
Presidents at War
How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK Through Reagan and Bush
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Narrated by:
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Fred Sanders
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By:
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Steven M. Gillon
About this listen
Steven M. Gillon, historian and New York Times bestselling author, is back with the story of how WWII shaped the characters and politics of seven American presidents.
World War II loomed over the latter half of the twentieth century, transforming every level of American society and international relationships and searing itself onto the psyche of an entire generation, including that of seven American presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.
The lessons of World War II, more than party affiliation or ideology, defined the presidencies of these seven men. They returned home determined to confront any force that threatened to undermine the war’s hard-won ideals, each with their own unique understanding of patriotism, sacrifice, and America’s role in global politics.
In Presidents at War, Gillon examines what these men took away from the war and how they then applied it to Cold War policies that proceeded to change America, and the world, forever. A nuanced and deeply researched exploration of the lives, philosophies, and legacies of seven remarkable men, Presidents at War deftly argues that the lessons learned by these postwar presidents continue to shape the landscape upon which current and future presidents stand today.
©2025 Steven M. Gillon (P)2025 Steven M. GillonListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Mr. Gillon’s war stories, gripping in themselves, encourage us to be skeptical of any unified theory applied to human conflict. Better, on this Presidents Day, to recognize a generation of American statesmen who demonstrated leadership long before they were entrusted with the greatest responsibilities on the planet.”—Wall Street Journal
“Political historian Gillon considers the effects of World War II on a generation of presidents … Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush … World War II shaped the political outlook of all these presidents, from Nixon’s endless grievances to JFK’s careful strategizing (and a few dirty tricks) and “bland good guy” Reagan’s hail-fellow-well-met approach to politics. War is hell—but also, this history shows, a good way to get elected.”—Kirkus
"Steven M. Gillon brilliantly blends vivid biographical sketches with astute political analysis to give us a fresh and authoritative take on the “Presidents at War.” With subtlety and grace as well as a thorough grounding in the sources, the author examines the powerful ways that World War II shaped the careers and outlooks of seven men who would go on to occupy the Oval Office. It’s an inspiring story, resonant with meaning for our own troubled age."—Fredrik Logevall, Harvard University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War
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Overall
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The postwar global order was in many ways shaped in response to the Holocaust. That event became the benchmark for atrocity, and, in the Western imagination, the paradigmatic genocide. Its memory orients so much of our thinking, and crucially, forms the basic justification for Israel’s right first to establish itself and then to defend itself. But in many parts of the world, ravaged by other conflicts and experiences of mass slaughter, the Holocaust’s singularity is not always taken for granted, even when its hideous atrocity is.
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A brilliant analysis of the immoral reality of today’s world
- By Mike on 05-20-25
By: Pankaj Mishra
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The Invisible Spy
- Churchill's Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of World War II
- By: Thomas Maier
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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As a tough but smart Italian American kid, Ernest Cuneo played Ivy League football at Columbia University and was in the old Brooklyn Dodgers NFL franchise before becoming a city hall lawyer and “Brain Trust'' aide to President Roosevelt. He was on the payroll of national radio columnist Walter Winchell and mingled with the famous and powerful. But his status as a spy remained a secret, hiding in plain sight. During this time, Cuneo began a close friendship with British spy Ian Fleming and helped inspire Fleming's James Bond novels.
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Incredible read
- By Customer007 on 06-12-25
By: Thomas Maier
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Lincoln's Peace
- The Struggle to End the American Civil War
- By: Michael Vorenberg
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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We set out on the James River, March 25, 1865, aboard the paddle steamboat River Queen. President Lincoln is on his way to General Grant’s headquarters at City Point, Virginia, and he’s decided he won’t return to Washington until he’s witnessed, or perhaps even orchestrated, the end of the Civil War. Now, it turns out, more than a century and a half later, historians are still searching for that end.
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Evan's Review
- By Evan on 06-22-25
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Talk to Me
- Lessons from a Family Forged by History
- By: Rich Benjamin
- Narrated by: Rich Benjamin
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Rich Benjamin’s mother, Danielle Fignolé, grew up the eldest in a large family living a comfortable life in Port-au-Prince. Her mother was a schoolteacher, her father a populist hero—a labor leader and politician. The first true champion of the black masses, he eventually became the country’s president in 1957. But two weeks after his inauguration, that life was shattered. Soldiers took Danielle’s parents at gunpoint and put them on a plane to New York, a coup hatched by the Eisenhower administration. Danielle and her siblings were kidnapped, and ultimately smuggled out of the country.
By: Rich Benjamin
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The Supreme Commander
- The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 32 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this classic portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower the soldier, best-selling historian Stephen E. Ambrose examines the Allied commander's leadership during World War II. Ambrose brings Eisenhower's experience of the Second World War to life, showing in vivid detail how the general's skill as a diplomat and a military strategist contributed to Allied successes in North Africa and in Europe and established him as one of the greatest military leaders in the world.
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Very Interesting of the politics of war
- By Timothy on 06-28-17
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Golden State
- The Making of California
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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From Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Hiltzik, a definitive new history of California—from the Spanish conquistadors to the Gold Rush to the state’s meteoric rise as a tech powerhouse and bulwark of progressivism—and of its indelible mark on the United States and the world.
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Stupendous Cali History
- By Iethiopia T. Lowe on 06-05-25
By: Michael Hiltzik
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The Abolitionists
- By: Kellie Carter Jackson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Kellie Carter Jackson
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
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While most of us are familiar with the Underground Railroad, there was much more to the movement than helping individuals escape their bondage. In the eight lectures of The Abolitionists, Professor Kellie Carter Jackson of Wellesley College will bring you along as she traces the history of the fight to end slavery in America, from its relatively quiet origins to the turning point at Harper’s Ferry to the Civil War.
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Highly Informative
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 02-23-25
By: Kellie Carter Jackson, and others
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1929
- Inside the Greatest Crash in History--and How It Shattered a Nation
- By: Andrew Ross Sorkin
- Narrated by: Andrew Ross Sorkin
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
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In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded—one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin. With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin takes listeners inside the chaos of the crash.
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Red Scare
- Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America
- By: Clay Risen
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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An urgent, accessible, and important history, Red Scare reveals an all-too-familiar pattern of illiberal conspiracy-mongering and political and cultural backlash that speaks directly to the antagonism and divisiveness of our contemporary moment. Drawing upon newly declassified documents, journalist Clay Risen recounts how politicians like Joseph McCarthy, with the help of an extended network of other government officials and organizations, systematically ruined thousands of lives in their deluded pursuit of alleged Communist conspiracies.
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Very disappointing narrator
- By DB on 04-19-25
By: Clay Risen
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He Leadeth Me
- An Extraordinary Testament of Faith
- By: Walter J. Ciszek S.J., Daniel L. Flaherty S.J.
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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He Leadeth Me is a deeply personal story of one man’s spiritual odyssey and the unflagging faith which enabled him to survive the ordeal that wrenched his body and spirit to near collapse. Captured by a Russian army during World War II and convicted of being a “Vatican spy,” Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek spent some twenty-three agonizing years in Soviet prisons and the labor camps of Siberia. In He Leadeth Me, he relates how it was only through an utter reliance on God’s will that he managed to endure.
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One of the very best spiritual reading books
- By Chris on 06-23-25
By: Walter J. Ciszek S.J., and others
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