Don't Ask What I Shot

March 12, 2007
Historian Lewis (Considerable Passions) takes an extremely thorough if not always entertaining approach to a combined study of golf in America and Eisenhower's stamp on history. She includes fascinating stories of how during WWII General Eisenhower ordered an air force pilot to drop a bomb on a new army golf course in Italy to quickly dig a hole for a sand trap, and how as president he took to the links with not only golf clubs but a "doomsday" briefcase that held the codes to launch a nuclear attack. Eisenhower used golf as a way to relax from stress and as recuperative exercise after his first heart attack in 1955. Lewis explores how Eisenhower often directed national policy from fairways and clubhouses, including Little Rock's Central High School integration standoff and the response to the American spy plane crash in the Soviet Union. Lewis's narrative sometimes lags with an abundance of unnecessary details such as frequent lists of names of Eisenhower's golfing partners. She ultimately ranks Eisenhower with Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer (both of whom the president befriended) as well as Tiger Woods as the most influential figures in popularizing the game in America.

April 15, 2007
Lewis ("Considerable Passions: Golf, the Masters and the Legacy of Bobby Jones") places President Dwight D. Eisenhower and golf in the historical equivalent of a literary synecdoche. To be sure, Eisenhower was more than a casual golfer. While in office as President, he played between five and eight times a month. Add practice sessions (complete with cleat marks on the floor of the Oval Office), and it's probably safe to say that not many days went by when Eisenhower did not have club in hand. Readers looking for a hardcore time-line biography will probably be disappointed (Lewis neglects the Interstate Highway System, perhaps Eisenhower's greatest achievement). On the other hand, the book may yield a better understanding of Eisenhower's presence and personality, and it distills, through his two-term presidency, the essence of 1950s America. Golfers will appreciate the vignettes, e.g., Ike using a pilot and bomber to create a bunker on a make-do course during World War II or emerging from the plane with cleats on at Augusta, GA, to play at the Augusta National Golf Club. All readers will appreciate the backstory of Ike's nomination for president. More suited to historical than sports collections; a decent read, but an optional purchase.Steven Silkunas, North Wales, PA

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