Publication Laka-library:
Atoms for Peace and War 1953-1961. Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission
| Author | R.G.Hewlett, J.M.Roll |
 |
6-01-0-40-88.pdf |
| Date | 1989 |
| Classification | 6.01.0.40/88 (HISTORY / DEVELOPMENT NUCLEAR ENERGY) |
| Front |
From the publication:
ATOMS FOR PEACE AND WAR 1953-1961 Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Roll With a Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall and an Essay on Sources by Roger M. Anders Published 1989 by the University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California FOREWORD This volume, the third in the official history of the Atomic Energy Commission, makes sizable contributions in several areas, including the Eisenhower presidency. During the years in which work on the book has moved forward, that presidency has been one of historiographical frontiers, an area of exciting explorations and new developments. A "revisionism" has emerged to challenge a conception that had taken shape earlier and was quite negative in its appraisal of Eisenhower. Some findings of the revisionists now seem quite firmly established, but the new interpretation has not swept the field. Challenges to it have also appeared. A volume focusing on nuclear energy cannot make contributions to all aspects of the controversy over President Eisenhower, but this book can and does have much to say about some main features of the debate. In the process, the book illustrates, as did the earlier volumes in the series, how very good "official history" can be. Early on; American historians were not enthusiastic about Eisenhower as president.' Journalists and other writers outside the historical profession, including Samuel J. Lubell, Robert J. Donovan, Arthur Krock, Merlo J. Pusey, Arthur Larson, and Clinton Rossiter, had developed positive appraisals in the mid-1950s, but by the 1960s most historians endorsed the more negative views first presented by Norman Graebner, Hans J. Morgenthau, Richard Rovere, Marquis Childs, William V. Shannon, Walt W. Rostow, Richard Neustadt, James MacGregor Burns, and Emmett John Hughes from 1956 to 1963. A poll by Arthur M. Schlesinger in 1962 and a much larger one conducted by Gary M. Maranell in 1968 revealed that historians ranked Eisenhower in a low position among American presidents, far below the great and near great.