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FIRST HAND REPORT by Sherman Adams

FIRST HAND REPORT

By

Pub Date: June 21st, 1961
Publisher: Harper

A 200,000 word book, covering in meticulous detail Sherman Adams' years in the Eisenhower Administration -- and not one word of his own problems and the issues which brought about his resignation! This will be a disappointment to many who expected the book to be a vindication or at least an explanation of the facts behind the mystery. As it stands it is, instead, an adulatory exploration, with no shadow of a doubt, of Eisenhower as ""a great statesman and diplomat, perhaps the world's greatest"". Adams, as New Hampshire's governor, was in the forefront as a supporter of Eisenhower for the Republican nomination in 1952. He gained Eisenhower's respect and admiration and, to the last, was entrusted with great power and influence, while giving on his side unflagging loyalty and support. The successive events are recorded through six years' association, too often exhaustively overwritten. Personalities are discussed and one gains an inside picture of men in the cabinet and out, including such people as Stassen, C.D. Jackson, Nelson Rockefeller, and numerous Senators and Congressmen. Some of the controversial issues are accepted with almost blind approval, such as the withdrawal of the statement of support of General Marshall in a Milwaukee speech during the heyday of McCarthyism; the backing of Nixon's famous TV program; the decision to use the army in Little Rock, the invitation to Khrushchev to visit the U.S.. One newsworthy bit concerns the threat Eisenhower made of using atomic warfare in Korea if a truce was not forthcoming. Eventful years these -- but relatively little new light is thrown upon them in what in final analysis is a disappointing ""report"".