Presidential Scorekeeping: The new book on Paul O'Neill is being marketed as a rabid anti-Bush tract. But past attempts at instant history have had pitifully short half-lives.

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 26-JAN-04

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Byline: Robert J. Samuelson

In 1962, Emmet John Hughes published a memoir of the Eisenhower presidency titled "The Ordeal of Power." Hughes, a prominent journalist who had served Eisenhower as a speechwriter, admired the president as a person and for his role as the commanding general in Europe during World War II. Still, the portrait of Eisenhower was unflattering, because it depicted a leader ill suited for the White House. Eisenhower, Hughes believed, never mastered the political skills needed to create a vigorous presidency. Even now, Hughes's elegantly written book is a wonderful read. But historians generally dissent from its central conclusion. They increasingly think that Eisenhower was more politically deft than people believed and that, in his basic judgments and policies,...

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