Anthony Eden: A Life and Reputation

The failed gamble of Suez in 1956 lay waste Eden's 30-year career in a number of positions at the top of the British government. Long the heir-apparent to Churchill, who kept postponing his retirement, Eden (1897-1977) occupied 10 Downing Street as prime minister for only 21 months. The Anglo-French attack on Egypt forced Eden's resignation, after which critics wondered whether he had been big enough for the job. In the shadow of Churchill, perhaps no one was, but Dutton, who lectures in modern history at the University of Liverpool in England, offers in this thoughtful work a cautiously sympathetic reappraisal. His reassessment--not a full life--examines the major facets of Eden's eventful service in several cabinets, from youthful foreign secretary to aging, ailing and embattled prime minister. Beginning with Eden's unheroic role in the prewar appeasement of Hitler and Mussolini, papered over by a well-publicized resignation, and concluding with the ghosts of Suez, Dutton ranges across crises and controversies, backing his deeply informed study with nearly 80 pages of notes. While he sees Eden as damaged by his reputation as the most elegant and handsome politician of his era, he sees Eden's personal deficiencies as less crucial than the historical hand he was dealt. As Dutton observes: ""The management of the foreign policy of a nation which was, despite its traditions and obligations as a world power, in manifest decline, was no easy task."" Misjudging what was to Eden a politically unsophisticated America marred his stewardship in general, but to Dutton his performance as Churchill's wartime partner is credit enough to lift Eden's faded reputation. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Feb.)