Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight Eisenhower

General of the Army Dwight David Eisenhower ("Ike") (1890-1969) was an American soldier who fought in World War I, was a top commander in World War II, and served as the 34th president of the United States (1953-1961). During the war he first commanded Allied (British and American) troops in North Africa in 1942 and Italy 1943, then became the Supreme Commander of the forces that invaded Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944 and defeated the Germans in the West.

As the great American hero of the war, both parties wanted him as a presidential candidate. He kept out of politics until 1952, when he defeated Robert A. Taft for the Republican nomination and was elected by a landslide. As president he continued what was left of the New Deal and expanded Social Security, kept the containment policy in the Cold War, ended the Korean War, sponsored the Interstate Highway System, signed the first civil rights bill in 82 years, and promoted moderate domestic policies known as "dynamic conservatism". As he left office Eisenhower issued a famous warning about the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

Early career

Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on Oct. 14, 1890. His father, David Jacob Eisenhower, was of Bavarian Mennonite descent; his mother, Ida Elizabeth (Stover) Eisenhower, was of Swiss descent. The families of both parents came to America prior to 1750. Shortly after Eisenhower's birth, his family returned to Abilene, Kansas, the original family home, with which Eisenhower maintained close ties his entire life. There he grew up in an environment of strong family religious traditions. His mother became a leader in the Jehovah Witness religion, a highly controversial group because of its refusal to salute the flag. Eisenhower was never a member. Eisenhower was one of seven brothers, one of whom died in infancy. The others all had successful careers. The oldest, Arthur, became a banker; Edgar a lawyer; Roy a pharmacist; Earl an electrical engineer; and Milton the president of Kansas State College and Johns Hopkins University and a close adviser to his brother, the president.

Eisenhower attended local public schools and graduated from Abilene High School in 1909. Despite the strong pacifist sentiment in the community, Eisenhower took the entrance exams and was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1911. Cadet Eisenhower was outstanding as a football player until a knee injury forced him to stop playing in his sophomore year. His academic ratings were average and he was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1915. The World War was underway in Europe, but it made little impact on the West Point curriculum, which was oriented toward military engineering and history.

The new second lieutenant was assigned to the Nineteenth Infantry Regiment at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. There he met Mamie Geneva Doud, daughter of a prosperous Denver, Colorado, family. They were married on July 1, 1916; Eisenhower was promoted to first lieutenant the same day. Two sons were born to the couple--Doud Dwight, who died in infancy, and John Sheldon Doud, who became an Army career officer.

During World War I Eisenhower, a permanent captain and a temporary lieutenant colonel, commanded a Tank Corps training center at Camp Colt, Pennsylvania, within sight of the place where he was later to build his Gettysburg farm home. He was preparing to sail for France when the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, so he did not see combat. He had, however, achieved the number three rank in the Tank Corps; his friend George Patton was number 2, and did see combat in France.

Interwar years

After the war, Eisenhower reverted to the permanent rank of major--one he was to hold for 16 years. After commanding several units in the fledgling Tank Corps, the Corps was disbanded and Eisenhower was told that his theorizing about the use of armor in future wars would jeopardize his career as an infantry officer, so he stopped. In 1922 he became executive officer of the Twentieth Infantry Battalion in the Panama Canal Zone. In 1924 he graduated first in his class from the Army Command and General Staff School, a signal that he was among the half-dozen most promising young officers in the army. He also graduated from the Army War College. Assigned to the Battle Monuments Commission, he went to France twice and wrote a guidebook to the French battlefields. In late 1929 he was assigned to the office of the assistant secretary of war. He served three years in this critical position. A specialist on logistics and supply, he largely wrote the Army's "Industrial Mobilization Plan of 1930." (It was not, however, used when the war came.) Eisenhower moved up to the office of Chief of Staff, becoming an assistant to General Douglas MacArthur, whom he greatly admired at the time. When MacArthur was sent to the Philippines in 1935, Eisenhower accompanied him as assistant. There Eisenhower helped create the Philippine Army, specializing in its air force. He earned pilot's wings and a lieutenant colonelcy.

Holland (2001) argues that Eisenhower was the best read and trained officer of his age in the interwar Army and possesses a "terrific intellect." Far from being an unknown, his talents and work ethic attracted the attention of some of the Army's most important senior officers, especially MacArthur, who mentored Eisenhower and boosted his career. Indeed, he benefited from such attention more than any other officer of the era.

World War II

1940-42

Back in the United States in early 1940, he served as chief of staff of the Third Division and the Ninth Army Corps, and then of the Third Army. In this capacity, he had a large part in the tactical planning of the Louisiana war games of 1941. He won notice and rapid promotion to colonel and brigadier general. Eisenhower became the protegé of chief of staff George C. Marshall, serving in the office of the chief of staff as chief of the plans division and was named a major general. His first task was planning the Army's defensive role against Japan. American strategy called for defeat of Germany first, and in early 1942 Eisenhower took charge of planning that feat. This brought him into repeated conflict with Chief of Naval Operations Ernest J. King, who wanted to shift most of the Navy's resources to the Pacific, stripping Europe of the landing craft Eisenhower needed.

1942-45

After a survey trip to Britain, Eisenhower was appointed commander of U.S. troops in Europe. Now a lieutenant general with three stars, took charge of "Operation Torch," the Allied invasion of French North Africa. The landings there on November 8, 1942, met with merely temporary resistance from the French, and agreements with French Vichy leaders soon brought about Allied control of French North Africa. After an unexpected defeat at Kasserine Pass, Eisenhower's forces crushed the Germans and Italians from the west while British General Bernard Montgomery mauled them from the east; the enemy surrendered in May 1943. Eisenhower next supervised the Allied invasion of Sicily (July, 1943), in which the enemy escaped with all their soldiers and supplies. Eisenhower then led the invasions of mainland Italy (September 1943), which quickly bogged down. Eisenhower proved adept at dealing with the British and French, while wary of a possible German attack through Spain (which never happened). His tactical military successes, and especially his ability to lead and coordinate the efforts of all the Allied forces and to smooth over inter-Allied rivalries, led to Eisenhower's appointment in December 1943 as commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe (SHAEF). This was the command charged with leading the largest, climactic Allied push of the war--the invasion of France. Marshall himself wanted the job, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt insisted on Eisenhower.

Eisenhower molded the giant force that on June 6, 1944, landed on the beaches of Normandy. Although meeting severe German resistance, the forces under his command finally broke through at St. Lo (July 18, 1944), and landed also in southern France (Aug. 15, 1944). The liberation of Paris on Aug. 25, 1944, seemed to herald a quick end to the war. But a German counterattack, called the "Battle of the Bulge" in the Ardennes in mid-December 1944, caught the Allies by complete surprise and before it was broken cost 77,000 casualties, the highest toll in U.S. military history. Not until March 6, 1945, did Allied forces cross the Rhine, and Germany finally surrendered on May 8, 1945.

Postwar

Appointed in 1951 as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR) in charge of the NATO military, Eisenhower was convinced that America's own security depended on its commitment to NATO. He was, therefore outraged by Taft's isolationism. In February 1951, Eisenhower met privately with Taft, seeking the Senator's assurance that he would support America's commitment to European collective security. Taft refused, and the die was cast for Eisenhower's entry into the 1952 presidential context to stop Taft and guarantee and internationalist commitment.

1952 Presidential campaign

Part of Eisenhower's campaign was the catchy slogan--"I Like Ike"--an animated TV commercial was produced by Roy Disney and the Citizens for Eisenhower-Nixon. , as well as on pin-on buttons.

Presidency

Journalists in the 1950s depicted Eisenhower as a laid-back "chairman of the board" who let his subordinates run the government. The opening of Eisenhower's papers surprised scholars, who discovered that behind the scenes Eisenhower was a hands-on leader who watched details and made all the major decisions.

Truman, bitterly unhappy with his own White House staff, joked that when Ike became president he would push a button and nothing will happen. Truman was wrong, for Eisenhower was the best organizer in the Army, and he redesigned the White House staff and the executive departments so he had clear control at all times, and brought on board talented senior staff to oversee the process.

Foreign policy and the military

Eisenhower worried that excessive defense spending would weaken the economy in the long-run, and thus be counterproductive. His "New Look" strategy economized by cutting back on Army divisions (much to the chagrin of the soldiers), and emphasizing instead nuclear weapons, which gave "more bang for the buck."

Eisenhower rejected the policy of limited war and use of tactical nuclear weapons to the strategic menu of ways to deal with the Communist threat, and instead adopted a new strategy of "massive resistance" whereby a small war with the Soviet Union would immediately turn into a major nuclear war. He knew the U.S. had substantial nuclear superiority. The effect was to deter both sides from any action that might escalate tensions into a small war. Eisenhower thus avoided World War III. Eisenhower rejected criticism from his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his Army chief of staff Maxwell Taylor. They both wanted more flexibility, but Eisenhower got his way. Eisenhower had a triad of nuclear delivery systems (the B-52 bomber, submarines, and missiles), added an early warning radar system in Canada, and tried to add a civil defense system for cities in case deterrence failed, but the public was completely uninterested in his bomb shelters.

He strengthened the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the expense of the traditional service chiefs.

At the time there were no intercontinental missiles, and the American air defense system was considered strong enough to fend off any Soviet air attack. American progress in rocketry was upstaged by the Soviets in 1957, as they launched Sputnik, the first earth satellite, and kept their lead in space for several years. Everyone realized that gave the Soviets a lead in long-range missiles as well.

Second term

Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in 1955, but made a full recovery and was reelected easily in another landslide over the same Democrat, Adlai Stevenson.

Biographies

• Ambrose, Stephen E. vol 1: Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect; vol 2: Eisenhower: The President; one volume edition is Eisenhower: Soldier and President (2003), standard scholarly biography excerpt and text search
• Ambrose, Stephen E. The Supreme Commander: The War Years of General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1999), standard scholarly biography excerpt and text search
• Bischof, Gunter, and Stephen E. Ambrose, eds. Eisenhower: A Centenary Assessment (1995), 281pp, most papers focus on presidency
• D’Este, Carlo. Eisenhower, A Soldier’s Life (2002), 848 pages; a major military biography; excerpt and text search
• Eisenhower, David. Eisenhower At War 1943/45 solid biography by his grandson
• Korda, Michael. Ike: An American Hero (2007) popular military biography; excerpt and text search
• Krieg, Joann P. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soldier, President, Statesman (1987) online edition
• Perret, Geoffrey. Eisenhower (2000), popular military biography; excerpt and text search
• Picket, William B. Dwight David Eisenhower and American Power (1995) 231pp
• Wicker, Tom. Dwight D. Eisenhower (2002), short political biography excerpt and text search

To 1945

• Gelb, Norman. Ike and Monty: Generals at War. (1994). 480 pp.
• Holland, Matthew F. Eisenhower between the Wars: The Making of a General and a Statesman. (2001). 248 pp.
• Murray, G. E. Patrick. Eisenhower versus Montgomery: The Continuing Debate (1996), historiography online edition
• Pogue; Forrest C. The Supreme Command (1996) online edition
• Sixsmith, E. K.G. Eisenhower, His Life and Campaigns (1973) online edition
• Wukovits, John. Eisenhower: A Biography. (Great Generals Series.) (2006). 204 pp. excerpt and text search

Post 1945

• Albertson, Dean. Eisenhower as President (1963) online edition
• Alexander, Charles C. Holding the Line: The Eisenhower Era, 1952-1961 (1975) online edition
• Allen, Craig. Eisenhower and the Mass Media: Peace, Prosperity and Prime-Time TV. (1993). 259 pp.
• Beschloss, Michael R. MAYDAY: Eisenhower, Kruschev, and the U-2 Affair (1987)
• Bose, Meena. Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy. (1998). 197 pp. excerpt and text search
• Bowie, Robert R. and Immerman, Richard H. Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy (1998) online edition
• Boyle, Peter G. Eisenhower. (Profiles in Power Series.) (2005). 200 pp.
• Clarfield, Gerard. Security with Solvency: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Shaping of the American Military Establishment (1999) online edition
• Damms, Richard V. The Eisenhower Presidency, 1953-1961 (2002) 161 pp.
• Divine, Robert A. Eisenhower and the Cold War (1981) online edition
• Dockrill, Saki. Eisenhower's New-Look National Security Policy, 1953-61. (1996). 400 pp. excerpt and text search
• Geelhoed, E. Bruce and Edmonds, Anthony O. Eisenhower, Macmillan, and Allied Unity, 1957-1961. (2003). 196 pp.
• Greenstein, Fred I. The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader (1991), highly influential study by political scientist
• Harris, Douglas B. "Dwight Eisenhower and the New Deal: The Politics of Preemption" Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 27, 1997 online edition
• Harris, Seymour E. The Economics of the Political Parties, with Special Attention to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy (1962) online edition
• Jackson, Michael Gordon. "Beyond Brinkmanship: Eisenhower, Nuclear War Fighting, and Korea, 1953-1968," Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 35, 2005 online edition
• Kengor, Paul. "Comparing Presidents Reagan and Eisenhower" Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 28, 1998 online edition
• Kingseed, Cole C. Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956. (1995). 166 pp.
• Krieg, Joann P. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soldier, President, Statesman (1987) online edition
• Medhurst, Martin J. "Text and Context in the 1952 Presidential Campaign: Eisenhower's 'I Shall Go to Korea' Speech," Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 30, 2000 online edition
• Olson, James S. Historical Dictionary of the 1950s (2000) online edition
• Pach, Chester J. and Elmo Richardson. Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1991), standard historical survey
• Parmet, Herbert S. Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972) online edition, scholarly biography
• Rosenberg, Victor. Soviet-American Relations, 1953-1960: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange during the Eisenhower Presidency. (2005). 324 pp.
• Roman, Peter J. Eisenhower and the Missile Gap. (1995). 264 pp.
• Showalter, Dennis E., ed. Forging the Shield: Eisenhower and National Security for the 21st Century. (2005). 235 pp.
• Tudda, Chris. The Truth Is Our Weapon: The Rhetorical Diplomacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles. (2006). 224 pp.
• Wagner, Steven. Eisenhower Republicanism: Pursuing the Middle Way. (2006). 179 pp. isbn 978-0-87580-362-3.)
• Warshaw, Shirley Anne, ed. Reexamining the Eisenhower Presidency. (1993). 234 pp.

Primary Sources

• Eisenhower, Dwight D. Crusade In Europe (1948), war memoir excerpt and text search
• Eisenhower, Dwight D. White House Years- Mandate for Change, 1953-1956 (1963) online edition
• Eisenhower, Dwight D. White House Years- Waging Peace, 1956-1961

• Eisenhower Papers 21 volume scholarly edition; complete for 1940-61.
  • Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941. ed. by Daniel D. Holt and James W. Leyerzapf, (1998). 576 pp.

• Farewell speech, 1960
• The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1953-1955 edited by Peter G. Boyle, (1990) online edition

Memoirs by aides

• Benson, Ezra Taft. Cross Fire: The Eight Years With Eisenhower (1962) by the Secretary of Agriculture online edition
• Butcher, Harry C. My Three Years With Eisenhower by wartime aide

External Links

• White House biography
• Eisenhower Memorial Commission

• List of U.S. Presidents