Military career of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1947.
Nickname(s)	Ike
Born	October 14, 1890 Denison, Texas
Died	March 28, 1969 Washington, D.C.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1915 – 1953 1961 – 1969
Rank	General of the Army
Commands held	Supreme Allied Commander Europe Chief of Staff of the United States Army Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force in Western Europe Commanding General, European Theater of Operations Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces in North Africa
Battles/wars	Mexican Border Service World War I World War II
Awards	Navy Distinguished Service Medal Army Distinguished Service Medal (5) Legion of Merit
Other work	President of Columbia University, NY President of the United States of America

This article is part of a series about Dwight D. Eisenhower
Early Life Military Career World War II Supreme Allied Commander in Europe D-Day Operation Overlord Surrender of Germany VE-Day Crusade in Europe President of the United States First Term Campaign for the Presidency 1952 1st Inauguration Presidency Interstate Highway System Cold War Atoms for Peace Korean War New Look Second Term Reelection 1956 2nd Inauguration NDEA NASA DARPA Eisenhower Doctrine U-2 Civil Rights Act of 1957 Little Rock Nine Farewell Address Post-Presidency Legacy Presidential Library

The military career of Dwight D. Eisenhower encompassed over forty years of active service.

Early military career

Memorial To Eisenhower at West Point.

Entering the United States Military Academy in June 1911, Eisenhower had a "spectacular" 1912 football touchdown praised by the New York Herald. The week after sharing a tackle of Jim Thorpe , Eisenhower's sports career ended with a severe knee injury.

Eisenhower graduated in 1915 ranked 61st in a class of 164. The risk, however, that the football injury would cause the government to later have to give Eisenhower a medical discharge and pension, almost caused the army to not commission him. This was acceptable to Eisenhower, who was curious about gaucho life and began planning a trip to Argentina. The army offered to assign him to the coast artillery, but Eisenhower viewed it as offering "a minimum of excitement" and preferred to become a civilian. West Point's chief medical officer interceded with the War Department and obtained a commission for him. Eisenhower requested duty in the Philippines, but was assigned to the 19th Infantry at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.^{[1]:34–36,40}

Shortly after the entry of the United States into the First World War, Eisenhower was promoted to captain in May 1917.

Eisenhower was given command of Camp Colt, Pennsylvania, a post of the newly formed Tank Corps, National Army, on March 24, 1918^[2] He was promoted to major the next month and received a Distinguished Service Medal in 1924 for his performance in this assignment.^[2]

Major Eisenhower's unit was honored by the Tank Corps Welfare League at New York City's Century Theatre on September 15, 1918.^[3] Eisenhower was promoted to lieutenant colonel in October and was ordered the same month to embark on November 18 with Camp Colt tankers for combat service in France.^[4] With the deployment overtaken by the November 11 armistice, Eisenhower instead was transferred to Camp Dix until December 22.^[5]

He served at Camp Benning from December 24, 1918 ^[6] until March 15, 1919,^[5] where a portion of the Camp Polk tank school was transferred on December 26 "to work in conjunction with the Infantry school".^[7]

Eisenhower joined the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy at Frederick, Maryland, after the first day's travel,^[8]:72 and while returning from San Francisco with his Lincoln Highway Convoy Medal, wrote his report at the Rock Island Arsenal on November 3.^[9]

Reverting to his permanent rank of captain, due to the post war reduction of the Army, on June 30, 1920, Eisenhower was promoted to major on July 2, 1920, before assuming duties at Camp Meade until 1922. His interest in tank warfare was strengthened by many conversations with George S. Patton and other senior tank leaders; however their ideas on tank warfare were strongly discouraged by superiors.^[10] The peacetime army promoted strictly on seniority, and Eisenhower would serve as a major for 16 years. In 1921 Army Inspector General Eli Helmick found that Eisenhower had improperly received $251 in housing allowance. Although he repaid the money only the intervention of General Fox Conner, who wanted Eisenhower to serve as his executive officer in the Panama Canal Zone, saved him from a court-martial and possible dismissal and imprisonment. Eisenhower received a written reprimand that became part of his military record.^{[1]:location 1204–1221,1247–1262}

While working under Conner for three years the general tutored him on military history and theory (including Carl von Clausewitz's On War), and Eisenhower later cited Conner's enormous influence on his military thinking. Ranked in the top 10% of active-duty majors, in 1925–26 he attended the Command and General Staff College (CGS) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was worried that he would be disadvantaged by not having attended Infantry School like most of his classmates, but Conner assured him that his study in Panama was good preparation; Eisenhower graduated first in his CGS class of 245 officers. The army considered making him the head of the Reserve Officers Training Corps program at a major university (Eisenhower would also have served as its football coach, doubling his pay) or a CGS faculty member, but assigned him as executive officer of the 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia until 1927. Eisenhower disliked serving with the Buffalo Soldiers regiment; many white officers viewed serving in an all-black unit as punishment for poor performance.^{[1]:location 1338–1355,1410–1471,1482–1529}

Conner helped Eisenhower to be quickly reassigned to the American Battle Monuments Commission, directed by General John J. Pershing, in Washington. Despite not having participated in the battles within six months he produced A Guide to the American Battle Fields in Europe, an excellent overview of the United States' participation in World War I. The research made Eisenhower perhaps the army's best expert on Pershing's strategies during the war other than Conner and Pershing himself, and was a thorough preparation for his World War II duties. Conner again helped him obtain his next assignment, as one of the youngest-ever students at the War College. Pershing wrote a letter praising Eisenhower, and from then on the army saw him as one of its future leading officers. Next came another assignment to Pershing's commission, this time in Paris, as the general wanted Eisenhower to revise the guide.^{[1]:location 1410–1471,1482–1529}

He was assigned to the Army War College, and then served as executive officer to General George V. Mosely, Assistant Secretary of War, from 1929 to 1933. He then served as chief military aide to General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, until 1935, when he accompanied MacArthur to the Philippines, where he served as assistant military adviser to the Philippine government. It is sometimes said that this assignment provided valuable preparation for handling the challenging personalities of Winston Churchill, George S. Patton and Bernard Law Montgomery during World War II. Eisenhower was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel in 1936. He also learned to fly, although he was never rated as a military pilot. He made a solo flight over the Philippines in 1937.

Eisenhower returned to the United States in late December 1939 and held a series of staff positions in Washington, D.C., California and Texas. He briefly commanded a battalion and then served as regimental executive officer of the 15th Infantry at Fort Lewis, Washington. Late in 1940 he became chief of staff of the 3d Infantry Division - also at Fort Lewis. March 1941 saw yet another reassignment, as Eisenhower progressed to become chief of staff of the newly activated IX Corps under Major General Kenyon Joyce. In June 1941, he was appointed Chief of Staff to General Walter Krueger, Commander of the Third United States Army, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He was promoted to brigadier general in September 1941. Although his administrative abilities had been noticed, on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II he had never held an active command and was far from being considered as a potential commander of major operations.

World War II

Eisenhower (seated, middle) with other U.S. Army officers, 1945. From left to right, the front row includes Simpson, Patton, Spaatz, Eisenhower, Bradley, Hodges, and Gerow.

After Eisenhower served as Chief of Staff of the Blue Army in the August–September 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers, fellow officers accurately predicted that he would become a major general in six months. Known as "one of the finest staff officers in the army",^[11] after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Eisenhower served until June 1942 with responsibility for creating the major war plans to defeat Germany and Japan. In the first days of the war he had been appointed Deputy Chief in charge of Pacific Defenses under the Chief of War Plans Division, General Leonard T. Gerow, and then succeeded Gerow as Chief of the War Plans Division. Then he was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff in charge of Operations Division under Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall. It was his close association with Marshall that finally brought Eisenhower to senior command positions. Marshall recognized his great organizational and administrative abilities.^[12]

In 1942, Eisenhower was appointed Commanding General, European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) and was based in London, England. In November, he was also appointed Supreme Commander Allied (Expeditionary) Force of the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA) through the new operational Headquarters A(E)FHQ. The word "expeditionary" was dropped soon after his appointment for security reasons. In February 1943, his authority was extended as commander of AFHQ across the Mediterranean basin to include the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Bernard Law Montgomery. The Eighth Army had advanced across the Western Desert from the east and was ready for the start of the Tunisia Campaign. Eisenhower gained his fourth star and gave up command of ETOUSA to be commander of NATOUSA. After the capitulation of Axis forces in North Africa, Eisenhower remained in command of the renamed Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), keeping the operational title and continued in command of NATOUSA redesignated MTOUSA. In this position he oversaw the Allied invasion of Sicily and the invasion of the Italian mainland.

Eisenhower speaks with U.S. paratroopers of the 502d Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on the evening of June 5, 1944.

In December 1943, it was announced that Eisenhower would be Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. In January 1944, he resumed command of ETOUSA and the following month was officially designated as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), serving in a dual role until the end of hostilities in Europe in May 1945. In these positions he was charged with planning and carrying out the Allied assault on the coast of Normandy in June 1944 under the code name Operation Overlord, the liberation of western Europe and the invasion of Germany. A month after the Normandy D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, the invasion of southern France took place, and control of the forces which took part in the southern invasion passed from the AFHQ to the SHAEF. From then until the end of the War in Europe on May 8, 1945, Eisenhower through SHAEF had supreme command of all operational Allied forces², and through his command of ETOUSA, administrative command of all U.S. forces, on the Western Front north of the Alps.

As recognition of his senior position in the Allied command, on December 20, 1944, he was promoted to General of the Army, equivalent to the rank of Field marshal in most European armies. In this and the previous high commands he held, Eisenhower showed his great talents for leadership and diplomacy. Although he had never seen action himself, he won the respect of front-line commanders. He dealt skillfully with difficult subordinates such as Omar Bradley and Patton, and allies such as Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and General Charles de Gaulle. He had fundamental disagreements with Churchill and Montgomery over questions of strategy, but these rarely upset his relationships with them. He negotiated with Soviet Marshal Zhukov, and such was the confidence that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had in him, he sometimes worked directly with Stalin, much to the chagrin of the British High Command who disliked being bypassed. During the advance towards Berlin, he was notified by General Bradley that Allied forces would suffer an estimated 100,000 casualties before taking the city. The Soviet Army sustained 80,000 casualties during the fighting in and around Berlin, the last large number of casualties suffered in the war against Nazism.^[13][14]

It was never certain that Operation Overlord would succeed. The seriousness surrounding the entire decision, including the timing and the location of the Normandy invasion, might be summarized by a second shorter speech that Eisenhower wrote in advance, in case he needed it. In it, he states he would take full responsibility for catastrophic failure, should that be the final result. Long after the successful landings on D-Day and the BBC broadcast of Eisenhower's brief speech concerning them, the never-used second speech was found in a shirt pocket by an aide. It read:

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.

As the senior Army officer in the European Theater, in January 1945 Eisenhower approved the execution of Private Eddie Slovik for desertion, the first such execution since the American Civil War.

Criticism of Eisenhower

Historian Adrian R. Lewis wrote that because Eisenhower lacked combat experience, he did not have the respect of his colleagues given to those who served in battle.^[15]

Field Marshal Lord Montgomery said of Eisenhower: “nice chap, no general.”^[16]

Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke wrote in his diary on 28 December 1942 that Eisenhower as a general was "hopeless. He submerges himself in politics and neglects his military duties, partly...because he knows little if anything about military matters."^[17]

General George Patton wrote that it's too bad that Eisenhower has no personal knowledge of war.^[18]

General of the Army Omar Bradley wrote that Eisenhower “had little grasp of sound battlefield tactics.”^[19]

Admiral John L. Hall Jr., the commander of Amphibious Force ‘O’, which landed the 1st Division at Omaha Beach, wrote that Eisenhower “was one of the most overrated men in military history."^[20]

Aftermath of World War II

Eisenhower as General of the Army.

Following the Nazi unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, Eisenhower was appointed Military Governor of the United States Zone of Occupation, based in Frankfurt am Main. Nazi Germany was divided into four Occupation Zones, one each for the U.S., Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Upon full discovery of the death camps that were part of the Final Solution (Holocaust), he ordered camera crews to comprehensively document evidence of the atrocity for use in the war crimes tribunals. He made the decision to reclassify German prisoners of war (POWs) in U.S. custody as Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEFs), thus depriving them of the protection of the Geneva convention. As DEFs, their food rations could be lowered and they could be compelled to serve as unfree labor. Eisenhower was an early supporter of the Morgenthau Plan to permanently remove Germany's industrial capacity to wage future wars, in which over one million German DEF's might die of harsh conditions. In November 1945 he approved the distribution of 1000 free copies of Henry Morgenthau, Jr.'s book Germany is Our Problem, which promoted and described the plan in detail, to American military officials in occupied Germany. Historian Stephen Ambrose draws the conclusion that, despite Eisenhower's later claims the act was not an endorsement of the Morgenthau plan, Eisenhower both approved of the plan and had previously given Morgenthau at least some of his ideas about how Germany should be treated.^[21] He also incorporated officials from Morgenthau's Treasury Department into the army of occupation. These were commonly called "Morgenthau boys" for their zeal in interpreting the occupation directive JCS 1067, which had been heavily influenced by Morgenthau and his plan, as strictly as possible.^[22]

Eisenhower served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from 1945–48. In December 1950, he was named Supreme Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and given operational command of NATO forces in Europe. Eisenhower retired from active service on May 31, 1952, upon entering politics. He wrote Crusade in Europe, widely regarded as one of the finest U.S. military memoirs. During this period Eisenhower served as President of Columbia University from 1948 until 1953, though he was on leave from the university while he served as NATO commander.

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chief of Staff of the United States Army by Nicodemus David Hufford III.

After his many wartime successes, General Eisenhower returned to the U.S. a great hero. He was unusual for a military hero as he never saw the front line in his life. The nearest he came to being under enemy fire was in 1944 when a German fighter strafed the ground while he was inspecting troops in Normandy. Eisenhower dived for cover like everyone else and after the plane flew off, a British brigadier helped him up and seemed very relieved he was not hurt. When Eisenhower thanked him for his solicitude, the brigadier deflated him by explaining "my concern was that you should not be injured in my sector." This incident formed part of Eisenhower's fund of stories he would tell now and again.

Not long after his return, a "Draft Eisenhower" movement in the Republican party persuaded him to declare his candidacy in the 1952 presidential election to counter the candidacy of non-interventionist Senator Robert A. Taft. (Eisenhower had been courted by both parties in 1948 and had declined to run then.) Eisenhower defeated Taft for the nomination but came to an agreement that Taft would stay out of foreign affairs while Eisenhower followed a conservative domestic policy. Eisenhower's campaign was a crusade against the Truman administration's policies regarding "Korea, Communism and Corruption" and was also noted for the simple but effective phrase "I Like Ike." Eisenhower promised to go to Korea himself and end the war and maintain both a strong NATO abroad against Communism and a corruption-free frugal administration at home. He and his running mate Richard Nixon, whose daughter later married Eisenhower's grandson David, defeated Democrats Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman in a landslide, marking the first Republican to occupy the White House in 20 years. Eisenhower was the only general to serve as President in the twentieth century, and the most recent President to have never held elected office prior to the Presidency. (The other Presidents not to have held prior elected office were Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, William Taft, and Herbert Hoover.)

Profile

General Eisenhower was never in combat on the battlefront. The majority of his military career (23 of 38 years) was at the rank of major or lieutenant colonel, mid-level field ranks. He spent a great deal of his military career in staff positions as a planner or trainer and not as a commander of combat army units. He was an aide to the legendary general Douglas MacArthur who was very difficult to deal with. General Eisenhower's skill at dealing with difficult personalities persuaded President Roosevelt to promote him to become the commanding general of the largest amphibious military invasion in history on the beaches of Normandy. This was a landing force of nine allied countries that required the overall commander to have great interpersonal skills and planning and coordination abilities.

Dates of rank

Source - Official Register of Commissioned Officers of the United States Army, 1946. pg. 205.

No pin insignia in 1915	Second Lieutenant, United States Army: June 12, 1915
	First Lieutenant, United States Army: July 1, 1916
	Captain, United States Army: May 15, 1917
	Major, National Army: June 17, 1918
	Lieutenant Colonel, National Army: October 14, 1918
for 2 days	Captain, Regular Army (reverted to peacetime rank): June 30, 1920
	Major, Regular Army : July 2, 1920
	Lieutenant Colonel, Regular Army: July 1, 1936
	Colonel, Army of the United States: March 11, 1941
	Brigadier General, Army of the United States: September 29, 1941
	Major General, Army of the United States: March 27, 1942
	Lieutenant General, Army of the United States: July 7, 1942
	General, Army of the United States: February 11, 1943
	Major General, Regular Army: August 30, 1943
	General of the Army, Army of the United States: December 20, 1944
	General, Regular Army: November 19, 1945
	General of the Army, Regular Army: April 11, 1946

Orders, Decorations and Medals

United States

	Army Distinguished Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters (1920, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1952)
	Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1947)
	Legion of Merit (1943)
	Mexican Border Service Medal (1917)
	World War I Victory Medal (1921)
	American Defense Service Medal with "Foreign Service" clasp (1942)
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver and two bronze service stars (1942)
	World War II Victory Medal (1946)
	Army of Occupation Medal with "Germany" clasp (1947)
	National Defense Service Medal with one star (1953, 1966)

Notes -

• Dates indicate the year the decoration was awarded - not necessarily the year the actions which earned it took place.
• Eisenhower is tied (at five) with Douglas MacArthur for the highest number of Army Distinguished Service Medals ever awarded.
• Eisenhower was the first recipient of both the European Campaign Medal and Army of Occupation Medal.
• The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) was established in 1953 by an executive order which Eisenhower signed. Awards of the medal were retroactive to June 1950 when Eisenhower was on active duty. In 1966 another executive order allowed retroactive awards of the NDSM back to January 1961. When President Eisenhower left office in 1961, he returned to active duty as 5 star officers were entitled to serve on active duty for life. Thus, Eisenhower was entitled to two awards of the NDSM but there are no pictures of him wearing the medal and it is not known if he was ever formally awarded the medal.

International awards

Orders

• Argentinian Great Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin
• Brazilian Order of Military Merit Grand Cross (June 19, 1946)^[23]
• Brazilian Order of Aeronautical Merit Grand Cross(August 5, 1946)^[23]
• Brazilian National Order of the Southern Cross Grand Cross (August 5, 1946)^[23]
• British Most Honourable Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross (G.C.B) (June 12, 1943)
• British Order of Merit (O.M) (June 12, 1945)
• Belgian Order of Leopold Grand Cordon with Palm (July 30, 1945)
• Chilean Chief Commander of the Order of Merit
• Chinese Grand Cordon of the Order of Cloud and Banner (Yun Hui)
• Czechoslovakian Order of the White Lion of the First Degree^[24]
• Danish Order of the Elephant
• Ecuadorian Star of Abdon Calderon
• Egyptian Grand Cordon of the Order of Ismail (Nishan al-Ismail)
• Ethiopian Order of Solomon Knight Grand Cross with Cordon (February 14, 1948)^[25]
• Ethiopian Most Exalted Order of the Queen of Sheba (May 16, 1954)^[26]
• French Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (June 15, 1943)
• French Order of the Liberation (September 5, 1945)
• Greek Order of George I with Swords
• Haitian Great Cross of the Order of Honor and Merit
• Italian Grand Cross of the Italian Military Order
• Japanese Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum^[27]
• Luxembourg Order of Merit
• Mexican Order of Military Merit
• Mexican Grand Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle
• Moroccan Grand Cordon of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite
• Netherlands Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion
• Norwegian Royal Order of St. Olaf Grand Cross (November 20, 1945), Grand Commander (April 17, 1946)
• Panama Grand Cross of the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa
• Panama Grand Master of the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero
• Polish Virtuti Militari First Class (September 25, 1944)^[28]
• Polish Cross of Grunwald First Class (September 7, 1945)^[28]
• Polish Order of Polonia Restituta Chevalier (May 18, 1945)^[28]
• Soviet Order of Victory (June 5, 1945)
• Soviet Order of Suvorov First Class (February 19, 1944)
• Thai The Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri (June 28, 1960)
• Tunisian Order of Nichan Iftikhar Grand Cordon (May 29, 1943)^[29]

Decorations

• French Médaille Militaire (May 21, 1952)
• French Croix de Guerre, 1939-1945 with Palm (June 19, 1943)
• Guatemalan Cross of Military Merit
• Luxembourg War Cross
• Belgian Croix de Guerre of 1940 with Palm (July 30, 1945)
• Czechoslovakian War Cross 1939-1945
• Mexican Medal of Civic Merit

Medals

• Brazilian Campaign Medal (August 6, 1946)^[23]
• Brazilian War Medal (July 1, 1946)^[23]
• British African Star with "1" and "8" numerical devices (November 18, 1943)
• French Liberation Medal

Namesakes

In addition, Eisenhower's name was given to a variety of streets, avenues, etc. in cities around the world, including Paris, France.

See also

• Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Notes

External links

• The short film "Famous Generals - Eisenhower (1963)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• A film clip Eisenhower Says We Must Back Victory, 1946/06/03 (1946) is available at the Internet Archive
• A film clip Gen. "Ike" Man of the Hour, 1945/06/18 (1945) is available at the Internet Archive

Leaders of the United States Army
Senior Officer / Commanding General	Washington Knox Doughty Harmar St. Clair Wayne Wilkinson Washington Hamilton Wilkinson Dearborn Brown Macomb Scott McClellan Halleck Grant Sherman Sheridan Schofield Miles
Chiefs of Staff	Young Chaffee Bates Bell Wood Wotherspoon Scott Bliss March Pershing Hines Summerall MacArthur Craig Marshall Eisenhower Bradley Collins Ridgway Taylor Lemnitzer Decker Wheeler Johnson Westmoreland Palmer Abrams Weyand Rogers Meyer Wickham Vuono Sullivan Reimer Shinseki Schoomaker Casey Dempsey Odierno Milley
Vice Chiefs of Staff	Collins Haislip Hull Bolte Palmer Lemnitzer Decker Eddleman Hamlett Abrams Haines Palmer Haig Weyand Kerwin Kroesen Vessey Wickham Thurman Brown RisCassi Sullivan Reimer Peay Tilelli Griffith Crouch Shinseki Keane Casey Cody Chiarelli Austin Campbell Allyn