Commander in Chief

This is a story of ever-expanding presidential powers in an age of unwinnable wars. Harry Truman and Korea, Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, George W. Bush and Iraq: three presidents, three ever broader interpretations of the commander in chief clause of the Constitution, three unwinnable wars, and three presidential secrets. Award-winning presidential biographer and military historian Geoffrey Perret places these men and events in the larger context of the post-World War II world to establish their collective legacy: a presidency so powerful it undermines the checks and balances built into the Constitution, thereby creating a permanent threat to the Constitution itself.
 
In choosing to fight in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, Truman, Johnson, and Bush alike took counsel of their fears, ignored the advice of the professional military and major allies, and were influenced by facts kept from public view. Convinced that an ever-more powerful commander in chief was the key to victory, they misread the moment. Since World War II wars have become tests of stamina rather than strength, and more likely than not they sow the seeds of future wars. Yet recent American presidents have chosen to place their country in the forefront of fighting them. In the course of doing so, however, they gave away the secret of American power—for all its might, the United States can be defeated by chaos and anarchy. Geoffrey Perret is the award-winning author of twelve previous books, including Ulysses S. Grant, Eisenhower, and Lincoln’s War. He has been a consultant for PBS, C-Span, and the History Channel. Harry Truman and Korea, Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, George W. Bush and Iraq: three presidents, three ever-broader interpretations of the commander in chief clause of the Constitution, three unwinnable wars, and three presidential secrets. Award-winning presidential biographer and military historian Geoffrey Perret places these men and events in the larger context of the post-World War II world to establish their collective legacy: a presidency so powerful it undermines the checks and balances built into the Constitution, thereby creating a permanent threat to the Constitution itself.
 
In choosing to fight in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, Truman, Johnson, and Bush all took counsel of their fears, ignored the advice of the professional military and major allies, and were influenced by facts kept from public view. Since World War II, wars have become tests of stamina rather than strength, and more likely than not, they sow the seeds of future wars. Convinced that an ever-more powerful commander in chief is the key to victory, recent American presidents have chosen to place their country in the forefront of conflict. In the course of doing so, Perret asserts, they have revealed the secret of American power—for all its might, the United States can be defeated by chaos and anarchy. "A superbly executed, compellingly written, and just plain interesting narrative of a half-century of presidential overreach."—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., The American Conservative "Whereas many journalists and historians have drawn comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, Mr. Perret broadens the vector of analogy to include Korea, pointing to some interesting parallels among these three conflicts, from botched decision-making in the move toward war, to a failure to anticipate regional consequences correctly, to the difficulty of maintaining a strategic advantage in the face of an indigenous population ill disposed toward foreign intervention."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Geoffrey Perret, who has written popular studies of generals and commanders in chief from Abraham Lincoln to Dwight Eisenhower, turns his attention to Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and George W. Bush in this scathing attack on presidential war-making in the contemporary era . . . [A] lively and anecdote-laden story . . . Provocative, well-written, and always interesting."—Melvin Small, Wayne State University, Political Science Quarterly
"By turns informative, provocative, and challenging.  Perret distills a view of American power that is becoming increasingly influential across the globe, one that demands to be heard and understood.  Commander in Chief is a good place to begin that journey."—John Prados, author of Safe for Democracy "Americans have watched with dismay as the invasion of Iraq turned into tragedy. In Commander in Chief, Geoffrey Perret, a biographer of Presidents Eisenhower, Grant and Lincoln, explores how the United States became embroiled in two other ‘unwinnable wars’—Korea and Vietnam. The parallels he finds and the conclusions he draws are devastating . . . The author’s conclusions are sobering."—Norman Rowlinson, The Buffalo News "[An] excellent new book . . . This is a chronicle of half a century of presidential supremacy, told primarily through the presidencies of Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and George W. Bush, that reads more like a novel than a dissertation . . . A superbly executed, compellingly written, and just plain interesting narrative of a half-century of presidential overreach. I yield to very few in my cynicism about American presidents, and yet even I found myself reacting in horror to the portraits that Geoffrey Perret paints of these men—and the inability or unwillingness of any other major power center in American society or government to stand up and resist them."—Thomas E. Woods Jr., The American Conservative "A military historian examines how post-WWII presidents have drained American power by waging three unwinnable wars. Asked about the importance and consequences of the French Revolution, former Chinese Premier Chou En-lai responded, 'It's too soon to tell.' No such timidity from Perret, who looks at the last 60 years and concludes that Iraq will break American power, that war between nation states is virtually over, that within a decade, fears about global warming will dwarf the War on Terror, that India, China and the EU will challenge a failing America 'to leave regional matters to the people who live there.' We've reached this pass, Perret insists, because three American presidents, aided and abetted by fawning, half-bright advisors, a pliant Congress and a deceived public, have run away with their powers and recklessly inserted the nation into armed conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Furthermore, Perret argues, Truman, with his 'little-guy' complex, perhaps complicated by mood-enhancing drugs, Johnson and his inferiority complex with regard to predecessor JFK, and G.W. Bush with his Daddy complex, appear to have used war, no matter the consequences to the nation, to work out their own pathologies . . . It's impossible to resist [Perret's] storytelling. He writes in the in-the-room brand of history, full of anecdotes, trivia and acidic portraits of presidential courtiers. Indeed, the chief delight here is the serial takedown of such sacred Washington cows as Clark Clifford ('a little too smooth, a little too pleased with himself') and Paul Wolfowitz ('a graying vulgarian'). A fast-moving, sharply told history that arrives at controversial conclusions."—Kirkus Reviews "Few presidents have taken on the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces with such enthusiasm as George W. Bush, who has advanced a wartime executive power unfettered by judicial or legislative oversight on far-ranging topics like the Geneva Conventions, intelligence gathering methods and targeted assassinations. Presidential and military historian Perret explores how wars like Korea, Vietnam and Iraq have been used to consolidate power in the hands of a single man. Charting Truman's anti-intellectualism and fetishization of the military, Johnson's shortsighted escalation of the Vietnam conflict and the current administration's hubris, Perret reveals the steps by which presidential power widened."—Publishers Weekly