Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Eisenhower family is of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. His ancestors were Mennonites who fled from the Holy Roman Empire to Switzerland in the 17th century. Hans Nicol Eisenhauer and his family came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1741. The family joined the River Brethren, and were pacifists during the nation's wars. They joined some 300 River Brethren in creating a colony in Kansas. After a brief sojourn in Denison, Texas, the family re-settled in Abilene, Kansas in 1892 as his father's job on the M-K-T (Missouri-Kansas-Texas) railroad, transferred him and the family from Denison, Texas to Abilene, Kansas.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born on Tuesday, October 14, 1890, as Dwight David Eisenhower, in Denison, Texas. He was the third of seven sons born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover. Both parents were of German descent.

Eisenhower studied at the West Point Military Academy from 1911-1915. He served with the infantry, became the #3 leader of the tank corps, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the end of the First World War.

From 1922-1924 he served in the Panama Canal Zone as executive officer to General, Fox Conner.

From 1925-1926 he studied at the Command and General Staff College in Kansas, and from 1928-1933 he served as executive officer to Gen. George V. Moseley: Assistant Secretary of War, in Washington, DC. Eisenhower was chief military aide to Gen.

Douglas MacArthur from 1933-1935.

He accompanied MacArthur to the Philippines in 1935, and served there as assistant military adviser to the Philippine government until 1939.

Back in Washington, he held various staff positions and was promoted to Brigadier General in September 1941.

Shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, on Sunday, December 7th, 1941. Eisenhower was assigned to the General Staff. There he gradually rose to Assistant Chief of Staff under the Chief of Staff, Gen. George C. Marshall. Although Eisenhower had no experience in active military command, Marshall recognized his organizational and administrative strength.

It was his association with Marshall that brought Eisenhower to London in June 1942 as Commanding General of the European Theater of Operations. He was also appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces of the North African Theater of Operations, which was renamed the Mediterranean Theater of Operations after the capitulation of the German army in Africa.

In September of 1943 Eisenhower oversaw the Allied invasion of Sicily and then of Italy, which led to the immediate surrender of Italian forces in southern Italy. However, the German Winter Line fortifications in Italy, kept fighting even after the fall of Berlin. Eisenhower was in charge of planning and carrying out the Allied landings in Normandy, France, and the invasion of Germany. The first part of his plan, named Operation Overlord, was the largest seaborne operation in history. Under this plan, 2. 8 million Allied troops from 12 nations crossed the English Channel.

Starting on Tuesday, June 6th, 1944, known as "D-Day", they landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. After extremely fierce heavy fighting, the Allies breached the fortifications and pushed back the defending German forces. Two months later they reached Paris. Adolf Hitler had ordered the German commander of Paris to destroy the city rather than let it fall into Allied hands, but that officer refused to carry out those orders and eventually surrendered the city to the Allies.

After fighting that was not as fierce as was expected, the city of Paris was liberated on Friday, August 25th, 1944. Eisenhower was with French Gen. Charles de Gaulle at the Hotel de Ville, where they greeted the Allied forces and took part in the French victory parade. After liberating Belgium and the Netherlands, the Allied troops crossed into Germany.

In 1945 US and Soviet armies linked up on the Elbe River, west of Berlin. Soon Eisenhower met with Russian Gen. Georgi Zhukov and the two made a trip to the Soviet Union; the first (and only) time Eisenhower did so.

After the German surrender on Tuesday, May 8th, 1945, Eisenhower was made the Military Governor of the US Occupied Zone in Germany, based in Frankfurt, (where Anne Franke, a Jewess, died approximately three months earlier, in a concentration camp). He ordered the detailed search, documentation, photographing and widespread dissemination of what went on in the Nazi death camps. By actions such as these, Eisenhower began the process of documenting the horrors of the Holocaust. Although he had never been in action himself, Eisenhower was respected as a brilliant military strategist and skilled political leader during the Second World War. He successfully dealt with conflicting demands from many sides, and managed to mollify such tough and determined personalities as Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery and Gen. George S. Patton.

From 1945 to 1948 Eisenhower was Chief of Staff of the U. S.

Smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day until 1949, and often drank 15 cups of coffee. He was also known to drink heavily. This unhealthy lifestyle undoubtedly contributed to his severe heart problems in later life.

Army, and from 1950-1952 was Supreme Commander of all NATO forces.

Eisenhower won the 1952 US presidential elections, with Richard Nixon as his Vice President, and brought the Republicans back to national power after 20 years.

He was President from 1953-1960, becoming the first and only army general to serve as President in the 20th Century, formally becoming a civilian during his term in office.

He ended the Korean War and offered peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin in 1953.

He authorized the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat and the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'etat.

Had many health problems during his two terms as President, including a severe heart attack in 1955, intestinal problems in 1956, and a minor stroke in 1957. Following another massive heart attack in December 1965, he rarely appeared in public until his final illness in 1969.

In 1956, he received 39% of the black vote during his second presidential campaign. It's the best showing of a Republican nominee for U.S. President since 1936.

During the Syrian Crisis of 1957 he approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria's pro-western neighbors.

N. A. S. A. (North Aeronautics & Space Administration) was originally created during his second term, as President of the United States, on Tuesday, July 29th, 1958.

He invited Nikita Khrushchev to his first visit to the US in 1959, and hosted him at his farm at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where his children and grandchildren met the family of the Soviet leader. Shortly after that, however, the Soviets shot down an American U2 spy plane, captured the pilot and canceled Eisenhower's reciprocal visit to the Soviet Union. Relations between the two superpowers deteriorated very quickly, leading to an increasingly rapid nuclear arms race and a dangerous standoff in the Cold War. Domestically, Eisenhower began the modernization and integration of American roads into the interstate highway system, modeled after the autobahn, which he saw in Germany. In spite of some serious setbacks with US-Soviet relations, overall his presidency was a successful example of a non-partisan approach to politics. After his presidential term expired (US Presidents can only serve two terms), Eisenhower was again commissioned a five-star general in the army. He lived in retirement on his farm in Gettysburg, where he wrote his memoirs.

A moderate Republican, Eisenhower only reluctantly endorsed his Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1960 Presidential Election, and was deeply frustrated by the nomination of Barry Goldwater in 1964.

Ordered the CIA to "eliminate" Patrice Lumumba, the pro-Soviet first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lumumba was assassinated on 17 January 1961, three days before Eisenhower left office.

In his last will and testament, executed in 1965, he left the bulk of his estate, valued at nearly $3 million in trust for the benefit of his wife Mamie. He also left various sums, totaling $11,500 to four military aides.

He died on Friday, March 28th, 1969, at the Army Hospital in Washington, DC, and was laid to rest in Abilene, Kansas, at the Eisenhower Presidential Library. The complete lifetime of Dwight D.

Thursday, August 6th, 1970: Pictured on a 6¢ US postage stamp in the Prominent Americans series.

The USA Eisenhower dollar coin, showing a profile of the general on the obverse, was minted from 1971-1978. Although intended for circulation, the majority were kept by collectors, rather than used in commerce.

1973: Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

He was portrayed by Clive Francis in the original production of the play "Never So Good", by Howard Brenton , which premiered at the National Theatre, London, UK in March 2008.

10/13/1990: Pictured on a 25¢ US commemorative postage stamp celebrating the centennial of his birth.

He was the last U.S. president to have been born during the 19th century.