Eisenhower and Adenauer

Steven J. Brady teaches history at the University of Notre Dame, where he is a faculty fellow of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.

• Chapter 1. Introduction: Issues, Events, and PersonalitiesChapter 2. "Confined to the Smallest Number of Powers": The Peace Offensive after StalinChapter 3. "There Is No Other Foreign Policy": The Road to BerlinChapter 4. "The Year Things Began to Get Unstuck": 1955Chapter 5. "The Key to World Dominance": Western Unity and the Foreign Policy Initiative, 1956Chapter 6. Toward Berlin and the Status Quo: 1957–1958Chapter 7. "The Strongest Weapon is Unity": Berlin, 1958–1960

Two decades ago, when the Berlin Wall fell, it was clear the Cold War was over, and that the American relationship with the Federal Republic of Germany was central to the outcome of the struggle. However, historians have been negligent in understanding the creation and nurturing of that alliance between former enemies. Steven Brady's Eisenhower and Adenauer is a welcome corrective, a sophisticated, well-written, and careful study of the crucial formative years of the US-German partnership. Brady rejects the "golden age" nostalgia and demonstrates the significant differences and misunderstandings which had to be faced before these two countries could cooperate effectively. He restores the crucial role played by leaders like Dwight Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles and Konrad Adenauer in overcoming the past, and provides an important lesson for today's leaders in dealing with the challenges of multilateral diplomacy and alliance management. Brady's book is essential reading for understanding this period in the international history of the Cold War.