Dwight D. Eisenhower

DAVID DWIGHT EISENHOWER was born on October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas. He was the third of the seven sons of David Jacob and Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s parents met in a United Brethren school, Lane University, in Lecompton, Kansas. Neither of his parents was from Kansas, his mother’s family had moved there from Virginia and his father’s family had come to Kansas from Pennsylvania. His parents were married in 1885 and within three years, the young family moved to Denison, Texas, where Dwight was born. When Dwight was less than a year old, the family moved back to Abilene, Kansas, where his father had taken a job as a mechanic at the Belle Springs Creamery. The Eisenhowers raised all six of their sons in Abilene, a seventh son died in infancy.

Both Eisenhower’s parents were deeply religious, his father stern and his mother warm and loving. They raised much of their own food in a large garden, selling the surplus for cash. The boys worked to earn spending money and had regular chores to do around the house. The Eisenhowers encouraged their children to be self reliant and independent.

Young Eisenhower attended the local schools, where he was an average student, with the exception of history, his favorite subject. However, he did excel in sports, as an outfielder in baseball and as a tackle in football. Sports were his obsession. After graduating from Abilene High School in 1909, he went to work with his father in the creamery. Both Dwight and his older brother, Edgar, wanted to attend college, but the family could not afford the tuition. They agreed to work alternate years, with the brother who was working paying the fees of the one attending school. In 1909, Dwight was able to send Edgar more than $200. In 1910, Dwight sat for the examination for the U. S. Naval Academy in order to receive a free education and for the opportunity to continue playing sports. He studied hard for the entrance examination and passed, but found that he was too old for the Naval Academy. He did however accept an appointment to the Military Academy at West Point, even though he had no particular interest in being a soldier. He was an average student at West Point and caught the eye of sportswriters playing halfback on the Army team. A twisted knee during the season ruined his football career. He almost resigned, as the injury to his emotions was worse, but he finished his education, graduating in 1915, 61st in a class of 164.

In September 1915, Eisenhower was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry and reported to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. Within two weeks, he had met Mamie Geneva Dowd and embarked on a courtship. Miss Dowd came from a wealthy Denver family and tried to discourage young Eisenhower, but he persisted and the couple was married on July 1, 1916. They had two sons; Dowd Dwight (1917 – 1921) and John Sheldon Dowd (1922 – ).

Eisenhower served with the Infantry until February 1918. He then served with the Tank Corps until January 1922. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on July 1, 1916, Captain on May 15, 1917, Major (temporary) on June 17, 1918 and to Lieutenant Colonel (temporary) on October 14, 1918. On June 30, 1920, he was reverted to permanent rank of Captain and on July 2, 1920 was promoted to Major.

In January 1922, Eisenhower was assigned as executive officer to Brigadier General Fox Conner in the Panama Canal Zone. Conner was an expert on military history and they spent hours talking about military and international problems. Eisenhower said, “Fox Conner was the ablest man I ever knew.” Connor arranged for Eisenhower to attend the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He graduated in 1926 as the top student in a class of almost 250. After a brief appointment under General John J. Pershing, Eisenhower attended the Army War College, where he once again graduated first in his class in 1928. Eisenhower continued to excel in staff assignments and served under Generals Douglas MacArthur and Walter Krueger. After Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, General George C. Marshall called him to Washington for an assignment as head of the War Plans Division. Eisenhower commanded the Allied Forces landing in North Africa in November 1941 and on D-Day, 1944 he was Supreme Commander of the troops invading France. From 1945 to 1948, he served as chief of staff of the army. In 1948, he retired as a five star general and wrote his memoirs, Crusade in Europe.

On June 7, 1948, Eisenhower was inaugurated President of Columbia University. He was very popular, both for his war record and for his personality, which was open and friendly, and both parties wanted to nominate him for the presidency in 1948. He turned them down and served his post at Columbia until 1950, when he took leave to assume supreme command over the new NATO forces being assembled.

In April 1952, Eisenhower announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for President. He was nominated by a narrow margin on the first ballot and the Dwight D. Eisenhower/Richard M. Nixon ticket won a sweeping victory in a battle of personalities on November 4, 1952. The Republicans won 442 Electoral College votes to the Adlai E. Stevenson/Democratic 89 votes.

Eisenhower’s military background was both an asset and limitation to his presidency. He had a talent for administrative efficiency but was deficient in handling national problems. He was able to delegate a broad range of responsibility and freed himself to tackle the larger issues. He believed that many problems were better solved at the local level than through bold, controversial programs from Washington.

Eisenhower served two terms as President, from January 20, 1953 until January 20, 1961. He saw an end of the Korean War, and dealt with crises in Lebanon, Suez, Berlin and Hungary. He promoted Atoms for Peace, saw Alaska and Hawaii become states and was concerned with civil rights issues. Long before the Republican convention, Eisenhower groomed Nixon as his successor, but although he could win elections, Eisenhower could not convert personal loyalty into support for his parties’ candidate.

Eisenhower retired to his small farm outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He raised cattle and spent the winters in Palm Springs, California, where he played golf. He was healthy, active and the recipient of many honors. Both Presidents Kennedy and later Johnson treated him as an elder statesman, soliciting his advice on international problems. In August 1965, Eisenhower suffered a serious heart attack that ended his participation in public affairs. He was hospitalized frequently over the next three years. He endorsed his former Vice President, Richard M. Nixon in his 1968 bid for the Presidency and in that same year his grandson, David Eisenhower married Nixon’s daughter Julie. He suffered another heart attack in the summer of 1968 and he spent his last few months in Walter Reed Army Hospital, where he died on March 28, 1969.

D-Day statement to soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force

Dwight D. Eisenhower

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

34th President of the United States
Dwight D. Eisenhower

In office January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
Vice President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Harry S. Truman
Succeeded by	John F. Kennedy
1st Supreme Allied Commander Europe
In office April 2, 1951 – May 30, 1952
Preceded by	Post Created
Succeeded by	Gen. Matthew Ridgway
1st Military Governor of the American Occupation Zone in Germany
In office May 8 – November 10, 1945
Preceded by	Post Created
Succeeded by	Gen. George Patton (acting)

Born	October 14, 1890(1890-10-14) Denison, Texas, United States
Died	March 28, 1969 (aged 78) Washington, D.C., United States
Birth name	David Dwight Eisenhower
Nationality	United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mamie Doud Eisenhower
Children	Doud Dwight Eisenhower, John Sheldon David Doud Eisenhower
Alma mater	U.S. Military Academy West Point, New York, United States
Occupation	Soldier
Religion	Presbyterian
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1915–1953, 1961–1969
Rank	General of the Army
Commands	Europe
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Army Distinguished Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, Legion of Merit, Order of the Bath, Order of Merit, Legion of Honor (partial list)

Eisenhower with his wife Mamie on the steps of St. Mary's University of San Antonio, Texas in 1916, where Eisenhower was at the time a football coach.

Part of the 1912 West Point football team. Cadet Eisenhower 2nd from left; Cadet Omar Bradley 2nd from right.

Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general in the United States Army. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.^[1]

As President, he oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, kept up the pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race, enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. He was the last World War I veteran to serve as U.S. president.

[hide]

1 Early life and family
2 Early military career
3 World War II
4 Aftermath of World War II
5 Presidency 1953–1961
6 Post-presidency
- 6.1 Death and funeral
- 6.2 Legacy
7 Tributes and memorials
8 Awards and decorations
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links

Early life and family

Eisenhower family home, Abilene, Kansas

Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas,^[2] the first president born in that state. He was the third of seven sons^[3] born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover, of German, English and Swiss ancestry. The house in which he was born has been preserved as Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site and is operated by the Texas Historical Commission.

He was named David Dwight and was called Dwight; he reversed the order of his given names when he entered West Point,^[4], which is also where he received his nickname, "Ike".^[5]

Eisenhower's paternal ancestors can be traced back to Hans Nicolas Eisenhauer, whose surname is German for "iron worker."^[6] Hans Eisenhauer and his family emigrated from Karlsbrunn (Saarland), Germany to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1741. Descendants made their way west. Eisenhower's family settled in Abilene, Kansas in 1892. His father David Eisenhower was a college-educated engineer.^[7] Eisenhower graduated from Abilene High School in 1909.^[8]

Eisenhower married Mamie Geneva Doud (1896–1979) of Denver, Colorado on July 1, 1916. The couple had two sons. Doud Dwight Eisenhower was born September 24, 1917, and died of scarlet fever on January 2, 1921, at the age of three.^[9] Their second son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, was born the following year on August 3, 1922; John served in the United States Army (retiring as a brigadier general from the Army reserve), became an author, and served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971. John, coincidentally, graduated from West Point on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was married to Barbara Jean Thompson in a June wedding in 1947. John and Barbara had four children: Dwight David II "David", Barbara Ann, Susan Elaine and Mary Jean. David, after whom Camp David is named, married Richard Nixon's daughter Julie in 1968.

Religion

Eisenhower's paternal ancestor, Hans Nicholas Eisenhauer, was probably of Lutheran or Reformed Protestant practice.^{[citation
needed]} Eisenhower's mother, Ida E. Stover Eisenhower, previously a member of the River Brethren sect of the Mennonites, joined the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (now more commonly known as Jehovah's Witnesses) between 1895 and 1900, when Eisenhower was a child.^[10] The Eisenhower home served as the local meeting hall from 1896 to 1915.

When Eisenhower joined the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1911, his ties to Jehovah’s Witnesses were weakened because of the group's anti-militarist stance.^[11]^[12] By 1915, his parents' home no longer served as the meeting hall. All the men in the household abandoned the Witnesses as adults. Some hid their previous affiliation.^[13]^[14] At his death in 1942, Eisenhower's father was given funeral rites as though he remained a Jehovah's Witness. Eisenhower's mother continued as an active Jehovah's Witness until her death. Despite their differences in religious beliefs, Eisenhower enjoyed a close relationship with his mother.

Eisenhower was baptized, confirmed, and became a communicant in the Presbyterian Church in a single ceremony on February 1, 1953, just 12 days after his first inauguration.^[15] He is the only president known to have undertaken these rites while in office. Eisenhower was instrumental in the addition of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and the 1956 adoption of "In God We Trust" as the motto of the US, and its 1957 introduction on paper currency. In his retirement years, he was a member of the Gettysburg Presbyterian Church.^[16] The chapel at his presidential library is intentionally inter-denominational.

He questioned Billy Graham about how people can be certain they are going to Heaven after death.^[17]

Eisenhower was sworn into office with his personal West Point Bible, open to Psalm 33:12, at both his 1953 and 1957 inaugural ceremonies. Additionally for 1953, he included the Bible that George Washington had used in 1789 (belonging to St. John's Masonic Lodge No. 1), opened to II Chronicles 7:14.^[18]^[19]

Education

Dwight D. Eisenhower attended Abilene High School in Abilene, Kansas and graduated with the class of 1909.^[8] He then took a job as a night foreman at the Belle Springs Creamery.^[20]

After Dwight worked for two years to support his brother Edgar's college education, a friend urged him to apply to the Naval Academy. Though Eisenhower passed the entrance exam, he was beyond the age of eligibility for admission to the Naval Academy.^[21]

Kansas Senator Joseph L. Bristow recommended Dwight for an appointment to the Military Academy in 1911, which he received.^[21] Eisenhower graduated in the upper half of the class of 1915.^[22] The 1915 class was known as "the class the stars fell on", because 59 members eventually became general officers.

Athletic career

Eisenhower long had aspirations of playing professional baseball:

“

When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.^[23]

”

At West Point, Eisenhower tried out for the baseball team but did not make it. He would later say that "not making the baseball team at West Point was one of the greatest disappointments of my life, maybe my greatest."^[23] But Eisenhower did make the football team. He started as a varsity running back and linebacker in 1912. In a bit of a fabled match-up, he even tackled the legendary Jim Thorpe in a 1912 game.^[24] The next week however, Eisenhower would hurt his knee after being tackled around the ankles, which he would soon worsen and permanently damage on horseback and in the boxing ring.^[25] He would later serve as junior varsity football coach and yell leader.

Controversy persists over whether Eisenhower played minor league (semi-professional) baseball for Junction City in the Central Kansas League the year before he attended West Point and played amateur football there.

In 1916, while stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Eisenhower was football coach for St. Louis College, now St. Mary's University.^[26]^[27]

Early military career

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See also: Military career of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Eisenhower enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1911. His parents were against militarism, but did not object to his entering West Point because they supported his education. Eisenhower was a strong athlete and enjoyed notable successes in his competitive endeavors. In 1912, a spectacular Eisenhower touchdown won praise from the sports reporter of the New York Herald, and he even managed, with the help of a linebacker teammate, to tackle the legendary Jim Thorpe. In the very next week, however, his promising sports career ended when he incurred a severe knee injury.

Memorial To Eisenhower at West Point.

Eisenhower graduated in 1915. He served with the infantry until 1918 at various camps in Texas and Georgia. During World War I, Eisenhower became the #3 leader of the new tank corps and rose to temporary (Bvt.) Lieutenant Colonel in the National Army. He spent the war training tank crews in Pennsylvania and never saw combat. After the war, Eisenhower reverted to his regular rank of captain (and was promoted to major a few days later) before assuming duties at Camp Meade, Maryland, where he remained until 1922. His interest in tank warfare was strengthened by many conversations with George S. Patton and other senior tank leaders; however their ideas on tank warfare were strongly discouraged by superiors.^[28]

Eisenhower became executive officer to General Fox Conner in the Panama Canal Zone, where he served until 1924. Under Conner's tutelage, he studied military history and theory (including Karl von Clausewitz's On War), and later cited Conner's enormous influence on his military thinking. In 1925–26, he attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,^[29] and then served as a battalion commander at Fort Benning, Georgia until 1927.

The Eisenhowers by the Malecón in Manila, Philippines

During the late 1920s and early 1930s Eisenhower's career in the peacetime Army stagnated; many of his friends resigned for high paying business jobs. He was assigned to the American Battle Monuments Commission, directed by General John J. Pershing, then to the Army War College, and then served as executive officer to General George V. Mosely, Assistant Secretary of War, from 1929 to 1933. He then served as chief military aide to General Douglas MacArthur, Army Chief of Staff, until 1935, when he accompanied MacArthur to the Philippines, where he served as assistant military adviser to the Philippine government. It is sometimes said that this assignment provided valuable preparation for handling the challenging personalities of Winston Churchill, George S. Patton and Bernard Law Montgomery during World War II. Eisenhower was promoted to lieutenant colonel (in a non-brevet status) in 1936 after sixteen years as a major. He also learned to fly, although he was never rated as a military pilot. He made a solo flight over the Philippines in 1937.

Eisenhower returned to the U.S. in 1939 and held a series of staff positions in Washington, D.C., California and Texas. In June 1941, he was appointed Chief of Staff to General Walter Krueger, Commander of the 3rd Army, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He was promoted to brigadier general on October 3, 1941^[30]. Although his administrative abilities had been noticed, on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II he had never held an active command and was far from being considered as a potential commander of major operations.

World War II

Eisenhower (seated, middle) with other US Army officers, 1945. From left to right, the front row includes Simpson, Patton, Spaatz, Eisenhower, Bradley, Hodges, and Gerow.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Eisenhower was assigned to the General Staff in Washington, where he served until June 1942 with responsibility for creating the major war plans to defeat Japan and Germany. He was appointed Deputy Chief in charge of Pacific Defenses under the Chief of War Plans Division, General Leonard T. Gerow, and then succeeded Gerow as Chief of the War Plans Division. Then he was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff in charge of Operations Division under Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall. It was his close association with Marshall that finally brought Eisenhower to senior command positions. Marshall recognized his great organizational and administrative abilities.^[31]

In 1942, Eisenhower was appointed Commanding General,

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th President of the United States

Dwight D. Eisenhower

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

Early life and family

Religion

Education

Athletic career

Early military career

World War II

Start your search on Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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