Dwight D. Eisenhower
| Rank: | 34th (1953-1961) |
| Followed: | Harry S Truman |
| Succeeded by: | John F. Kennedy |
| Date of Birth | October 14, 1890 |
| Place of Birth: | Denison, Texas |
| Date of Death: | March 28, 1969 |
| Place of Death: | Washington, D.C. |
| First Lady: | Mary "Mamie" Geneva Doud |
| Occupation: | soldier |
| Political Party: | Republican |
| Vice President: | Richard Nixon |
Dwight David Eisenhower was the 34th (1953-1961) president of the United States born 1890 - died 1969, a US general in World War II and a statesman. He commanded the Allied forces during and after the Normandy landings in June 1944; in January 1945 he ordered the execution of Private Eddie Slovik for desertion.
Eisenhower was a complex, mercurial man. Confident and self-contained in public, he was content with his public image as president as a grinning, patriotic but somewhat inarticulate citizen-politician. In truth, he was a far more calculating man than he let on, with great natural political skills.
President Dwight David Eisenhower (called Ike for short) had a big smile and big ideas. As president, he brought many changes to the government by giving the cabinet more power. He was a military man, but fought no wars in his eight years as president, except for ending one. He resisted entreaties to get involved in Vietnam. He signed defense treaties with Korea and Taiwan, and he severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. He forced desegregation in schools, and kept defense spending very low.
For the 1948 election, Harry S. Truman secretly told Ike that if he ran for president as a Democrat, Truman would go as his running mate and Eisenhower would get a sure win. Ike refused because he didn't want to be president. For the 1953 election, he was approached again, this time by the Democrats and the Republicans. He still refused, because he did not consider himself a politician. But he changed his mind when little Ike clubs started popping up all over the country. Eisenhower had never even voted for president before, and had no political affiliation. He ran for the Republicans because he was a strong believer in the two-party system, and there hadn't been a Republican president in over twenty years. And so the campaign began.
During his campaign Eisenhower never mentioned his main competitor, Adlai Stevenson, by name. Instead he mostly criticized the ways of Truman, who had just been the Democratic president. This strategy worked, and he got 442 electoral votes, compared to Stevenson's 89. What makes this especially amazing is that he had never even held public office. But he was considered a war hero, and so he had a good image.
He got the votes of both Democrats and Republicans, because he had "middle way politics" meaning he was a moderate Republican, allowing Democrats to also agree with him. This method allowed him to get along well with the mostly Democratic senate, and it made him very popular during his presidency. On the other hand, when his terms were over he was greatly criticized for his politics.
When the Arkansas governor wouldn't desegregate the schools, despite the ruling of the Supreme Court, Eisenhower brought in troops because the Supreme Court ruling was the law and it had to be followed.
Eisenhower is also strongly criticized for not taking a public stand against Joe McCarthy, although he privately hated him, particularly for McCarthy's attack on his friend, Secretary of State General George C. Marshall.
Eisenhower passed the United States Interstate Highway Act, in 1956. It was the largest American public works program in history, providing a 41,000-mile highway system. Another achievement was a twenty percent increase in family income during his presidency, which he was very proud of. He added a tenth cabinet position--the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare--and he gave all of the cabinet members more responsibilities in their areas, letting them take a lot of praise and glory. And he achieved a balanced budget three of the years that he was president.
During his campaign he promised to stop the Korean War, and it was one of the first things he accomplished as president. He flew to Korea and implied in a show of brinkmanship that he would spread the war to China, and bring in nuclear weapons. This was effective and a cease-fire was signed in 1953. He signed defense treaties with Korea and Taiwan, and entered SEATO, which was an alliance with Asian countries to try and stop Communist China. Eisenhower was very concerned about communism, which may be the reason he did not speak out against McCarthy. He was also concerned about too much war: in a speech at the end of his second term, he warned against the "military-industrial complex".
There were (as always) high tensions in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and Egypt. The British and French sided with Israel, and they attacked Egypt. Then Egypt tried to get the Soviet Union to help, and the Soviet Union threatened that they would. Eisenhower did not want the conflict to turn into the third World War, and he demanded that the United Nations replace the force of England and France. England agreed to withdraw, and the crisis was ended. The US did not become involved in any major military conflicts during his administration.
Eisenhower left an interesting legacy. He was very popular during his presidency, but soon after it ended historians rated him as one of the worst presidents in history. This was mainly because of his reluctance to help desegregation and to stop McCarthyism. Also, he made the nuclear arms race much worse, with continuous threats. But in a recent poll of historians, he was rated number eleven. This is because people understand his presidency differently now. They realize that he played up the cabinet's accomplishments and played down his own purposely. He wanted to spread the responsibility around, so that it was possible to get more done. They also remember that he accomplished the Interstate Highway Act and kept defense spending very low.
After the end of WW II on May 8, 1945 the provisional German Reich (Deutsche Reich) government under Karl Doenitz and Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk was arrested and the German government from then on until 1949 was handeled by Military Occupation of United States, Great Britain and Soviet Union, who governed as the Allied Control Council. The representatives were as follows: Marshal Georgi Shukow, Fieldmarshal Bernard Montgomery, General Dwight Eisenhower and General Jean Joseph-Marie Gabriel Lattere de Tassigny.
German Prisoner of War Camps
After learning about the atrocities inflicted by the Holocaust, General Eisenhower, on March 10, 1945, General Eisenhower signed an order creating the Status of Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEF) for the German Prisoners of War (POWs), who would soon be surrendering to US Armed Forces. Canadian novelist James Bacque wrote that this order was created to circumvent parts of the Geneva Convention as protection. (Some people justify that policy as revenge for a type of revenge for the 12 million people who were killed inthe Holocaust and the 40 million more who were killed in general warfare (see Eisenhower and German POWs).
Bacque charged that Eisenhower's order allowed approximately one million German POW's to be suffer starvation and exposure. General Patton had released his POWs soon after the end of the war on May 8, 1945. Eisenhower kept them until the end of 1946.
In a PBS movie "German Americans" Eisenhower's granddaughter expresses her great difficulty in coming to grips with her grandfather's role in this particular episode of US policymaking.
Inaugural Addresses:
- Inaugural Address
- Farewell Address (noted for the introduction of the phrase "military/industrial complex" into public political discussion)
The Eisenhower Presidential Library is located in Abilene, Kansas. Eisenhower and his wife are buried in a small chapel there.