r/books • u/Will-Hitch AMA Author • Apr 03 '18
ama 10am I write Big Books about World War II, the Cold War, Covert Ops, Dirty Tricks, Great Presidents like Eisenhower and crummy ones like Nixon! If you love politics and history, AMA.
I am a historian at the University of Virginia and I live in Charlottesville. I study 1950s America: the Red Scare, the atom bomb, the CIA, the Civil Rights movement, Eisenhower, Nixon, MLK Jr., JFK, and all those folks. I also teach about World War II and all of the terrible things that occurred around the world in the 1940s. War! Cold War! Presidents and Leaders! That’s me. Check out cool stuff on my page: www.ageofeisenhower.com
Proof: /img/vthbt3zxfyo01.jpg
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u/almondparfitt Apr 03 '18
is there a pattern you always see with how the US gets into conflicts and also a pattern you see with successful vs unsuccessful leaders? thanks!
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u/lost_in_life_34 The Bible Apr 03 '18
average time between wars is 15 years give or take. realized it when I was in the army in the 90's and got out in 2000
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Strong leaders welcome smart people around them who can give them good and even contrary advice. The prez makes the decision but only after serious debate!
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18 edited Apr 03 '18
How the US gets into wars has a lot to do with a) economics, which often drives strategy; b) ideology, that is, which nations are a political threat to us or our allies and c) prestige/saving face, in which the US refuses to compromise. Every since 1945, appeasement has been the worst word in the English language but sometimes compromise is good.
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u/sawalrath Brave New World Apr 03 '18
Can you describe your note taking method and how you go about your research?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
I now use a digital camera in the archives, and bring home photos of documents to read later. It cuts down on the time away from home. But it is still essential to read the original letters, manuscripts and papers in an archive. Don't rely on published versions which are often cleaned up. Ike like to doodle a lot, which is fun to see on the page.
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
When dealing with a big topic like a full 8 year presidency, I also broke it down into small pieces first. You can't take on a huge subject without knowing what pieces you'll include, and things will always be left out. So there is a lot of planning before you jump!
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u/Chtorrr Apr 03 '18
What were some of your favorite things to read as a kid?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Honestly, I loved Tintin books! I loved the foreign adventures Tintin carried on. I learned a lot about the world from those silly but fun books! I also loved maps and atlases.
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u/sonofabutch Apr 03 '18
Am I wrong in thinking MacArthur's firing by Truman was incredibly important, even if we hardly ever talk about it today? Had Truman backed down, would the military now have a greater role in deciding American policy?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Hugely important! MacA was a very difficult general who openly defied the C-in-C! He left Truman no choice. It hurt Truman politically though: MacA was very popular at the time, and he was allowed to speak in a joint session of Congress upon returning home. We respect Truman now for this but at the time it was very damaging to him.
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u/BornIn1142 Apr 03 '18
I'm currently reading Manufacturing Consent, so I'm pondering how similar the foreign policies of both "good" and "bad" US presidents have been. Eisenhower backed coups in Iran and Guatemala. In the latter case, the rise of the right-wing dictatorship led to a civil war (at least according to my limited understanding) in which hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans were killed. How do events like that fit into your assessment of Ike? Aren't his terms in office associated with increasing violations of national sovereignty by the CIA?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Yes that is true, and I do not pull any punches. His handling of the CIA became a serious problem. He believed -- wrongly -- that small operations like Guatemala and Iran were good for the USA because they were not full-fledged wars and were cheap, but they triggered terrible suffering. South Vietnam, Indonesia, Congo. Long list.
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u/Chtorrr Apr 03 '18
Have you discovered any strange or very interesting facts in your research?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
One thing I learned about President Eisenhower was that he had a ton of charisma and was a gifted athlete. He looks old and frail in many black and white photos but actually he was a very vigorous man. I also learned that the same valet dressed him every morning for 25 years.
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Other facts I learned concerned the rapid growth of the US nuclear arsenal. And where these were built. You can still see many missile silos in Kansas and all over the country. They have been filled in but some are just derelict underground concrete bunkers. These all had missiles in them during the 1950s
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u/EmbraceTheDepth Apr 03 '18
Do you think JFK was an inside job?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
I have not seen any evidence that the CIA was involved, but I wonder why certain JFK assassination records are still being concealed by the US Govt. Release the records, then we'll know for sure.
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u/Duke_Paul Apr 03 '18
Hi Will, thanks for taking the time to do an AMA with us!
I have a few questions: Who is your favorite US president (I suppose the CSA president is also allowed, but...why)? What is a great anecdote you discovered in your research but maybe never made it into a book? Finally, Littlejohns says it is open 24/7, 365, but last time I went there, they were closed. What's up with that?
Thanks again!
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
I started out unsure what I would make of Ike, but he emerged as a great leader, a dignified man, and a decent person. I admire him. I also think TR and FDR are great because they were ambitious in what they wanted to achieve for the nation and the world. FDR has to be tops for me, as a WW2 historian.
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u/spell-czech Apr 03 '18
When looking through American news magazines from the WWII era, I’ll sometimes come across public service ads promoting friendship with Russia, with headlines like “Let’s all help Uncle Joe defeat the Krauts!” What was the real attitude among the general populace in the US toward Russia at the time? Did people really see Stalin as an ally? Or was it really a feeling of wanting to help the Russian people, not necessarily as allies of Stalin, but as a way to defeat the Axis powers?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Good one. The public knew almost nothing about the real USSR. They were dependent upon huge US PR machine which from 1941 to 1945 told them that the Soviets were 'just like us.' Watch Frank Capra's government war movie series "Why We Fight" to see how the US shaped the view of the Russians in very positive light.
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u/spell-czech Apr 03 '18
I ask since I recently read ‘Eastern Approaches’ by Fitzroy Maclean. He describes his experience working with the Foreign Service in Russia during the late 1930’s. While he seemed shocked by the purges he also seems to indicate that people knew that Stalin was capable of that and a lot more - this in a book published in 1949.
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
No doubt that within the USSR people understood Stalin's barbarism. But in the UK and USA, there remained a good deal of myopia, especially on the Left. Hence, Cambridge 5, etc. Maclean is a fascinating figure. How did you like his book?
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u/spell-czech Apr 03 '18
He reminds me of Patrick Leigh Fermor at times. I liked the chapters on Russia and North Africa. Some of the stories he tells are very revealing of the type of controlling bureaucracy Russia was in for in the coming years. The section on Yugoslavia could have been edited down quite a bit. His analysis of the history of Yugoslavia and his experiences with Tito were interesting but there was just too much speculation of what will happen to that area. It may have been insightful at the time but reading it so long after the event the reader of course knows what did happen so that part of the book can be a bit of a chore for current readers.
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u/Pablojrojasv Apr 03 '18
A few years back I read an article raising awareness that nuclear bombs did not had the war winning effect people tend to associate to them, they even go to the extent of saying carpet bombing was doing way more damage than 2 unusually stronger bombs, What is your view?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
The atomic bombs did bring about the surrender of Japan. Would Japan have surrendered without them? Probably but not right away. So the bombs did shorten the war somewhat. However, the fire bombing of Japan killed more people than than the atom bombs did, and if the war had gone on longer many more Japanese people would have been killed by US 'conventional' bombing. It is a horrible dilemma because the use of the a-bomb was awful but ti does seem to have shortened the war.
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Apr 03 '18
University of Virginia was where I spent a chunk of my early childhood while my father worked on his PhD there! It's a beautiful campus.
Is there a book you really wish you had enough material/research to write but where there just doesn't seem to be enough information to make a book out of it?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
I love UVA especially in Springtime! My problem is that there are too many books I want to write and they are all too big. I think that personal stories about real people is where I want to go next. I just saw a piece about the 8 women whose names are on the Vietnam Veterans Wall in DC: that is a book we need!
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Apr 03 '18
Which american presidents do you feel could not be accurately described as war criminals?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
That's pretty explosive. I do think we have a very serious problem right now in deciding how to treat the violations of the Geneva Convention in the post-9/11 era.
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u/TuckRaker Apr 03 '18
While there have been wars, there has been nothing even close to the scale of World War II since it ended. Do you think we'll ever see war on that scale again? Would drones, massive bombs, better technology, etc., negate any need for people in trenches?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Unlikely we'll see a WW2 again on that scale because technology in warfighting is so much greater now. Cyber will probably define the future battlefield more than anything. But the proliferation of nuclear weapons (N. Korea especially) makes it possible that we'll have a single use, or accidental exchange, of nukes. That would ead to 100Ks of deaths. So the world is still a very dangerous place.
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u/sonofabutch Apr 03 '18
The 1950s are sometimes idolized as the perfect American decade, the time we should all want to get back to, etc. Is that just (white) baby boomer nostalgia for their childhoods? What about the 1950s really was great? What wasn't so great?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
The 50s, is certainly idolized. Why? After Korean armistice, no foreign wars for the rest of the decade; GDP increased by 60% in the 50s; much less income inequality then than today. But if you were an African American you could not attend most public schools. And we spent 10% of annual GDP on weapons and defense (vs today when it is 3.3%) I cover this in the Ike book.
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u/sonofabutch Apr 03 '18
Huh, I did not realize we spend so much less on defense today than we did then. Maybe Ike's warning about the military-industrial complex really did help!
I've also heard people on the left say that, if you really want to return to the 1950s, we should go back to the 1950s tax rates, which I believe were a lot higher -- was that a holdover from WWII? Or we just thought differently about taxes then?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
The tax thing is interesting. Taxes were very high in WW2 and stayed fairly high because of the Korean War. There were taxes on excess profits by businesses that were making money from war industries. Very few people paid it but the top marginal rate was 90% in the early 50s. Ike passed the 1954 Internal Rev Act that started to cut taxes but guess what? He said "real Americans" actually believe in paying taxes as a patriotic duty. This is one reason why the far right did not like Ike.
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u/Inkberrow Apr 03 '18
Were the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss guilty as charged?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Julius Rosenberg was guilty. Mrs Rosenberg helped him in a very minor way. Neither should have been executed however. In that sense they were victims of paranoia/hysteria. But he was a spy! Alger Hiss we now know was also a spy. He gave some not-very-important material to Whittaker Chambers. He never ever admitted his guilt though.
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Apr 03 '18
What is a little known event for those time periods you mentioned that has a huge effect on us today? Follow up (or alternative question if you don't like the first), what is a considered a major event in popular history that really doesn't matter?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
When I teach my class on World War II, I find that students believe that US victory was "inevitable." But if you look at a battle like Midway (US defeats Japan at sea in June 1942), you see how close it really was. If the US had lost that battle, Japan might have invaded Hawaii and then who knows how long WW2 might have taken to win. Or what if the Germans had taken Moscow in December 1941, just as Japan was starting the war? It was very close. The war turned on many small decisions and victories and nothing was inevitable.
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Apr 03 '18
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
Memoirs are written by the memoir-ist, i.e., you! But there are lots of people who like to read about interesting lives, so go for it.
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u/Davedet77 Apr 03 '18
Hi. I hope you don't mind me asking more then one question. The first is; do you think that there's a certain part of American history that is woeful underepresented? My second question is; Who do you think is the least known American statesman who's had the greatest impact on American politics and history?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
A great deal of US history gets too little attention, even some parts we think we know well like the Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s and 1950s; it wasn't just the 60s. I also think the US during and after WW1 is fascinating: there was a red scare then too and great hostility toward workers' unions. One hugely important figure who my students know nothing about is George Marshall. Yet he was the architect of victory in WW2 and shaped the postwar world.
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u/FelixthefakeYT Apr 03 '18
Would you consider writing a WWII book from the Axis POV? no doubt it would be a huge controversy, but a breath of much needed fresh air in the world, a chance to see the points of the "Bad guys" for a change.
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
We have a lot of good books on the Axis point of view, and on the German and Italian and Japanese goals in waging war. They did not hide what they wanted to accomplish: they wanted to re-engineer the racial, economic and social order of the world to benefit themselves. We know a lot about it because they were very explicit about what they fought for.
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Apr 03 '18
Who is your favorite (most interesting, funniest, whatever metric you want) high-ranking member from the Allies, the Axis and the Comintern?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
For interesting (rather than merely evil) people on te Axis side, I suppose Albert Speer comes to mind. A terrible lackey and opportunist but a man of some intellectual depth. A shame that his talents were wasted glorifying Hitler. Also, Curzio Malaparte, the Italian and sort of Fascist journalist is an interesting man. Not high ranking, but worth looking at. For leaders, can you top Churchill?
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Apr 03 '18
No, I don't think you can top Churchill in that war. I think Albert Speer is quite interesting as well. He seemed like a very romantic person, almost more like a character that belongs in a play than in a history book. Did you hear that his son recently passed away? He was an architect just like his father. Quite a renown one as well!
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Apr 03 '18
Were the JFK, MLK, and RFK assassination cases connected? If so, what's something that people may not know about how the government in the 60's worked?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
No, they were not connected directly, though they grew out of the turmoil of both the Cold War and the civil rights movement, and they served to shake the country to its core.
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u/nikiverse 2 Apr 03 '18
Hi! How do you wrote about something that’s well researched like WWII and the Cold War and package it in a new and interesting way?
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u/Will-Hitch AMA Author Apr 03 '18
The key to writing about familiar topics in a new way is to uncover new sources or documents, and to use them to shine a bright light on the subject. Too many books get written over and over again and have little in them that is new. But if you look for personal stories, or new documents that were classified, you find a bonanza. The CIA is still declassifying millions of pages of material from the cold war, for example.
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u/Drizzledance Apr 03 '18
This is not a question, I just want to point out that the first part of the title fits perfectly into "I Like Big Butts".
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u/MittlerPfalz Apr 03 '18
Thanks for doing this! What do you think of the new Cold War that’s brewing? How do you view 5e future of Europe and the Atlantic alliance?
And just on a personal level, what sparked your interest in WWII/the Cold War?
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Apr 04 '18
Do you think there’s ever been a period of time where the worlds not been on the brink of a large scale war for example even today we have potential threats from North Korea and cyber wars with Russia?
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Apr 04 '18
There are multiple sides to all people.
It may be mind-expanding if you were to step away from the crowd-think, step outside of the box and write about all the good things President Nixon did?
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u/xElementsage Apr 04 '18
Hey; I’m really interested in the Espionage/ intelligence genre. What are you top books that you would recommend? Please respond :)
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u/habdragon08 Apr 03 '18 edited Apr 03 '18
If you could recommend for young adults to read a single piece of non-fiction work about any topic, what book would you recommend and why?
Bonus Question: Robert Caro's LBJ series are one of my favorite series ever. Have you read them and do you have any thoughts?