students and his colleagues have honored Dr. Greene. At Cazenovia College, he was awarded the school's first endowed chair. He has been chosen to speak to the graduating class on several occasions, and in 1993 the faculty voted him the honor of Distinguished Faculty Member.

Greene is also a regular political commentator on several radio call-in shows around the country, and is a regular panelist on WCNY-TV's weekly political talk show, "Ivory Tower" (see http://www.wcny.org/television/ivory-tower/) . He has recently offered commentary on C-SPAN, MSNBC, PBS, and National Public Radio.

Born and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., Greene received his undergraduate degrees from St. Bonaventure University, and his Ph.D. in Modern American History from Syracuse University. In other lives, he was a radio disc jockey, played in a very bad small rock band, and taught the visually handicapped.



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