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Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1890-1969): |
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Dwight Eisenhower was one of America's greatest military leaders, and eventually became President of the United States due to his impressive military career. He served as supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe in World War II. After serving training duty in World War I and seeing no combat, he was assigned to various posts where he became acquainted with such military figures as George Patton and Douglas MacArthur. Eisenhower served under MacArthur when he was the army chief of staff; Eisenhower was his aide. When MacArthur resigned the post in 1935, he took Eisenhower with him to the Philippines to serve as his chief of staff. When World War II broke out in Europe, there was concern about American involvement in the war. When the draft was used in 1940, many command positions opened up, and Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower was promoted to brigadier general. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was called to Washington, D.C. and was appointed the head of the War Plan Division. Eisenhower urged that the United States support a "Germany First" plan, meaning that Germany would be concentrated on before Japan. President Roosevelt and army chief of staff George Marshall both supported him on this plan. Marshall, impressed by Eisenhower's performance, made him commander of the American forces in Europe. When Winston Churchill convinced the United States that an African campaign was necessary before a full continental assault, Eisenhower was placed in charge of this campaign, where he saw his first combat command. Following successes in Africa, and then in Sicily, and a successful landing on the Italian mainland, Eisenhower was put in command of Operation Overlord. Eisenhower introduced the plan of taking out the French railway system using bombers. However, Eisenhower's plan was implemented, and most of northern France was isolated from reinforcements. The Normandy invasion was a complete success, and the Allies advanced rapidly through France. Eisenhower's next challenge came at the Battle of the Bulge. Eisenhower's generals were completely caught off guard by the weather-based offensive that the Germans initiated. Eisenhower, faced with generals who were at the point of desperation, saw the offensive as an opportunity to hit the Germans while they were outside their fortified territory. However, due to an unresponsive General Montgomery, while the Allied forces repelled the German offensive, most of the German attack force escaped. As the Allies began to invade Germany, the British government urged Eisenhower to give much needed American supplies to Montgomery's forces, so that they could reach Berlin before the Soviets. This would allow Berlin to lie within the British postwar occupation zone. However, Eisenhower did not believe that Britain could reach Berlin first and still carry out the war properly. As a result, he sent Patton's army through Bavaria to cut off a possible German retreat into the Alps. The Soviets ended up losing over 100,000 men in taking Berlin. Germany surrendered to Eisenhower on May 7, 1945. Eisenhower had won one of the greatest military victories in history, using the largest single force ever put together. Following the surrender, he remained in Germany to conduct the occupation of the American zone, where he taught about democratic practices and urged the formation of a democratic government. Eisenhower was appointed as the commander of NATO forces by President Truman in 1950, but could not build up a large force due to the devastation in Western Europe and the conflict in Korea. In 1952 he accepted the Presidential nomination of the Republican party, and ran against Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. He won a resounding victory, and became President of the United States. As President he dealt with many Cold War issues, such as the Korean War, and built up the nation's nuclear arsenal, assuring mutual destruction in case of a Soviet first strike. After his second term as President, Eisenhower retired, and published various books. He died in 1969 after having suffered multiple heart attacks. |
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