David Dwight Eisenhower
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Dwight D. Eisenhower served as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, leading the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. He later became the 34th U.S. president, serving from 1953 to 1961. Under his presidency, he ended the Korean War, initiated the Interstate Highway System, and signed the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Dwight D. Eisenhower — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
One of seven sons born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Stover, Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890. His family moved to Abilene, Kansas, in 1892, where he grew up in a modest home. He attended Abilene High School before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1911.
Eisenhower rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the end of World War I, then served under General Fox Conner in the Panama Canal Zone from 1922 to 1924. He later became chief military aide to General Douglas MacArthur from 1933 to 1935, accompanying him to the Philippines. General George C. Marshall recognized his strategic brilliance and appointed him Commanding General of the European Theater of Operations in June 1942. He oversaw the Allied invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy in 1943, and then planned the largest seaborne operation in history, Operation Overlord, which commenced on D-Day, June 6, 1944. After the war, he served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and Supreme Commander of NATO before winning the presidency in 1952.
Eisenhower married Mamie Geneva Doud, and they had two sons: Doud Dwight, who died in childhood, and John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower. The family lived on a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he later retired. He suffered a severe heart attack in 1955 while in office, followed by intestinal problems in 1956 and a minor stroke in 1957. Despite health issues, he completed two terms.
Eisenhower’s legacy includes the Interstate Highway System, which he championed after seeing the German autobahn. He also signed the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959. His farewell address warned of the military-industrial complex. He is remembered as the only 20th-century army general to serve as president and for his leadership during World War II.
Browse the complete filmography of Dwight D. Eisenhower — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Dwight D. Eisenhower — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Dwight D. Eisenhower's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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A wall of memorable lines from Dwight D. Eisenhower — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
An Intellectual Is a Man Who Takes More Words Than Necessary to Tell More Than He Knows.
I Hate War as Only a Soldier Who Has Lived It Can, Only as One Who Has Seen Its Brutality, Its Futility, Its Stupidity.
Here in America We Are Descended in Blood and in Spirit from Revolutionists and Rebels Men and Women Who Dare to Dissent from Accepted Doctrine. as Their Heirs, May We Never Confuse Honest Dissent with Disloyal Subversion.
Every Gun That Is Made, Every Warship Launched, Every Rocket Fired, Signifies in the Final Sense a Theft from Those Who Hunger and Are Not Fed, Those Who Are Cold and Are Not Clothed.
Pessimism Never Won Any Battle.
The Future of This Republic Is in the Hands of the American Voter.
First, the Japanese Were Ready to Surrender and It Wasn’t Necessary to Hit Them with That Awful Thing. Second, I Hated to See Our Country Be the First to Use Such a Weapon.
In 1945 Secretary of War Stimson, Visiting My Headquarters in Germany, Informed Me That Our Government Was Preparing to Drop an Atomic Bomb on Japan. I Was One of Those Who Felt That There Were a Number of Cogent Reasons to Question the Wisdom of Such an Act. During His Recitation of the Relevant Facts, I Had Been Conscious of a Feeling of Depression and so I Voiced to Him My Grave Misgivings, First on the Basis of My Belief That Japan Was Already Defeated and That Dropping the Bomb Was Completely Unnecessary, and Secondly Because I Thought That Our Country Should Avoid Shocking World Opinion by the Use of a Weapon Whose Employment Was, I Thought, No Longer Mandatory as a Measure to Save American Lives.
There Is Every Assumption That Hitler Is Dead, but Not a Bit of Conclusive Proof That He Is Dead.
The Attractive Possibility of Quickly Turning the German North Flank Led Me to Approve the Temporary Delay in Freeing the Vital Port of Antwerp, the Seaward Approaches to Which Were Still in German Hands.
If Any Republican or Democrat Suggests That We Pull Out of Vietnam and Turn Our Backs on the More Than Thirteen Thousand Americans Who Died in the Cause of Freedom There, They Will Have Me to Contend With. That’s One of the Few Things That Would Start Me off on a Series of Stump Speeches Across the Nation.
I Have No Patience Whatsoever with the People That Want to Pull Out of Vietnam at Once, or Are Otherwise Prepared to Surrender Principle.
In Pursuit and Exploitation There Is a Need for a Commander Who Sees Nothing but the Necessity of Getting Ahead. the More He Drives His Men, the More He Will Save Their Lives.
I Am Very Much Concerned About the Food Situation … We Now Have No Reserves on the Continent of Supplies for the Civil Population.
I Know of No More Effective Means of Developing an Undying Hatred of Those Responsible for Aggressive War Than to Assume the Obligation of Attempting to Express Sympathy to Families Bereaved by It.
The Success or Failure of This Occupation Will Be Judged by the Character of the Germans 50 Years from Now. Proof Will Come When They Begin to Run a Democracy of Their Own and We Are Going to Give the Germans a Chance to Do That, in Time.
In My Personal Reactions, as the Months of Conflict Wore On, I Grew Constantly More Bitter Against the Germans.
Unless Immediate Steps Are Taken to Develop to the Fullest Extent Possible the Food Resources in Order to Provide the Minimum Wants of the German Population, Widespread Chaos, Starvation and Disease Are Inevitable During the Coming Winter.
How Could We Possibly Support Britain and France, If in Doing so We Lose the Whole Arab World?
Little-known facts about Dwight D. Eisenhower — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
After witnessing the Nazi concentration camps, Eisenhower contacted Washington and London to dispatch photographers so the atrocities could never be denied.
During his second term, he signed a bill adding under God after one nation in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Despite being a five-star general, he never personally fought in combat.
In 1956, he received 39% of the black vote, the best showing for a Republican presidential candidate since 1936.
He served as president of Columbia University before his presidency.
He smoked four packs of cigarettes a day until 1949, drank 15 cups of coffee, and consumed alcohol heavily, contributing to severe heart problems later in life.
He visited the Soviet Union in 1945 as a guest of Marshal Georgi Zhukov and later canceled a 1960 visit after the U-2 incident.
The Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 1945 went to General Eisenhower as uncredited producer of The True Glory.
In 1953 and 1954, he provided France with bombers and non-combat personnel for use in Vietnam, and CIA files later revealed American pilots flew in support of Operation Castor in November 1953.
He was the first U.S. president limited to two terms by the 22nd Amendment, and historians believe he could have won a third term if younger and healthier.
He strongly opposed the use of atomic weapons in 1945.
He turned down the Medal of Honor for his World War II leadership, believing it should only go to combat heroes.
He had no political experience when he ran for president.
He received the Distinguished Service Medal during World War I.
He served as 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, winning both elections in landslides.
He was named in Winston Churchill’s V-E Day speech on May 8, 1945.
His grandson David Eisenhower married Julie Nixon, daughter of former President Richard Nixon, who served as Eisenhower’s vice president.
A 6¢ US memorial postage stamp was issued in his honor on October 14, 1969, and another in the Prominent Americans series on August 6, 1970.
Time Magazine named him Man of the Year in 1944 and 1959.
During the 1952 campaign, he refused to defend his former superior General George C. Marshall against Senator Joseph McCarthy’s accusations.
He suffered a severe heart attack in 1955, intestinal problems in 1956, a minor stroke in 1957, and another massive heart attack in December 1965.
He was the first person elected president after ratification of the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidential service to two terms.
A moderate Republican, he only reluctantly endorsed Richard Nixon in 1960 and was frustrated by the nomination of Barry Goldwater in 1964.
His ancestors were Mennonites from Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in 1741, and the family later moved to Kansas.
His 1965 will left the bulk of his estate in trust for his wife Mamie and small sums to four military aides.
He was the first president of all 50 United States after signing the statehood bills for Alaska in January 1959 and Hawaii in August 1959.
He was the last U.S. president born in the 19th century and last to serve in both World War I and World War II.
NASA was created during his second term on July 29, 1958.
He was the first president to appear on color television at his 40th West Point class reunion on June 6, 1955.
He later regretted opposing the Anglo-French action during the Suez Crisis in 1956.
The Eisenhower dollar coin was minted from 1971 to 1978.
Despite being Republican, he is more popular among Democrats and left-leaning people.
In March 1960 he ordered the CIA to devise the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was executed by President Kennedy.
He ordered the CIA to eliminate Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated on January 17, 1961.
He called The Big Country 1958 the best western ever made.
He pressured Winston Churchill to overthrow the elected government of British Guiana in 1953.
During the Syrian Crisis of 1957, he approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents.
He was the first president to celebrate his 70th birthday in office on October 14, 1960.
He was the most recent president to die without becoming the oldest living president, dying at age 78.
His alliance with Spain’s Francisco Franco was heavily criticized.
He was inducted into the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor in 2016.
He thought he could be impeached over the 1960 U-2 incident.
He initially supported the Morgenthau Plan to deindustrialize Germany but later abandoned it.
He fully supported the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1965.
One motive for the Interstate Highway System was his impression of Hitler’s autobahn.
Marian Anderson became the first African-American woman to perform at a presidential inauguration when she sang at his 1957 inauguration.
His favorite TV show was Green Acres 1965.
On D-Day, he kept in his pocket a communique announcing failure, accepting full responsibility.
His brother Milton S. Eisenhower was a noted academic, and his son John S.D. Eisenhower served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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