| As in any project of this nature, there are contributions of many persons to acknowledge. First and foremost, I wish to thank Colonel Paul L. Miles (U.S. Army, Retired), who initially conceived this project in conjunction with a United States Military Academy symposium on the conduct of national security policy during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. Professor Allan R. Millett, my dissertation adviser from The Ohio State University, patiently guided my initial research and served as a trusted friend, colleague, and mentor. In 1992 while on duty at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, I had the good fortune to work under the tutelage of Professor John Hattendorf, holder of the Ernest J. King Chair of Maritime History, and Dr. Robert S. Wood, holder of the Chester W. Nimitz Chair of National Security and Foreign Affairs. In completing an advanced research project on the Eisenhower presidency, I benefited from my professional association with Professor Richard Megargee, who generously served as my project adviser and offered many recommendations to assist me in focusing my research. So also did Professor George Baer, chairman of the Department of Strategy and Policy at the Naval War College and current holder of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Chair of Maritime Strategy. Although he was working on his own book on maritime history, Professor Baer critiqued my preliminary draft and suggested novel approaches to address the complex nature of crisis management and international relations. Special kudos also belong to Professor Ira Gruber of Rice University, who reviewed the entire manuscript with a trained historian's eye. Like Gruber, Colonel Robert A. Doughty, professor and head of the Department of History at the Military Academy at West Point, challenged me to look beyond the growing body of postrevisionist scholarship in exploring Eisenhower's leadership. More than one anonymous reviewer offered candid assessments of my work and offered constructive criticisms, the majority of which I readily followed. Many thanks go to Tom Branigar of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library for his assistance on two visits to Eisenhower's boyhood home in Abilene, Kansas. |
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