Dwight Eisenhower

Dwight Eisenhower

When you hear the words Dwight Eisenhower, you automatically picture him in uniform telling troops what to do. He was one of the best generals the United States has ever had. Not to mention he was a great president, also. He made sure he kept the United States safe and help out other countries also. He said he was going to go to Korea to fight if he had to, and that's what he did.

Dwight Eisenhower was born October 14, 1890 in Denison Texas to Ida and David Eisenhower. He was born the third child of a very large family. After he was born the family moved back Kansas, and lived on Dwight's Grandfathers old homestead. During his high school years most of Dwight's friends called him Ike which stuck to him for life. Dwight loved to play both basketball and football. He graduated from Abilene High School in 1909. He ended up winning an appointment to go to West Point for college. (1,3)

Dwight got accepted at West Point after finishing second in the academy test to get in to the school. He was a very good halfback for the academy team, but had to throw in the towel because of a knee injury. Dwight graduated from West Point in 1915, as number sixty-first in a class of one hundred sixty-eight. He was the second lieutenant of infantry. He was assigned to the nineteenth infantry regiment at Fort Sam Houston Tex. Near there is where Dwight met the love of his life Mamie Doud, from Denver. They ended up getting married on July 1, 1916 they same day Dwight was promoted to first lieutenant. They had two sons together. The oldest child was named David, but died at age three from scarlet fever. Dwight wrote, "This was the greatest disappointment and disaster of my life." (3) John was the other child who was born three years later after his brother passed away. (1,3)

In Dwight's early army career, He did extremely well in staff assignments serving under his three generals who taught him almost everything, John Pershing, Douglas Macarther, and Walter Krueger. (3)

World war two began in 1939. Germany, later joined by Italy, Japan, and other axis powers, fought the allies, which included France, United Kingdom, and later the Soviet Union, and the United States. In 1940, the United States started building up its military forces incase they were drawn into war. In 1941 the army appointed Dwight to plan the strategy out for the third army in war in war games in Louisiana. The third army brilliantly defeated enemy forces that included a tank division. Dwight didn't go into the army because he loved to fight, he always said "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."(2) Dwight became a world war two hero. His wonderful performance earned him a promotion to Brigader General. He was slowly moving his way up the military ladder. (2,3)

In 1943 he was promoted to 4 star general. During the year he launched the successful attacks on Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy. In December of 1943 Dwight became Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces, in charge of the approaching invasion of France. The forces landed in Normandy June 6, 1944. By the spring of 1945 the allies had driven through all of Germany, who surrendered May eighth. Eisenhower received the highest military rank, a five star general on December 20, 1944. (3)

Late in 1945 Dwight returned to Washington D.C. and replaced Marshall as an army chief of staff. In 1948 he retired from the army to become President of Columbia University in New York City. He wrote a book about his war time experience, called Crusade in Europe, which became the best selling book of the year, Dwight was surprised. (3)

Dwight was back in uniform in 1950 to develop the defenses of Western Europe against possible communist aggression. The next 18 months he organized the armed services of North Atlantic Treaty into a unified group. This great success increased his popularity throughout the United States. (1)

During Dwight's astonishing military career he has done some things that people have never even thought of doing, but Dwight had not done something that was common, he had never voted. Dwight stayed so far away from politics that he had never even voted once. In 1948 many Americans hoped that Dwight would actually cast his first ballot for himself, as president. Harry Truman even tried to get Dwight to run for president. In the 1948 election Truman, who became president when Franklin Roosevelt died, seemed to have little chance of winning a full term of his own. He set up a private meting where he proposed that he and Dwight should run together on the democrat ticket, with Dwight as presidential candidate and Truman in second position. But Dwight rejected this great offer. Dwight said, "He had no interest in politics because he had to devote full attention to his duty as commander of NATO forces in Europe." (3)(3)

A Massachusetts senator began a president drive for Dwight in the Republican Party. Dwight must have changed his mind about politics because in 1952 he announced that he was a republican and that he will run for president. Dwight resigned from the NATO command and retired

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