Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower, known to much of the world as Ike, was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. He had already become one of the central military figures of the Second World War before entering elected office. As leader of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he launched decisive campaigns in North Africa and Normandy, supervised the invasions of France and Germany, and rose to the rank of General of the Army. His public life stretched across two defining settings: global war and the tense early decades of the Cold War.

Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890, the third of seven sons of Ida Elizabeth and David Jacob Eisenhower. His mother soon reversed his two given names to avoid confusion with his father. The family later moved to Abilene, Kansas, which Eisenhower considered his hometown. His father had been a college-educated engineer, but after a failed general store and a period of poverty, he worked as a railroad mechanic and then at a creamery. By 1898, the family had a stable home for its large household.

The habits of that home helped shape Eisenhower’s mind. His parents set aside breakfast and dinner for daily family Bible reading. Chores were assigned and rotated among the children, and discipline was direct. As a boy, Eisenhower developed a strong interest in the outdoors, learning hunting, fishing, cooking, and card playing from Bob Davis, who camped on the Smoky Hill River. Though his mother was against war, her collection of history books first stirred his interest in military history, and he became a voracious reader on the subject. Arithmetic and spelling were also favorite subjects in his early schooling.

Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915. During the First World War, he was denied a request to serve in Europe and instead commanded a unit that trained tank crews. Between the wars he served in staff posts in the United States and the Philippines, becoming a brigadier general shortly before the United States entered the Second World War. After the war in Europe ended, he served as military governor of the American-occupied zone of Germany, Army Chief of Staff, president of Columbia University, and the first supreme commander of NATO.

In 1952, Eisenhower entered the presidential race as a Republican, in part to block Senator Robert A. Taft, who opposed NATO and sought to undo the New Deal. Eisenhower won the elections of 1952 and 1956 in landslides, both times defeating Adlai Stevenson II. In office, he aimed to contain communism and reduce federal deficits. His administration backed nuclear deterrence through the New Look policy, supported Taiwan, aided French forces in the First Indochina War, and later gave strong financial support to South Vietnam. He condemned the 1956 invasions of Egypt by Israel, Britain, and France and forced them to withdraw, while also condemning the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution without taking action.

At home, Eisenhower continued New Deal agencies, expanded Social Security, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, and sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders integrating schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. His administration developed the Interstate Highway System, created NASA after the Soviet launch of Sputnik, and supported stronger science-based education through the National Defense Education Act. Near the end of his presidency, he warned about the dangers of massive military spending and government contracts with private military manufacturers, calling it “the military-industrial complex.” His line, “Take your job seriously, but not yourself,” fits the public image of a man who carried heavy responsibility with plain-spoken restraint.