(4 of 4)
But when the Allies got to North Africa they found that none of the French paid any attention to Giraud; the Vichy commanders on the scene idolized Pétain, and ultimately agreed to take orders only from Darlan, who by lucky chance was in Algiers at the time, visiting his paralyzed son. It was not Ike's doing that De Gaulle in London wasn't even told of the North African invasion. The British blamed a leak in De Gaulle's staff for their earlier failure to capture Dakar. Ike is still cool toward De Gaulle, who, as Ike tells it, was more of a hindrance than a help to the Allied effort.
Essentially an optimist, Eisenhower thought at first that Russia and the West had a good chance of working out their postwar differences, tried hard in Berlin to make a go of it with Marshal Zhukov. The Marshal, he found, was merely a high-ranking Kremlin mouthpiece without authority, though Stalin himself said to Ike: "There is no sense in sending a delegate somewhere if he is merely to be an errand boy. He must have authority to act." Ike soon learned that the East-West ideological differences were irreconcilable, that adequate military defense would provide the only real security for the U.S.
Promise in Potsdam. There had been rumors that publication of Eisenhower's book was carefully held up until after the election. But Ike's only stick of political dynamite has already become pretty damp powder. In Potsdam one day, Ike was out driving with President Truman, whom he had found "sincere, earnest, and a most pleasant person with whom to deal." Said Truman, all of a sudden: "General, there is nothing that you may want that I won't try to help you get. That definitely and specifically includes the presidency in 1948." Ike says he replied with a laugh: "Mr. President, I don't know who will be your opponent for the presidency, but it will not be I."
-Under a Treasury ruling for non-professional writers, Eisenhower's profits on the book, reported to be over $500,000, will be taxed as capital gains (25%) instead of as personal income, thus practically doubling his earnings on it. Though it is not generally known, he accepts no salary as president of Columbia University. As a five-star general he is technically still on active duty, with total Army pay and allowances of $15,744 a year.