Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States grew up in a large poor family from Kansas. He was a war hero who led the massive invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe that began on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Ironically, his mother was a pacifist and didn’t want him to attend the US Military Academy at West Point as a young man which launched his long and distinguished career in the military (history.com).
After WWII and prior to running for public office, Eisenhower commanded the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Europe. His job there was to create a unified military organization that would combat potential communist aggression around the world (history.com).Eisenhower known as “Ike” was very popular with
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The war was about stopping the spread of Communism. The United States got involved because Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. Once elected he ended the war in July of 1953, however dealing with Cold War tensions with Russia would prove to be a major challenge of his presidency (p. 848-849).As a result of the tension with the Soviet Union and the fear of communism spreading, the Nuclear Arms Race began. Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, John Dulles, believed that it was necessary to build more nuclear weapons to stand against the Soviets. This policy was know as “brinkmanship,” the concept of going to the brink of war without actually getting into war. Essentially, making serious threats that the other country finds credible, but not following through on the threats (p. 850). The Arms Race was very controversial because it was expensive and dangerous due to the incredibly destructive power of nuclear weapons. Americans were very anxious about having whole cities