When General Eisenhower assumed the US presidency in 1953 the world entered the nuclear age and certainly Winston Churchill thought that Eisenhower would soon lead the US into another war. Based on declassified archive material, Ike's Bluff tells for the first time the real story. In fact, the opposite happened to Churchill's fears. Eisenhower realised the devastating consequences of a nuclear conflict well ahead of the other world powers. His broad smile hid a brilliant, ruthless tactician. He guided a fractious world through a period when the full consequences of the Bomb were only slowly realised. Harold Macmillan, with whom he had a close friendship, ruefully remarked that Britain would be wiped off the map with only 8 bombs. Facing the Soviet Union, China, and his own generals, some of whom believed a first strike was the only means of survival, Eisenhower would make his boldest and riskiest bet yet, one of such enormity that there could be but two outcomes: the survival of the world, or its end.

This is the story of how he won.