CROSS FIRE: The Fight Years With Eisenhower

by Ezra Taft Benson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 1962

The wary reader, at first sight of this lengthy tome, will appreciate that there is no quick, easy remedy in the ""farm problem"". The persevering reader will discover that Mr. Benson does not have all the answers to all the problems. In fact, this exhaustive account by the ex-Secretary of Agriculture does not attempt an analysis of American agriculture. It is rather a year-by-year record of the Eisenhower administration, with its emphasis on the role played in that administration by one member of the Cabinet. One after another, the problems that face every government are picked up and shaken out there are chapters on patronage, on campaign strategy, on Congressional-Executive relations, and on the President's health. The bulk of the book is devoted to a defense of the Secretary's farm program and to a verbalization of his conservative philosophy of government. It might be thought that this book would be exceptionally interesting with its controversial author and its first-hand point of view. But, whether because the farm problem is not really very exciting compared with, say, nuclear war, or because of Mr. Benson's intermination to leave no incident unrecorded and his understandable interest in presenting to the reader his particular program, the result is not very stirring. Nonetheless, the book represents a monumental amount of experience and thought, and for those interested in politics, it is probably required reading.

Pub Date: Nov. 2, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION