The complicated, internal secrecy of the Eisenhower administration

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    [REBROADCAST] President Dwight D. Eisenhower, known for his calm, grandfatherly demeanor, was the first American president that could have destroyed the world, according to our guest, writer EVAN THOMAS. The morning after his election in 1952, “Ike” was informed the United States’ nuclear weapons were hundreds of times more powerful than the A-bomb used in Hiroshima, used just a few years earlier. Evans tells the story of the deception and secrecy behind the mild-mannered retired war general, concentrating on his foreign policy and national security decisions that ensured the 34th president avoiding wars during his administration. The former Newsweek Editor-at-Large and Princeton University faculty’s new book is “Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World.”

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