"Mr. Pickett shows how international events and Eisenhower's own sense of duty combined to persuade him to enter presidential politics; how be began exploring the possibility in 1948; and how in 1951, from his post as NATO supreme commander, he secretly authorized his Republican supporters to begin formal campaign activity.

His advocates included some of the nation's most important corporate leaders and media chieftains, many of whom formed an informal advisory group with a common attachment to the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia - a story that Mr. Pickett relates in fascinating detail.".

"Eisenhower was not dissatisfied with Harry Truman's foreign policy and its strong element of anti-communism, the author concludes. Rather, he believed by late 1951 that Truman's standing in public opinion polls and Taft's candidacy placed the policy in jeopardy. So he ran in an effort to restore popular and bipartisan support for what Truman had set in motion."--BOOK JACKET.