Jonathan W. Jordan: On Politics, Power, and Friendship
In this interview, author Jonathan W. Jordan discusses the forgotten friendship at the heart of his new historical book, Ike and Winston.
Jonathan W. Jordan is a historian and an award-winning author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe. He is a regular book critic for The Wall Street Journal and the author of nearly two dozen articles appearing in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, World War II magazine, Military History, and World War II History magazine. He has made numerous live, televised, podcast, and radio appearances. Jon lives with his family in the Atlanta area. Follow him on Facebook.
In this interview, Jonathan discusses the forgotten friendship at the heart of his new historical book, Ike and Winston, his advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Jonathan W. Jordan
Literary agent: Jeff Kleinman/Folio
Book title: Ike and Winston: World War, Cold War, and an Extraordinary Friendship
Publisher: Dutton
Release date: May 12, 2026
Genre/category: History/Biography
Previous titles: Lone Star Navy: Texas, the Fight for the Gulf of Mexico, and the Shaping of the American West;Brothers Rivals Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership that Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe;American Warlords: How Roosevelt’s High Command Led America to Victory in World War II;Co-authored with Emily Anne Jordan (my daughter): The War Queens: Extraordinary Women Who Ruled the Battlefield;As editor: Moore, Edwin Ward, To the People of Texas: An Appeal in Vindication of His Conduct of the Navy
Elevator pitch: The unknown personal friendship between Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill, from Pearl Harbor to Churchill’s death in 1965, influenced the path a declining empire and rising superpower would take for a 20th-century threatened with thermonuclear destruction. Ike and Winston tells the unheralded story of two men whose friendship set a pattern for the Cold War that echoes to this day.
What prompted you to write this book?
I’ve always been fascinated by relationships between extraordinarily talented people. Too often individuals with enormous talent let their egos stand in the way of a productive, even beautiful relationship. Churchill, a supreme romantic, and Eisenhower, a cold-blooded card player, were an exception—and the story of their friendship has never been told in full.
I’ve also been interested in what happens to two close friends when one is promoted above the other, or their position fundamentally changes—when the protégé supplants the mentor. Can friendship survive? What does it take to keep the bond from breaking? This happens in so many other contexts—marriages, work relationships and high school or college friendships, for example.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I began work in 2018, so the process took eight years. (During that time, work with my daughter on The War Queens, together with the COVID pandemic, a divorce, and a busy legal career at a large law firm, delayed writing and production.)
The big change to the story was the inclusion of the book’s last part, “Waterloo Sunset,” which takes place after Churchill’s resignation as prime minister in 1955. I wanted to show what happened to America and the U.K. when the glue of the Eisenhower-Churchill friendship vanished. It turned out to have an extraordinary effect on the fate of the old British Empire—and the rise of America as a superpower.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I was surprised how thoroughly the positions of the two men changed—and how their friendship didn’t. Eisenhower, an unknown brigadier in December 1941, became Supreme Allied Commander under Churchill’s patronage. He took the presidency of a United States that supplanted the old British Empire as leader of the Free World. Churchill, a world-renowned figure long before anyone had heard of Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin, watched as his beloved Empire settled into second-tier rank—and as his protégé, Eisenhower learned to say no to his closest foreign friends. Yet they remained personal friends who loved to talk over a drink and who bonded over oil painting and their shared commitment to the Anglo-American ideal of liberal democracy.
Eisenhower is thought of as the smiling, golf-playing, genial chairman of the board who left the decisions to others. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Ike’s intellectual richness and ability to empathize with butlers and barons, kings and sergeants is something rarely seen in ego-driven national leaders.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
This is the first book I’ve written with so many long interruptions. I thought the interposition of The War Queens, a global pandemic, the pain of divorce, several high-stress court battles, and the process of becoming a federal judge all should have knocked Ike and Winston’s cadence on the head, leaving me with a patched quilt rather than an integrated story. It didn’t—at least, I hope the reader will think it didn’t.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
You can disagree with someone, even on fundamental things, and still be friends with them.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
When you find a book to write, go all in—push it as far as it will go—and take pleasure in the result. You’ve grown from the journey, whether or not your writing gets published or flies off the shelves. It makes you a better person.
