General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Dwight David Eisenhower served his country as a military leader, and as president from 1952 to 1960. Born in Texas, Eisenhower was raised in Abilene, Kansas. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and married Mamie Doud in 1916. Eisenhower served as General Douglas MacArthur's senior assistant in the Philippines when MacArthur was the army's chief of staff. MacArthur considered him the most capable officer in the army. General Eisenhower commanded Allied forces in Europe during World War II. He led the British-American invasion of North Africa which defeated Rommel's Africa Korps in 1943. On June 6, 1944, he commanded Allied forces on D-Day. He was appointed president of Columbia University in 1948 but was recalled to active military duty in 1950 to lead forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
He retired from the army in 1952 to make a bid for the Republican Party nomination for president. He was elected to the first of two terms. Americans hoped he would end the fighting in South Korea against communist China and North Korea. He did negotiate a peace settlement signed in 1953 but the fear of communism remained high in the United States. The cold war between the U.S.S.R. and the United States continued throughout his administration as he supported a foreign policy which encouraged cooperation and not conflict. He favored gradual domestic change. He ordered troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to keep peace when the high school racially integrated, and he signed the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1960.
Additional Information Can Be Found At...
Character Above All: Dwight D. Eisenhower Essay
Encyclopedia Americana: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th President, Eisenhower's Birthplace
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Library Website
The American Experience/Presidents/Featured/Eisenhower/Early Career2