Eisenhower, Dwight D(avid), nicknamed Ike 1890-1969
US general and 34th President of the USA

Dwight D Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, of immigrant stock originating in the Rhineland. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1915, took the war college course in 1928 and gained experience under the Secretary for War. By 1939 he had become chief military assistant to General MacArthur in the Philippines. On the outbreak of World War II he obtained leave to return to troop duty in the USA. Carefully groomed for the responsibility by General George C Marshall, in 1942 he assumed command of allied forces mustered for the amphibious descent on French North Africa. Without experience of high command, but perceptive and assimilative, he rapidly learned to translate strategic theory into terms of practical action. At the same time he exhibited a rare genius for smoothly co-ordinating the activities of an interallied staff, perhaps his most valuable contribution to the war effort.

His successful conduct of the North African operations, plus the preponderant American element in the forces earmarked for 'Operation Overlord', led to his selection as supreme commander for the 1944 cross-Channel invasion of the Continental mainland, which he resolutely launched despite unnervingly capricious weather conditions. With an acute appreciation of the psychology of his US forces, his strategic preference for the drive to cross the Rhine was for a shoulder-to-shoulder advance in line - a choice of method that found some justification in the failure of the 'left-hook' stroke at Arnhem. But his reluctance to push on beyond the Elbe and occupy Berlin, and his quiescence in the rather hasty dismantling of the Anglo-American armies, resulted in Russia's emergence as the leading military power in Europe.

Among many honours, he received an honorary Order of Merit in 1945, and in 1948 became for a while president of Columbia University. With the establishment of NATO in 1950 he was made Supreme Commander of the combined land forces, but in 1952 the popularity which he had gained in Europe swept him to nomination and ultimate victory in the presidential elections. Standing as a Republican, he won by a large majority despite the even balance of parties in the house, and he was re-elected in 1956. During his presidency the US government was preoccupied with foreign policy and the campaign against Communism, and undercurrents of extremism and excess of zeal often placed the President in an invidious position, but his political inexperience was balanced by sincerity, integrity and a flair for conciliation. More recently his presidency has been subject to a favourable reassessment, now seen as maintaining stablility during a difficult period.

Bibliography: R A Melanson and D Mayers (eds), Reevaluating Eisenhower (1987); Stephen E Ambrose, The Supreme Commander: The War Years of General Dwight D Eisenhower (1970).