The Middle Way

Abstract This book explores the shared foreign policy legacies of Dwight Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and how they exemplify a distinct and underappreciated tradition of political leadership: the Middle Way. The book explores how these three presidents thought about the world and American leadership, and how they grappled with foreign policy crises and navigated politics. Drawing upon new archival research at the Eisenhower and Bush presidential libraries, and interviews with former Obama officials, the book shows how these presidents took a centrist approach to foreign policy and provides a model for America to reinvigorate its role as a global leader. This work of presidential history looks behind the scenes at some of the most important moments in foreign policy since World War II, and it explores the broader lessons for American foreign policy and leadership. The book reflects the author’s unique experience as a senior official at the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon to show how Washington, DC, works from the inside; and in the process, offers a new way of thinking about American global leadership and makes a case for new ways to measure presidential success.