Dwight D. Eisenhower
Overview
 
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general
General of the Army (United States)
General of the Army is a five-star general officer and is the second highest possible rank in the United States Army. A special rank of General of the Armies, which ranks above General of the Army, does exist but has only been conferred twice in the history of the Army...

 in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 in Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....

 in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany
Drive to the Siegfried Line
The Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine was one of the final Allied phases in World War II of the Western European Campaign.This phase spans from the end of the Operation Overlord incorporating the German winter counter offensive through the Ardennes up to the Allies preparing to cross the...

 in 1944–45, from the Western Front
Western Front (World War II)
The Western Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and West Germany. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale ground combat operations...

.
Timeline

1943    World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the Allied armistice with Italy.

1943    World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistice aboard the Royal Navy battleship {{HMS|Nelson|28|6}} off Malta.

1943    World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.

1950    US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of NATO-Europe

1952    Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

1952    Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

1953    Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the first Republican President in twenty years.

1953    Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

1954    President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

1954    President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.

Quotations

This is a long tough road we have to travel. The men that can do things are going to be sought out just as surely as the sun rises in the morning. Fake reputations, habits of glib and clever speech, and glittering surface performance are going to be discovered.

Letter to Vernon E. Prichard (27 August 1942), published in The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower (1970) edited by Alfred Dupont Chandler, p. 505

Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.

Notes for an announcement, written in advance of the Normandy invasion, in case of its failure, but never delivered (June 1944)

Steady Monty. You can't speak to me like that. I'm your boss.

Response to violent criticism by Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein about Eisenhower's broad front policy before Operation Market Garden|Operation Market Garden, as quoted in Arnhem — A Tragedy of Errors (1994) by Peter Harclerode, p.27

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.

Speech in Ottawa|Ottawa, 10 January 1946, published in Eisenhower Speaks : Dwight D. Eisenhower in His Messages and Speeches (1948) edited by Rudolph L. Treuenfels

We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

s:Dwight Eisenhower's First Inaugural Address| First Inaugural address, January 20, 1953

 
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