President Dwight Eisenhower’s historical reputation has been steadily rising for decades, but what did he actually accomplish of lasting significance? Drawing on new research, William I. Hitchcock argues that Eisenhower significantly shaped the twentieth century, and left lasting legacies in foreign policy, domestic affairs, and upon the presidency itself. From building the warfare state, to modernizing the Republican Party, and shaping civil rights policy, Eisenhower proved to be one of the most consequential presidencies of the postwar era.

William I. Hitchcock is a professor of history at the University of Virginia and the Randolph Compton Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs. A graduate of Kenyon College and Yale University, he is the author most recently of The Bitter Road to Freedom: The Human Cost of Allied Victory in World War II Europe, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University) and Philippa Strum (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is sponsored jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and the George Washington University History Department for their support.