Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower—originally named David Dwight—was the 34th president of the United States, holding office from 1953 to 1961. Before entering politics, he led the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II, overseeing Operation Torch in North Africa and the D-Day invasion at Normandy. In 1944, he was promoted to the five-star rank of General of the Army after 37 years of service.

Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915. During World War I, his request to serve in Europe was denied, so he took command of a unit training tank crews. In the years between the wars, he filled staff roles in the United States and the Philippines, becoming a brigadier general just before the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. After further promotions, he directed the Allied invasions of North Africa and Sicily, then the campaigns in France and Germany. Following the war in Europe, he served as military governor of the American-occupied zone of Germany in 1945, Army Chief of Staff from 1945 to 1948, president of Columbia University from 1948 to 1953, and the first supreme commander of NATO from 1951 to 1952.

In 1952, Eisenhower ran for president as a Republican, partly to stop Senator Robert A. Taft—who opposed NATO and wanted to undo the New Deal—from winning the nomination. He won the 1952 and 1956 elections in landslides, defeating Adlai Stevenson II both times. His main goals were containing communism and cutting federal deficits.

In 1953, Eisenhower considered using nuclear weapons to end the Korean War and may have threatened China with an atomic attack if an armistice wasn’t reached quickly. China agreed, and the armistice still stands. His New Look policy emphasized cheaper nuclear weapons for deterrence while cutting funding for expensive Army divisions. He continued Harry Truman’s policy of recognizing Taiwan as China’s legitimate government and secured congressional approval for the Formosa Resolution. His administration aided the French in their fight against Vietnamese Communists during the First Indochina War, and after the French withdrew, he provided strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam.

Eisenhower’s administration backed regime-changing military coups in Iran and Guatemala. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, he condemned the Israeli, British, and French invasion of Egypt and forced them to withdraw. He also condemned the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 but took no action. In 1958, he sent 15,000 soldiers to Lebanon. Near the end of his term, a summit with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was canceled after a U.S. spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Eisenhower approved the Bay of Pigs Invasion, which was left for John F. Kennedy to carry out.

He kept New Deal agencies in place and expanded Social Security. He quietly opposed Joseph McCarthy and helped end McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege. He signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders integrating schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. His administration built the Interstate Highway System, the largest roadway construction project in American history.

After the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower led the U.S. response by creating NASA and strengthening science education through the National Defense Education Act. The Soviets then ramped up their own space program, escalating the Space Race. His two terms saw widespread economic prosperity, except for a minor recession in 1958. In his farewell address, he warned about the dangers of massive military spending, deficit spending, and government contracts with private military manufacturers—what he called the “military–industrial complex.” Historians generally rank him among the upper tier of U.S. presidents.

Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas, the third of seven sons of Ida Stover and David Jacob Eisenhower. Soon after his birth, his mother reversed his first two names to “Dwight David” to avoid having two Davids in the family. He was named after the evangelist Dwight L. Moody. All the boys were called “Ike”—“Big Ike” for Edgar and “Little Ike” for Dwight—as a short form of their last name. By World War II, only Dwight was still called “Ike.”

In 1892, the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, which Eisenhower considered his hometown. As a child, he accidentally cost his younger brother Earl an eye, an event he regretted for the rest of his life. He developed a strong, lasting interest in exploring the outdoors, learning hunting, fishing, cooking, and card playing from a man named Bob Davis, who camped on the Smoky Hill River.

Although his mother opposed war, her collection of history books first sparked Eisenhower’s interest in military history, and he became an avid reader on the subject. In school, his favorite subjects were arithmetic and spelling. His parents set aside time at breakfast and dinner for daily family Bible reading. Chores were regularly assigned and rotated among the children, and misbehavior was met with strict discipline, usually from his father. His mother, who had been a member of the River Brethren sect of the Mennonites along with David, later joined the International Bible Students Association, known today as Jehovah’s Witnesses.