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U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues
Where Duty, Honor and Country
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General of the Army
Dwight David Eisenhower
(1890-1969)
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Dwight David Eisenhower, American general and 34th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was the principal architect of the successful Allied invasion of Europe during World War II and of the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany. As president, Eisenhower ended the Korean War, but his two terms (1953-1961) produced few legislative landmarks or dramatic initiatives in foreign policy. His presidency is remembered as a period of relative calm in the United States.
Newly weds, David Jacob and Ida Stover Eisenhower, September 23, 1885.
Eisenhower spent his first 50 years in almost total obscurity. A professional soldier, he was not even particularly well known within the U.S. Army. His rise to fame during World War II was meteoric: a lieutenant colonel in 1941, he was a five-star general in 1945. As supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he commanded the most powerful force ever assembled under one man. He is one of the few generals ever to command major naval forces; he directed the world's greatest air force; he is the only man ever to command successfully an integrated, multinational alliance of ground, sea, and air forces. He led the assault on the French coast at Normandy, on June 6, 1944, and held together the Allied units through the European campaign that followed, concentrating everyone's attention on a single objective: the defeat of Nazi Germany, completed on May 8, 1945.
In 1950, President Harry TRUMAN appointed Eisenhower the supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, thus making Eisenhower the first man to command a large, peacetime multinational force. His genius lay in getting people of diverse background to work together toward a common objective, but he was equally skillful as a strategist and administrator.
He displayed the same talents as president, but they did not produce the same spectacular results. The discipline characteristic of military organizations was unknown to American politics, and rebellion against his leadership occurred frequently--the more so because his REPUBLICAN party controlled CONGRESS during only two of Eisenhower's eight years in office. His dislike of politics was also a handicap. He calmed fears about Communist infiltration of the national government. He provided partial relief from the divisiveness engendered by his predecessor's approach to issues, yet Eisenhower's achievements seem less impressive in retrospect because he minimized the importance of racial tensions and of socioeconomic antagonisms that erupted so explosively in the 1960's.
His first known photo, seven year old Arthur, baby Roy, four year old Edgar and three year old David Dwight.
Although only a little above average in height and weight, Eisenhower dominated any gathering of which he was a member. His bald pate, prominent forehead, and broad mouth made his head seem larger than it was. He had a wonderfully expressive face, and it was impossible for him to conceal his feelings.
He had a sharp, orderly mind. No one thought of him as an intellectual giant, and outside his professional field he was not well read. He was not likely to come up with brilliant insights. But he could look at a problem, analyze it, see what alternatives were available, and choose from among them. His beliefs were those of Main Street; his personality that of the outgoing, affable American writ large.
Almost everyone liked him. His easy manners, his obvious concern with the welfare of others, his ability to listen patiently--all contributed to his popularity. Most important was his trustworthy nature. His grin, his mannerisms, and his generosity and kindness all exuded sincerity.
Childhood
Eisenhower's parents, David and Ida Stover Eisenhower, both belonged to the River Brethren, a fundamentalist Christian sect. David and Ida met as students at Lane University, operated by the United Brethren Church in Lecompton, Kans. They married in 1885. David's father, a prosperous farmer, gave him $2,000 and a 160-acre farm as wedding gifts. However, David hated the drudgery of farming and sold out, investing in a general store in Hope, Kans. Within three years the business failed, and David was broke. He fled to Denison, Texas, leaving behind a son and a pregnant wife. He worked as a laborer on a railroad for $40 a month and in 1889 sent for his family to join him in Texas. There Dwight was born on Oct. 14, 1890. When Dwight was less than a year old, David took a job at the Belle Springs Creamery in Abilene, Kans., and the family moved into a small house in Abilene. There David and Ida raised six healthy boys--a seventh son died in infancy--on a salary that never exceeded $100 a month. Each of the six surviving sons achieved success.
Promising West Point football player, Dwight Eisenhower, kicks in 1912. An injury would cut short Ike's collegiate football career, but he found success in other areas.
Ida ran a tightly organized household. The Eisenhowers raised almost all their own food, selling the surplus for cash. The boys worked to earn their spending money. David led weekly Bible reading sessions. He and Ida moved steadily toward a more primitive Christianity, eventually joining the Jehovah's Witnesses. None of their sons became notably devout--Dwight never joined a church and rarely attended a church service in his adult life--but none staged a dramatic rebellion against religion either. At the core of his parents' religion was an ingrained respect for the individual as a creature of God who had free will. They insisted that their boys be fully exposed to Christianity, but beyond that they did not impose their beliefs. The Eisenhowers also encouraged their children to be independent and self-reliant.
Although Dwight attracted little attention in the classroom, he stood out in athletic competition through grade school and high school. After graduating from Abilene High School in 1909, Dwight went to work in the creamery, partly to support an older brother in college. He took a competitive examination for an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, both because a free education was too good to pass up and because of the opportunity to play football. He passed the examination, then found that he was too old to go to Annapolis and instead in 1911 went to the Military Academy at West Point.
Military Career
Sports were his all-consuming interest. At the academy he was average in everything else. During his second year Eisenhower played halfback on the Army team, and sportswriters began to predict All-American honors for him, but a twisted knee during the season ruined his football career. The blow to his emotions was worse. His roommate described Eisenhower as a man who had lost interest in life. Eisenhower graduated in 1915, 61st in a class of 164.
Mamie, David Dwight ("Icky"), and Dwight Eisenhower, ca.1919
Marriage
Two weeks after reporting for duty as a 2d lieutenant of Infantry at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, he met Mamie Geneva Doud. He immediately embarked on a courtship. Miss Doud came from a wealthy Denver family and was accustomed to a life of ease and luxury, which a young Army officer could hardly offer. She tried to discourage her suitor, but he persisted, and on July 1, 1916, they were married in Denver. The union was an eminently happy one. They had two sons. One died as a child. The other, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, graduated from the Military Academy on the day Dwight Eisenhower launched the invasion of Europe. He later served as ambassador to Belgium. Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington on Nov. 1, 1979.
Early Promotions
In 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I, Eisenhower was promoted to captain. He wanted desperately to go to France to lead men in battle, but he was such an outstanding instructor and trainer of men that the Army kept him in the United States. In March 1918 he took command of Camp Colt, a tank training center at Gettysburg, Pa. There he spent the rest of the war, learning a great deal about armored warfare and about turning civilians into soldiers, earning a Distinguished Service Medal for his services, but getting no promotions or combat experience. He was promoted to major in 1920 and in the next year graduated from the Tank School at Camp Meade, Md. But outward signs of progress hid inner drift. He had little interest in his profession, spent most of his time coaching football teams on Army posts, and could not see much of a future for himself.
Dwight Eisenhower, far right, with three unidentified associates, in 1919 during the time the 29-year-old lieutenant colonel, four years out of West Point, participated in a transcontinental military convoy trek.
Then, in 1922, he was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone as executive officer for the 20th Infantry Brigade. There he met Gen. Fox Conner, who stimulated Eisenhower's interest in the profession of arms. Conner gave Eisenhower what amounted to a graduate course in military history. They spent hours talking about military and international problems. Conner told Eisenhower that a certain Col. George C. Marshall would lead the American forces in the next war--which he was certain would come--and urged Eisenhower to try for an assignment under Marshall. Conner also impressed on Eisenhower the idea that the next war would be worldwide and those who directed it would have to think in terms of world rather than single-front strategy. Even after he was a retired president, Eisenhower would say, "Fox Conner was the ablest man I ever knew."
Staff Assignments
In 1925, thanks to Conner's help, Eisenhower went to the Command and General Staff School in Leavenworth, Kans. He worked hard, graduating first in a class of 275. In 1927 he prepared a guidebook on European battlefields of World War I. In 1928 he graduated from the Army War College in Washington, D. C. By this time his reputation in the Army was that of an outstanding staff officer, uncommonly good at preparing reports.
  
From 1929 to 1933, Eisenhower served in the office of the assistant secretary of war. He produced a long report on industrial mobilization in the event of war. In 1933 he became assistant to the chief of staff, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Although MacArthur was too flamboyant for Eisenhower's taste, MacArthur appreciated and depended on Eisenhower's administrative and writing abilities. When MacArthur went to the Philippines in 1935 as military adviser to the Commonwealth, he asked the War Department to detail Major Eisenhower to him as senior assistant. Eisenhower spent the next four years in the Philippines helping MacArthur build up the defenses of the islands. He made no secret of the fact that he disliked the duty and wanted command of troops.
In early 1940, Eisenhower, now a lieutenant colonel, became executive officer of the 15th Infantry Regiment at Fort Ord, Calif., but the Army quickly sent him back to staff work. In March 1940 he became chief of staff of the 3d Division at Fort Lewis, Wash., and in 1941 rose to colonel and chief of staff for Gen. Walter Krueger, commander of the 3d Army at Fort Sam Houston. In the summer of 1941 he made the plans for Krueger's 3d Army in the Louisiana maneuvers, the largest ever held in peacetime in the United States. Eisenhower did so well that for the first time he attracted some notice outside the Army. He was also promoted to brigadier general.
On Dec. 14, 1941, George Marshall, now Army chief of staff, called Eisenhower to Washington and put him in the War Plans Division with special responsibility for the Far East. Eisenhower was stuck behind a desk again, working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. Marshall, who was trying to cut the deadwood out of the Army's general officer ranks and was looking for vigorous younger men to lead the war effort, was impressed. In March 1942, he made Eisenhower a major general and head of the Operations Division. In June he added another star and sent Eisenhower to London to take command of the U.S. forces in the European Theater of Operations.
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