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Line 16: + + − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − ==Early Life== − Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Texas, but was raised in Kansas. Eisenhower attended the United States Military Academy at West Point (class of 1915), which put him somewhat at odds with his upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness <ref>http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/listofholdingshtml/listofholdingsJ/jehovahwitnessesabilenecongregation.pdf</ref>. (Eisenhower later became baptized into the Presbyterian church, the timing of which made him the first President to become baptized while in office <ref>http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/eisenhower.html</ref>.) Eisenhower was stationed in Texas during World War I. There he met his future wife, Mamie Geneva Doud.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (view source)
Revision as of 19:16, December 15, 2008
, 19:16, December 15, 2008life to 1941
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General of the Army '''Dwight David ("Ike") Eisenhower''' (1890-1969) was a career soldier who was the top Allied commander in Europe in [[World War II]], and who later served as the 34th [[President of the United States of America]].
(1953-1961).<ref>"General of the Army," a peculiarly American military rank, is a 5-star general, comparable in rank to field marshall; there have been only four in history. </ref> He first commanded Allied (British and American) troops invading 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.
'''Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower''' was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during [[World War II]], and went on to serve as 34th [[President of the United States of America]].
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 the isolationist Senator [[Robert A. Taft]] for the [[U.S. Republican Party, history|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 [[American conservatism|conservatism]]". He issued no stirring call to arms. Far from expanding the power of the presidency, he tried to reduce it. He launched no great moral crusade, nor did he engage in an idealistic pursuit of some overriding national goal. Critics led by Democrat [[John F. Kennedy]] charged that Eisenhower was quite content to preside over a fat, happy, satisfied nation that devoted itself to the good life. Eisenhower largely ignored partisan politics, leaving that to his Vice President [[Richard Nixon]], who was defeated in 1960 by Kennedy when he tried to run on the achievements of the Eisenhower administration.
==Early career==
Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on Oct. 14, 1890 of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. The name his parents gave him at that time was David Dwight Eisenhower - a name that wasn't switched to its more familiar form until the time of Eisenhower's enrollment at West Point. 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. Three hundred "River Brethren," including his father, moved to farms in Kansas in the 1880s. His parents were college educated, but lost their inheritance and lived poor working class lives in Abilene (apart from a short stay in Texas where Ike was born). Ike maintained close ties with Abilene his entire life. There he grew up in an environment of strong family religious traditions; his father was distant, known only as a harsh disciplinarian, but his mother had a level of activism and a sparkle in her eye that Ike inherited. In the 1890s his parents left the Mennonites to join the [[Jehovah Witness]] religion, a highly controversial group because of its refusal to salute the flag. His mother was a leader of the Witnesses but Eisenhower was never a member.<ref>Gerald Bergman, "The Influence of Religion on President Eisenhower's Upbringing" ''Journal of American & Comparative Cultures'' (2000) 23(4): 89-107. Issn: 1537-4726 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]; As President Eisenhower was baptized into the Presbyterian church--the only president to be baptized while in office. [http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/eisenhower.html see source]</ref> Eisenhower had six brothers; they all had successful careers. The oldest, Arthur, became a banker; Edgar a lawyer; Roy a pharmacist; Earl an electrical engineer; and Milton a [[New Deal]] official, became president the Johns Hopkins University and a close adviser to Ike.
Eisenhower was well educated in the small city's public schools and graduated from Abilene High School in 1909. He told a party rally that year that he was a Democrat. Despite the strong pacifist sentiment in the community, Eisenhower entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1911. Cadet Eisenhower was outstanding as a football player until he injured a knee in his sophomore year. He became a student coach with a deep knowledge of the game and for the next decade was in demand as a football coach at different army posts. His academic performance was average and he was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1915 in the "class stars fell upon." 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, and above all to complex teamwork (and a disdain for politicians).
The new second lieutenant was assigned to the prestigious 19th 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. They had two children, a boy who died in infancy, and John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, who became an Army career officer.
During World War I Eisenhower, a permanent captain and a temporary lieutenant colonel, commanded 10,000 men at the Tank Corps training center at Camp Colt, Pennsylvania; he later built his Gettysburg farm home nearby. He was preparing to sail for France when the armistice took effect on November 11, 1918, so he did not see combat. He had, however, achieved the number three rank in the Tank Corps; his close 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. In spring 1919, took part in the army's Transcontinental Convoy designed to demonstrate the need for better roads and a transcontinental highway system. The entourage left from Washington and followed a route that approximated the planned Lincoln Highway. The "truck train," as Ike called it, consisted of 81 military vehicles, 37 officers, several hundred enlisted personnel, and numerous civilian vehicles. The army vehicles included one small tank, which was the responsibility of Eisenhower and his friend, Major Sereno Brett. An estimated 3.5 million people viewed the convoy, which arrived in San Francisco in September. Among the lessons learned by the military was that they needed more durable vehicles and better maintenance procedures; it also gave him the idea for a national highway system that would facilitate troop movements.
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 20th Infantry Brigade in the Panama Canal Zone, where he had many in-depth conversations with his first mentor General Fox Connor, an intellectual who had been a top aide to General [[John J. Pershing]]. Eisenhower recalled the experience as his "graduate school of military affairs." In 1924 Eisenhower graduated first in his class of 275 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 Pershing's Battle Monuments Commission, he went to France twice and wrote a guidebook to the French battlefields, and added Pershing's mentorship. 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.<ref> Kerry E. Irish, "Apt Pupil: Dwight Eisenhower and the 1930 Industrial Mobilization Plan" ''The Journal of Military History''70#1 (January 2006), pp. 31-61 in [[Project Muse]]- </ref>) Eisenhower moved up to the office of Chief of Staff, becoming an assistant to General [[Douglas MacArthur]], a mentor 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 possessed 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 Connor and MacArthur, who mentored Eisenhower and boosted his career. Indeed, he benefited from such attention more than any other officer of the era.
==First Term==
==First Term==