Dwight Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower parlayed his great success as supreme Allied commander during World War II into two terms as the 34th president of the United States.

Dwight Eisenhower At A Glance

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969) was the thirty-fourth President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general in the United States Army. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944-45. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.

As President, he oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, kept up the pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race, enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. Eisenhower also was highly involved in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, the overthrow of democratically-elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mossadegh and replacing him with the pro-Western Shah. He has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

Early Life & Family
Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, the first president born in that state. He was the third of seven sons born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover. The house in which he was born has been preserved as Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site and is operated by the Texas Historical Commission. He was named David Dwight and was called Dwight; he reversed the order of his given names when he entered West Point, which is also where he received his nickname, "Ike". Eisenhower's paternal ancestors can be traced back to Hans Nicolas Eisenhauer, whose surname was German for "iron worker." Hans Eisenhauer and his family emigrated from Karlsbrunn (Saarland), Germany to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1741. Descendants made their way west. Eisenhower's family settled in Abilene, Kansas in 1892. His father David Eisenhower was a college-educated engineer. Eisenhower graduated from Abilene High School in 1909.

Eisenhower married Mamie Geneva Doud (1896-1979) of Denver, Colorado on July 1, 1916. The couple had two sons. Doud Dwight Eisenhower was born September 24, 1917, and died of scarlet fever on January 2, 1921, at the age of three. Their second son, John Sheldon David Doud Eisenhower, was born the following year on August 3, 1922; John served in the United States Army (retiring as a brigadier general from the Army reserve), became an author, and served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971. John, coincidentally, graduated from West Point on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was married to Barbara Jean Thompson in a June wedding in 1947. John and Barbara had four children: Dwight David II, Barbara Ann, Susan Elaine and Mary Jean. John's son, David, after whom Camp David is named, married Richard Nixon's daughter Julie in 1968. [read the rest of the Wikipedia article]

President Eisenhower Links, Resources, and Websites

Papers and Records of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
Extensive essay on Dwight D. Eisenhower (with shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs)
1952 Ike for President TV Ad
Full audio of Eisenhower speeches via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)
Eisenhower's Secret White House Recordings via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)
Audio clips of Eisenhower's speeches
Dwight David Eisenhower biography
Eisenhower Chronology World History Database
Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, including Home and Tomb
Essay: Why the Eisenhower administration embraced nuclear weapons (PDF)
Farewell Address (Wikisource)
Guardians of Freedom - 50th Anniversary of Operation Arkansas, by ARMY.MIL
First Inaugural Address
Original Document: D-Day Statement from Dwight D. Eisenhower
Second Inaugural Address
Spartacus Educational Biography
The Arms of Dwight David Eisenhower
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum
The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921-1969, CHAPTER XXIX, Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, State Funeral, March 28-April 2, 1969 by B. C. Mossman and M. W. Stark
The Presidential Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower (searchable online)
White House biography
Thaw in the Cold War: Eisenhower and Khrushchev at Gettysburg, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
TIME Magazine Cover: Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 4, 1969
Eisenhower's report on operation Torch
Works by Dwight D. Eisenhower at Project Gutenberg
'The American Presidency: Transformation and Change - Dwight Eisenhower', lecture overview of EIsenhower's presidency by Vernon Bogdanor, Gresham College, March 18, 2008 (available in text, audio and video formats).
The Eisenhower Center for American Studies
Eisenhower Center Studies on War and Peace

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