Dwight D. Eisenhower - Facts, WW2 and Presidency (2023)

Who was Dwight D. Eisenhower?

Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Chief of Staff of the US Army in 1945. He became the first Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1951. In 1952 he was elected president of the USA served two terms before retiring at Gettysburg in 1961. Eisenhower died on March 28, 1969, at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Early life

Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas, the son of David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower. Dwight was the third of seven children born to his parents. His parents moved from Abilene, Kansas to Denison, Texas before he was born. In Denison, the family lived in a small house near the railroad tracks, while David made a living cleaning locomotives.

When Eisenhower was one and a half years old, his family moved back to Abilene so that David could get a better job at his brother-in-law's dairy.

In Abilene, his 10-month-old brother Paul died of diphtheria when Eisenhower was four years old. Despite the tragedy, he formed happy childhood memories in Abilene that would treasure his entire life. Among them were the days of him playing baseball and soccer at Abilene High School.

After Eisenhower graduated from high school in 1909, he joined his father and uncle at the Belle Springs Creamery while also working as a firefighter. Eisenhower used the money he earned to pay his younger brother Edgar's tuition at the University of Michigan. The brothers had an agreement: after two years, they would switch places, with Edgar working to support Eisenhower's college education. Fortunately for Edgar, he never had to go through with his part of the deal.

In 1911, Eisenhower won an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where attendance was free. He was once again a star on the soccer field until a series of knee injuries forced him to stop playing. In 1915, Eisenhower proudly graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

military career

After graduation, Eisenhower headed to Texas, where he met and began dating an 18-year-old girl.grandmother geneva doudfrom Denver, Colorado. The couple married nine months later, on July 1, 1916. Eisenhower was promoted to first lieutenant on his wedding day.

In the early years of Eisenhower's military career, he and Mamie moved from posting to posting in Texas, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. In 1917, Mamie gave birth to the couple's first child, Doud Dwight. That same year, the United States enteredFirst World War. Although Eisenhower hoped to be commissioned abroad, he was appointed to run a tank training center at Camp Colt in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the war and afterward, Eisenhower continued to rise through the ranks. In 1920, he was promoted to major after volunteering for the Tank Corps in the War Department's first transcontinental motorized convoy the previous year.

In 1921, tragedy struck home when the Eisenhower eldest son, Doud Dwight, died of scarlet fever at the age of three. Mamie gave birth to a second son, John Sheldon Doud, in 1922. That year, Eisenhower took over as General Fox Conner's executive officer in the Panama Canal Zone. In 1924, at Conner's urging, Eisenhower applied to the Army's prestigious graduate school, the Command and General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, and was accepted. He graduated at the top of his class of 245 in 1926 with a solid reputation for his military prowess.

From 1927 to 1929, Eisenhower traveled and reported for the War Department, underGeneral John Pershing. After completing his tour in 1929, Eisenhower was appointed chief military adviser underGeneral Douglas Mac Arthur. From 1935 to 1939, Eisenhower served under MacArthur as deputy military adviser in the Philippines. Eisenhower returned to the United States in the early 1940s.

For the next two years he served in California and Washington state. In 1941, after a transfer to Fort Sam Houston, Eisenhower became chief of staff of the Third Army. Eisenhower was soon promoted to brigadier general for his leadership of the Louisiana maneuvers. Later that year, he transferred to the War Plans division in Washington, D.C. In 1942, he was promoted to major general. Just a few months later, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces and led Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Aboutday DOn June 6, 1944, Eisenhower led the Allied forces in the invasion of Normandy. In December of that year, he was promoted to the rank of five stars. After the surrender of Germany in 1945, he was appointed military governor of the US-occupied Zone. Eisenhower then returned to his home in Abilene to receive a hero's welcome. A few months later, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army. In 1948 he was elected president of Columbia University, a position he held until December 1950, when he decided to leave Columbia to accept the appointment of the United States' first Supreme Allied Commander.North Atlantic Treaty Organization. While in Paris with NATO, Eisenhower was encouraged by Republican emissaries to run for President of the United States.

United States Presidency

In 1952, Eisenhower retired from active duty and returned to Abilene to announce his bid for the Republican nomination. On November 4, 1952, after winning the election by a landslide, Eisenhower was elected the 34th President of the United States. His domestic policy picked up whereFranklin Rooseveltthe new deal andharry trumanFair treatment programs have been discontinued. In foreign policy, Eisenhower made the reduction of Cold War tensions through military negotiations the main focus of his administration.

In 1953, he orchestrated an armistice that brought peace to the South Korean border. Also that year, Eisenhower delivered his famous "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations General Assembly. The United States and Russia have recently developed atomic bombs, and the speech promoted the application of atomic energy for peaceful uses instead of using it for weaponry and warfare. In 1955, Eisenhower met with Russian, British, and French leaders in Geneva to further quell the threat of atomic war.

In 1956, Eisenhower was re-elected to a second term, winning by an even larger margin than his first election, despite having recently recovered from a heart attack. Throughout his second term, Eisenhower continued to promote his Atoms for Peace program. In his second term, he also faced crises in Lebanon and Suez.

Accomplishments during his two terms include the creation of the US Information Agency and the establishment of Alaska and Hawaii as states. Eisenhower also supported the creation of the Interstate Highway System during his tenure. His other distinctions include signing the 1957Civil Rights Lawand establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission. Eisenhower was also responsible for signing the bill to form theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA).

Prepared to resign in January 1961, Eisenhower delivered a televised farewell address warning the nation against the dangers of the Cold War "military-industrial complex."

later life

After his presidency, Eisenhower retired to a farm in Gettysburg with his wife, Mamie. Although he resigned his post as general when he became president, when he left office, his successor, President Kennedy, reactivated his post. He also maintained an office at Gettysburg College for the rest of his life, where he held meetings and wrote his memoirs.

Eisenhower died on March 28, 1969, at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC, after a long period of suffering from heart disease. In addition to a state funeral in the nation's capital, a military funeral was held in Eisenhower's beloved hometown of Abilene, Kansas.

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