Each exhibited mastery of detail and fascination with technology. They came from four very different backgrounds - backwoods lawyer, dueling French doctor, rogue aristocrat, and impoverished Jewish socialist.Yet they faced similar challenges, not least the possibility that their conduct of the war could bring about their fall from power.
Lincoln, Clemenceau, Churchill, and Ben-Gurion led four very different kinds of democracy, under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. The generals may think they know how to win, but the statesmen are the ones who see the big picture. They question and drive their military men, and at key times they overrule their advice. Great statesmen make better generals of their generals. Great states-men do not turn their wars over to their generals, and then stay out of their way. When the chips are down, who should run the show - the politicians or the generals? In Supreme Command, Eliot Cohen examines four great democratic war statesmen - Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion - to reveal the surprising answer: the politicians.
The relationship between military leaders and political leaders has always been a complicated one, especially in times of war.
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