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Page 54 Caldwell • Eisenhower notably take on “the remarkably persistent legend that Eisenhower was a do -nothing president.” 50 Divine’s book is short, but he effectively argues within its pages that Ike was an adept political leader. For Divine, th e “model of presidential restraint” that Eisenhower left America with is something oft overlooked and undervalued, especially when considered within the context of the Cold War. 51 The following year, Fred I. Greenstein published The Hidden-Hand Presidency. Greenstein’s rebuttal of the negative perception of Eisenhower as president is perhaps the most well- known, for he is the one who aptly coined the phrase “hidden - hand presidency” to describe Eisenhower and his two terms in office. His thesis presents the idea of Eisenhower acting with a hidden-hand throughout his time in the Oval Office – one that controlled and delegated quite a bit more than was thought and made him into a “far more effective leader than many critics realized.” 52 Greenstein does not claim that this made Eisenhower a perfect president or political genius, but he does highlight the value of this leadership style for that specific time period. Finally, last in the line of historians who defined the field of Eisenhower revisionism comes Stephen E. Ambrose. Ambrose published the two-volume work Eisenhower: Soldier & President in 1984. Within the pages of the two books, Ambrose records the life of Dwight David Eisenhower. The presidential years are analyzed in the second volume, and Ambrose presents a strong argument that Eisenhower “ran the show” as President. 53 The monumental impetus behind this changing of historical perspective was the release of the Eisenhower administration’s papers in the 1970s and 1980s. With the influx of new evidence and source material, historians suddenly had much more to consider aside from just public opinion, partisan news reports, popular critique, and the appearance of stability that the administration put forth. 54 The new evidentiary findings began to support more and more the idea of Eisenhower as a deft and able leader, one who was a strong politician and a powerful president. Proofs for the Change One of the most important aspects of historical research is the ability of the historian to locate and access primary sources and documents that display the truth of the subject being researched. As much as secondary sources can help in providing background knowledge, a historian cannot (or should not) speak with authority on a subject until he or she has appropriately studied the primary sources that help construct the proper and truthful narrative. Such is the case with Dwight David Eisenhower and the examination of him as a political leader. Fortunately, primary sources abound on the subject. Eisenhower 50 C. J. Bartlett, “Eisenhower and the Cold War (Book Review),” History 67, no. 221 (1982): 444, accessed March 20, 2020, www.jstor.org/stable/24418225. 51 Robert Divine, Eisenhower and the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 155. 52 Greenstein, The Hidden-Hand Presidency, 248. 53 Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower: Volume 2 – The President (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), 10. 54 De Santis, “Eisenhower Revisionism,” 203.