Jean Edward Smith Quotes

“He lifted himself from a wheelchair to lift the nation from its knees.”

— Jean Edward Smith

“Jealousy knows no logic, nor does it respect reciprocity.”

— Jean Edward Smith

If George Washington founded the nation, John Marshall defined it.

— Jean Edward Smith

“Eisenhower on Patton: Fundamentally, he is so avid for recognition as a great commander that he won't with ruthlessly suppress any habit that will jeopardize it.”

— Jean Edward Smith

“Patton would have said a warmer goodbye to his horse, The author writes on Eisenhower's cold dismissal of his wartime lover.”

— Jean Edward Smith

“As proof that HOW we see things matters, Gen. Montgomery took a preprepared text that had been deemed an innocuous complement to his American troops and delivered it in such a way that his condescension prompted more division than unity.”

— Jean Edward Smith

The loneliness of command had made Eisenhower emotionally self-sufficient.

— Jean Edward Smith

“Among all the powerful nations of the world the United States is the only one with a tradition of anti-colonialism." That was an asset of incalculable value. "It means our counsel is trusted where that of others may not be. It is essential to our position of leadership in a world wherein the majority of the nations have at some time or another felt the yoke of colonialism.”

— Jean Edward Smith

“Ike was like a giant umbrella. He absorbed what was coming down from above, shielded his commanders from higher authority, and about them to fight the war without excessive second-guessing.”

— Jean Edward Smith

“The hard decisions," Ridgway added, "are not the ones you make in the heat of battle. Far harder to make are those involved in speaking your mind about some hare-brained scheme, which proposes to commit troops to action under conditions where failure is almost certain, and the only results will be the needless sacrifice of priceless lives.”

— Jean Edward Smith

Author says that, while Eisenhower had other intellectual mentors, he learned how to lead men from Gen. Walter Krueger. Krueger was the first American enlisted man to rise to four-star general, and he so identified with those he led that he once invited a sentry out of the rain and gave him his own dry uniform.

— Jean Edward Smith

“Eisenhower and Patton, old friends and figures crucial to the Allies' upcoming success, conferred over yet another gaffe on Patton's part that could have cost him his command. Patton's head is on Ike's shoulder in gratitude, but the scene is rescued from being completely maudlin by Eisenhower's internal question as to whether Patton wears his ever-present helmet to bed.”

— Jean Edward Smith