Dwight D. Eisenhower

Born October 14, 1890
Denison, Texas Died March 28, 1969
Washington, D.C.

American president and military leader

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander of the Allied forces in Europe in World War II (1939–45), commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, and then the thirty-fourth president of the United States, serving two terms in office. He took office near the end of the Korean War (1950–53), inheriting from his predecessor, Harry S. Truman (1884–1972; see entry), a tangled truce process accompanied by violent battle near the 38th parallel, the dividing line between North and South Korea. Like Truman, Eisenhower carried out limited warfare in Korea and took a cautious approach to hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union in the nuclear age. His foreign policy is generally considered as among the most successful of the cold war, the period between World War II and the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 in which the intense military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union approached but fell short of full-scale war.

A humble background

Long before Dwight Eisenhower's birth, his grandfather, Jacob Eisenhower, moved to Kansas from Pennsylvania and bought farmland in Dickinson County. Although Jacob was very successful, his son David, Dwight's father, was not interested in farming. David attended college on the small campus of Lane University, where he met Dwight's mother, Ida Elizabeth Stover. The two were married in 1885. Both David and Ida were devout Christians. Jacob gave the newlyweds 160 acres of land and $2,000, but David mortgaged the land and joined with a partner in opening a general store in Hope, not far from Abilene. The store failed, and David moved to Denison, Texas, where he found work with a railroad. He sent for his wife and two sons and soon a third son, Dwight, was born. The family then moved back to Abilene, where David worked in a creamery. The family, which grew to include six boys, struggled to get by on David's small income.

Ida Eisenhower was a strong influence on her sons. She taught them that the only way to get what they wanted in life was to work for it. The boys attended public school, filling up the rest of their hours with work. They raised vegetables for the family meals and took outside jobs to help support the household. Their poverty was reflected in their school clothes. Dwight was the only boy in the fifth grade class picture wearing overalls. For a short time, he even had to wear his mother's shoes to school because the family could not afford new shoes for everyone. When the Eisenhower boys became the subjects of other children's teasing, Dwight became a pretty good fighter. Otherwise, his early life was not much different from that of a typical farm boy in Kansas. He found time to engage in sports and to play pranks on the neighbors, meanwhile earning average or better grades in school, working on the family's small farm plot, and selling some of the vegetables to neighbors.

Education

In high school, Eisenhower's great interest was sports. His football coaches considered the six-foot, 160-pound running back just an average player. But he loved the game and was popular with his teammates. Along with football, Eisenhower played baseball and was head of a new athletic association formed by the high school students to gain community support for the athletic program. He was an avid reader of history as well, and many thought he would become a history professor.

The Eisenhower boys all had hopes of improving their lot. Edgar (who would become a lawyer) and Dwight wanted to go on to college, but since there was not enough money, they developed a plan to take turns going to school; Dwight would work first and put Edgar through school and then Edgar would do the same for him. Dwight took a job working with his father at the Belle Springs Creamery. For a while, his hours were 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. seven days a week—an eighty-four-hour work week. Then one of his friends decided to become a naval officer and encouraged Dwight to join him in taking the exams. At that time examinations for the naval academy at Annapolis and the military academy at West Point were given at the same time. Although Eisenhower hoped for a career in the navy, the year off from school had made him too old to start at Annapolis.

West Point

Eisenhower was admitted to West Point in 1911. In those days, West Point cadets were very sternly disciplined. They were not allowed to have any money and were confined to the campus. Cadets received only one leave in four years, a two-week furlough after the second year. Eisenhower benefitted from the stern discipline at home, and adjusted to West Point easily. Football helped. By this time, Eisenhower had put on muscle and carried a strong and agile 175 pounds on his six-foot frame. He was an outstanding running back for West Point while managing to maintain above-average grades. In his second year, though, Eisenhower broke the same knee twice, ending his football career.

Without football, Eisenhower began to lose interest in West Point. He maintained his slightly above-average grades due mostly to his interest in history and English, but now he began to fill his hours playing cards and smoking, both forbidden by the academy. As a result, his last three years were spotted with demerits. He also reentered sports, first as a cheerleader, then as assistant coach of the freshman football players. His achievement at West Point was not spectacular— except that in his last year he managed to earn 100 demerits.

Marriage

Eisenhower's ranking at West Point did not merit any choice assignments in the regular army. After graduating, he was assigned to the infantry as a second lieutenant and sent to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. He met Mamie Doud at a party in San Antonio and soon fell in love. They were wed on July 1, 1916, and remained married until Eisenhower's death. They had two sons, David Dwight and John Sheldon. David died early, at the age of four, while John followed in his father's footsteps, advancing to West Point and a military career.

Military trainer

By 1917, when the United States was about to enter World War I (1914–18), Eisenhower had risen to the rank of captain, mostly on his ability as an instructor. He knew how to discipline his men and gain their friendship. He was assigned during the war to Camp Colt near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a training camp for the infantry. After the war, he was promoted to major and sent back to school to learn about the new tank warfare. Two years later, still without a real career goal, he was assigned to Panama in Central America to serve under Brigadier General Fox Conner. It was one of the most fortunate turns of his military career.

Conner had played a central role in World War I and was also a student of military history. He taught Eisenhower the ways of the career officer and also renewed the younger man's keen interest in history. Eisenhower greatly respected the general and, for the first time, began to take a real interest in his career. In 1925, Conner secured an assignment for Eisenhower at the staff training school at Leavenworth, Kansas. Conner also pointed out a young colonel whom he guessed would be the next army leader and advised Eisenhower to seek the man out. The colonel was George C. Marshall (1880–1959), who would later become commander in chief of the army in World War II.

Eisenhower's change of attitude due to Conner's instructions showed in his record at staff training school. He finished first in a class of 215, yet attracted little attention among the army's ranking officers. From 1929 to 1933, he was just an aide in the office of the assistant secretary of war. Then, in 1933, he became an aide to Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964; see entry), then chief of staff of the army. Two years later, MacArthur accepted an assignment as field marshal of a new Philippine army. Major Eisenhower went along as his chief of staff, but tensions arose between him and MacArthur. In 1939, with World War II erupting in Europe, Eisenhower asked to return to the United States.

Outbreak of war

Eisenhower was serving as a colonel under General Walter Krueger with the Third Army when it joined in one of the army's most massive practice wars. Eisenhower devised the Third Army's plan of attack; it worked so well in the practice that he finally won recognition as a military planner. Army leaders found that Eisenhower could listen to others, then make sound judgments about what to do.

The day after these practice maneuvers, Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Eisenhower became a brigadier general and was assigned to the War Plans Division in Washington, D.C. His first task was to plan the strategy for the Far East, but he was soon put in charge of the army's operations division. His task changed in 1942 to planning for a war to defeat Germany and Japan.

Planning the invasion of Europe

Eisenhower and his staff planned strategy to defeat the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Once its enemies were divided, the U.S. military reasoned, they would be easier to defeat. Eisenhower had been in the Far East and knew something about Japan. To attack Japan first, as MacArthur preferred, would require long lines of communication and, Eisenhower felt, consume too much in the way of U.S. energy and resources. Germany would meanwhile be left free to romp around Europe. The Operations Department decided to tackle Germany first.

Eisenhower liked to get the facts, make sense of them, and then take direct action. His plan to attack the Germans called for assembling some 3,500 ships to transport more than 150,000 troops, land these forces on beaches in France, and push the German army back until it submitted. At the same time, the Soviet Union would attack German holdings in Eastern Europe and move west toward Germany. Eisenhower presented the plan to Chief of Staff Marshall. Marshall then decided that Eisenhower was the man to get it started. Since it required gaining the cooperation of America's major allies (Britain and the Soviet Union) and Eisenhower's ability to get along with nearly everyone was well known, he was the logical choice. He headed for London to meet with the British leaders Winston Churchill and Field Marshall Alan Brooke, and a still unnamed Russian representative. With charm and modesty, the American general soon won both governments' cooperation. Eisenhower returned to Washington to prepare. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) and Marshall chose Eisenhower to direct the invasion.

The invasion of North Africa

Prior to other major invasions, the British wanted to drive out the German tank armies that were rapidly occupying Egypt and North Africa. Eisenhower felt that the allies needed all their resources for Europe, but President Roosevelt agreed with the British, so Eisenhower soon found himself directing attacks in Africa. Operation Torch began in November 1942. After an initial failure, the Allied forces finally captured the German supply port at Tunis, Tunisia. By May 1943, all of Africa was controlled by the Allied forces. Eisenhower, now a full general, could turn toward Italy.

Sicily and Italy

German soldiers had occupied northern Italy and established a strong line there. These would be the first targets for the Allied armies. From his headquarters on the island of Malta, southwest of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea, Eisen-hower directed troops that drove toward the German lines. Sicily was taken in July and August 1943 and Italy was immediately invaded, but it was June 1944 before the Allies took Rome. The major assault on Germany was yet to come, although American and British bombers had already begun heavy bombing throughout Europe.

Normandy

In 1944, with Italy and Africa now under Allied control, there was another difference of opinion between Eisenhower and the British. They wanted to attack German forces through southern France. But Eisenhower again thought the long supply lines would be a problem, as would keeping Allied plans a secret. He preferred the shorter route from England across the channel to Normandy, on the northern French shore. This time Eisenhower persuaded the others to go along with his strategy. The invasion of France was planned for June 5, 1944. The week before, weather conditions had been very poor, and Eisenhower had begun watching them carefully. On the appointed day, the weather remained poor but was supposed to clear. Eisenhower believed the weather forecasters and set the invasion for the next day.

On June 6, 1944, hundreds of aircraft joined navy ships in bombarding the enemy as 156,000 Allied soldiers stormed the shores of Normandy. After heavy fighting, the Allies established themselves on European land. Eisenhower took an active interest in the soldiers, as he had in Sicily. Within forty hours after the invasion of Sicily, he had made a secret visit to the island and stopped to thank Canadian troops for their help there. After the Normandy landing, he made frequent trips over the battlegrounds to see for himself how the war was progressing. As the troops moved through France, he joined them often to talk with the leaders of the armies or just walk with the troops. His broad smile helped win people to his side even in battle conditions.

Impacted by horrors of war

By the end of the war, Eisenhower had commanded three million soldiers, airmen, and sailors and had succeeded in defeating the Germans. Along the way, he had witnessed the horrors of war. One grisly sight was a German concentration camp at Ohrdruf piled with the bones of victims. He called Washington to send reporters to the scene, then made German civilians aware of the sight by requiring a nearby town to clean up the mess. The town mayor and his wife were so overwhelmed that they committed suicide. Not every German was fully aware of the German war crimes, but Eisenhower set out to make them aware.

These experiences turned him against war. Eisenhower refused to talk with German officers except to remind the German general who signed the peace agreement that he would be held personally responsible for carrying out the conditions of surrender.

NATO

Eisenhower returned home a hero, not only in America but throughout the Allied nations. He became chief of staff of the army when Marshall left that office. In 1948, he retired from the active army to become president of Columbia University. Two years later, he returned to Europe as Supreme Commander of the forces of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, set up to defend Europe from possible Soviet— communist—occupation. (Communism is a set of political beliefs that calls for the elimination of private property. It is a system in which goods are owned by the community as a whole rather than by specific individuals and are available to all as needed. The Soviet Union, made up of fifteen republics, including Russia, existed as a unified communist country from 1922 to 1991. The Soviet Union, for three decades after World War II, was seen as a threat to the United States, which practiced a capitalist economy, one in which individuals, rather than the state, own the property and businesses.)

President Eisenhower

In 1952, Eisenhower was nominated to be the Republican candidate for president. People throughout the nation campaigned wearing buttons reading "I Like Ike." While he was campaigning for the presidency, the United States was still locked in a stalemate in the war in Korea (1950–53). General Mark W. Clark (1896–1984) had recently taken over the

supreme command of the United Nations (UN) forces in Korea. (The United Nations was founded by the Allies during World War II to maintain worldwide peace and to develop friendly relations among countries.) Clark almost immediately proposed a plan for an all-out assault on the enemy, including bombing mainland China and using Chang Kai-shek's Nationalist army troops, exiled in Taiwan (formerly Formosa), against the Communist Chinese forces. (Chiang Kai-shek [1887–1975] and and his forces were driven to the island of Taiwan after being defeated by Mao Zedong [Mao Tse-tung; 1893–1976; see entries] and the Communists in 1949 following the Chinese Civil War.) Clark also wanted to use nuclear weapons (atomic bombs), which devastatingly—but successfully—brought World War II to a close. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (the president's and secretary of defense's war advisors) held off making any decisions on Clark's proposals until they could see the outcome of the presidential election. Neither the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965), nor Eisen-hower had come out in favor of expanding the war, but for some the change to a Republican president suggested that such a change could take place.

"I shall go to Korea"

On October 24, 1952, Eisenhower made a speech in Detroit, Michigan, in which he promised to bring the war in Korea to "an early and honorable end," as quoted in Bevin Alexander's Korea: The First War We Lost. He did not specify how he would end the war other than a statement "I shall go to Korea." The speech was what the public wanted to hear. People feared that widening the war in Korea could bring about nuclear devastation throughout the world. They were tired of the war and sickened by the loss of America's young men. They were happy to have Eisenhower try to steer the United States out of it in whatever way he could.

Eisenhower declared that total war would be suicide for an American generation. As president, he directed the country through the stalemate and on to peace in Korea. Many Americans were not happy with the outcome of the Korean War, considering it the first war the United States had lost. But Eisenhower would always be very proud of his part in getting the United States out of that war without further disaster.

During his two-term administration, Eisenhower was responsible for several important changes at home, including tax reform. Although he suffered a mild heart attack during his first term in office, he was reelected in 1956.

In 1960, Eisenhower was once again a civilian. He continued to speak about public issues but finally found the time to return to his first love, sports, becoming an avid golfer. He died on March 28, 1969, in Washington, D.C., at the age of seventy-eight.

Where to Learn More

Alexander, Bevin. Korea: The First War We Lost. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1986, revised edition, 2000.

Ambrose, Stephen E. Eisenhower, Soldier and President. New York: Touchstone Books, 1991.

Brown, D. Clayton. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 1998.

Darby, Jean. Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Man Called Ike. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner, 1989.

Ellis, Rafaela. Dwight D. Eisenhower: 34th President of the United States. Ada, OK: Garrett Educational Corp., 1989.

Gunther, John. Eisenhower: The Man and the Symbol. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1952.

Lyon, Peter. Eisenhower: Portrait of the Hero. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.

Miller, Frances Trevelyan. Eisenhower: Man and Soldier. Chicago: Winston Press, 1944.

Sandberg, Peter Lars. Dwight D. Eisenhower. New York: Chelsea House, 1986.

Words to Know

cold war: the struggle for power, authority, and prestige between the communist Soviet Union and the capitalist Western powers of Europe and the United States from 1945 until 1991.

limited warfare: warfare with an objective other than the enemy's complete destruction, as in holding a defensive line during negotiations.

NATO: the acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance of nations in Europe and North America with shores on the Atlantic Ocean, formed in 1949 primarily to counter the threat of Soviet and communist expansion.