Dwight D. Eisenhower Contribution

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a very stubborn man who many said was born to lead. He was popular, well liked, and respected by people around him his entire life. He was a person who helped lead his country though one of the hardest times of its history.

David Dwight Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890 to David Eisenhower and Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower (Peterson). He was raised in Denison, Texas as one of seven sons (Peterson). He attended Abilene High School, where he was a decent student and a very good athlete (Peterson). It was also during his school years when he adopted the nickname “Ike”, which he would continue to be called by friends for the rest of his life (“Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier & President”). As stated in the article “Dwight

He was promoted to captain and earned a Distinguished Service Medal(“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). According to Peterson, he left the Tank Corps in January of 1922 and was then assigned to the Panama Canal Zone from 1922 to 1924. While he was in Panama, he was heavily influenced by his Brigadier General Fox Conner (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). In 1925 he was chosen, with Conner’s help, to attend the Army’s Command and General Staff School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as stated in the article “Dwight D. Eisenhower.” Eisenhower graduated, now as a major, first in his class of two hundred and forty five people (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Eisenhower was appointed to the army’s War Plans Division, where he helped create a strategy for an Allied invasion of Europe (Peterson). On December 24,1943 he was named the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, which invaded Normandy, France in the largest amphibious assault in history, better known as D-Day (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). Eisenhower was then made a five-star general before war ended in May 1945 (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). In 1948 Eisenhower left active duty in the army, and accepted a position as President of Columbia University in New York City (Peterson). According to Peterson, in 1948 he published his book, Crusade in Europe, which was successful. Eisenhower

He adopted the slogan “I Like Ike”, and impressed the voters with his warmth, sincerity, and down to earth demeanor (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). He won the presidency in November and was a popular president, which some attribute to the fact that he was president during a time of relative peace and economic prosperity (Peterson). In 1955 Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital for several weeks (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”). The following year he underwent surgery for ileitis, which is an inflammation of the small intestine (Peterson). Although his health problems raised doubts about his ability to serve a second term, he was still a popular leader and won in a landslide victory, according to the article “Dwight D. Eisenhower.” Eisenhower supported the court’s ruling of desegregation in schools, and in 1957 he signed the Civil Rights Act that protected voting rights (Peterson). In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, which was the first satellite to orbit Earth (Peterson). Americans were angry that the Soviet Union was the first to explore space, so Eisenhower signed a bill that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA (Peterson). Eisenhower left office in January of 1961, and in his Farewell Address he warned against the growth of a “military-industrial complex” (Peterson). According to Peterson, he felt the escalation of wartime weapons