Band Of Brothers author accused of fabrication for Eisenhower biography

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Band Of Brothers author accused of fabrication for Eisenhower biography
US academic world shocked as respected historian is said to have 'made up' meetings with 34th US president
Paul Harris The Observer, Sunday 25 April 2010

His book Band of Brothers – which chronicled the exploits of one company of US airborne troops in second world war Europe – was turned into a highly praised TV series.

But now American historian Professor Stephen Ambrose, who was President Dwight D Eisenhower's official biographer and wrote or edited more than a dozen books about him, is embroiled in a posthumous controversy. It is alleged that he invented many meetings he claimed to have had with Eisenhower, and even fabricated entire interviews with him. The revelations have sent shock waves through the scholarly community in the United States.

The books written by Ambrose, who died in 2002, brought him popular acclaim, and director Steven Spielberg used him as a military adviser on his 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan. Band of Brothers became a cultural milestone when it was turned into a TV series on which Ambrose was a producer. It was hailed for educating an entire generation about the sacrifices of their forefathers. But it appears that Ambrose indulged in some sort of fantasy about the extent of his relationship with Eisenhower. In TV interviews, he claimed to have spent "hundreds and hundreds of hours" with the former president. He even once said he would spend two days a week working with Eisenhower in his office.

However, recently studied records of Eisenhower's meetings contradict the notion that the pair had any lengthy face-to-face contact. "I think five hours (in total) is a generous estimation of the actual time they spent together. I personally would push it back to less than two or three," said Tim Rives, deputy director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/25/stephen-ambrose-eisenhower-biography-scandal

[bluestateguy]

1. Ambrose was always a better storyteller than scholar

The kindly old man you want telling the stories around the campfire (who may embellish from time to time), not necessarily the scholar whose word you want to take as gospel truth.

[Posteritatis]

24. And we certainly need both, even though this situation is disappointing to say the least.. (nt)

[Blue_Tires]

2. So Ike didn't sing with the Rat Pack?

or win the world series for Brooklyn?

[Javaman]

26. I know, hard to believe! But the worst of it is...

Ike's no hitter will now be struck from the offical records.

[DURHAM D]

3. Interesting. I remember when Ambrose got caught before. nt

[Captain Hilts]

4. Not news. Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin farm out a LOT of research. nt

[No Elephants]

10. Farming out research and lying thru your teeth about meetings with your subject are very different.

[Captain Hilts]

18. Yes, they are, but it's a first step in dishonesty. Kearns got caught in a major plagerism

scandal.

[Iggo]

5. So he was a plagiarist AND a fabulist?

Busy boy!

[EFerrari]

12. Gore Vidal made a comment to the effect that DKG stole the team of rivals idea

from him. He seemed annoyed by her.

[Codeine]

6. Frustrating that he died thinking he'd gotten away with it. nt

[Lasher]

14. By then he probably believed his own lies. n/t

[Codeine]

23. I suppose that's almost certainly true. nt

[Iggo]

28. The secret outlived him. So, in essence, he did get away with it. (n/t)

[NBachers]

7. Ike would be a radical socialist to today's republicans

[Captain Hilts]

8. My mother - a liberal Dem - worked with Eisenhower in the War Dept. and adored him.

General Eichelberger also.

[No Elephants]

11. Not really. And he was a racist, too. Chief Justice Earl Warren, who was on the

court when Brown v. Bd. of Ed. was decided, put a couple of Ik'e racist comments in his autobiography.

Please don't say it was the time. Earl Warren was Ike's contemporary and recognized it as racism. And read some of Adlai Stevenson's remarks on equality.

[JI7]

13. and Earl Warren supported internment of Japanese during WWII

[paulsby]

15. and of course being a racist and a radical socialist are in no way mutually exclusive.

assuming he was a racist, it says nothing about the claim he would be considered a radical socialist by todays repubs (which i realize is a bit of hyperbole, but still...)

[autorank]

9. The age of greed

Yep, the guy thought he'd cash in. I saw him in a couple of documentaries and he seemed
to be such a know it all. Of course, that's easy when you just make it up.

Guy has a history:

In 2002, Ambrose was found to have plagiarized several passages in his book The Wild Blue by Sally Richardson and others. Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard reported that Ambrose had taken passages from Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down over Germany in World War II by Thomas Childers (a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania).<7> Ambrose and his publisher, Simon and Schuster, released an apology as a result. Ambrose had only footnoted sources and did not enclose in direct quotes significant passages taken from Childers' book.<4><8>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Ambrose#Plagiarism_controversy

[Downtown Hound]

16. You mean his excessively glowy and overly sentimental

take on U.S. History is an exaggeration and partial fabrication? Color me shocked. Not.

[NecklyTyler]

17. Republicans have a history of lying to bolster their public image

Stephen Ambrose made up good stories to make Eisenhower look good in the eyes of the voters. No doubt Eisenhower knew, but it worked to his advantage

[Regret My New Name]

19. I find it amusing how people turn everything into something political...

[tabasco]

20. Last time I checked,

the President of the United States is a politician.

[Regret My New Name]

22. I just checked too, and it seems as if you're correct.

The main point in this story is that this guy simply made stuff up for his own gain. It seems silly to assume his motives were to further some political agenda. Is every action that you takes based on your political views?

[Javaman]

27. Wait! Who was the source that claims that Ike was pres? Ambrose?

:rofl:

[Downtown Hound]

21. You think history isn't political? n/t

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.