Dwight David Eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14th 1890 - March 28th 1969), called “Ike”, is the thirty-fourth President of the United States of America. He is elected for two mandates of 1953 to 1961. He was previously general, Commander-in-chief of the allied forces in Europe during the Second world war.

Biography

Dwight D. Eisenhower is born on October 14th, 1890 with Denison, in the State of the Texas. His/her parents are downward immigrants originating in Forbach installed in the United States since the 18th century. At 19 years it obtains its diploma of end of secondary studies and starts to work in a dairy because his/her parents do not have the financial resources necessary to send it to the university. Its education is founded on the family values of religion and respect. It is as at the school as it would have received the nickname of “Ike”. This nickname has to him was given by his/her best friend of childhood.

Military career

In 1911, Dwight Eisenhower, are allowed with the Military academy of West Point where it is not characterized particularly by its school results. Left in the average its promotion its first assignments are without real interest. It is affected with San Antonio where it Marie with Mamie Doud.

With the Camp Meade, close to Washington, in 1920, promoted with the rank of major, it joined the Infantry Tank School where it finds an officer of the armor-plated body: the colonel Georges S. Patton, in addition large player of Bridge. Together they publish, like De Gaulle, of the articles recommending the use of the tanks in order to avoid a news trench warfare. Its ideas are not appreciated by its superiors and it is even threatened to pass in martial Cour.

It is then affected in the zone of the Panama Canal under the orders of the general Fox Conner who recognizes his value and the registered voter at the school of formation to the functions of Staff from where it leaves first of his promotion what is worth to him important assignments near the general John Pershing then of the general Douglas MacArthur. In 1933, it accompanies this last with Manila whereas he is military adviser attached to the Filipino government .

In 1939, Dwight Eisenhower returns to the the United States with the rank of Lieutenant-colonel. It is in charge of the drive of the troops and is characterized particularly by its strategy during the operations in which take part more than 400.000 men. It is promoted with the Brigadier general rank of and goes back to Washington a few days after the Attaque on Pearl Harbor to be affected with the staff under the orders of the Patton general. Missions of importance then are entrusted to him although it does not have any experience in operations; it orders the unloading of November 1942 in North Africa, the Opération Torch, where confronted with the divergences between Britanniques and Americans, it shows all its talent of conciliator and negotiator to bring closer the sights rather than to oppose them. This operation is also, in spite of the lack of means materials, an invaluable teaching for the unloadings which followed.

In 1942 - 1943, Dwight Eisenhower is in charge of the invasion of the Sicily and the Italy, which is worth to him obtaining its fourth star.

At the time of the interallied conference of Teheran of November 1943, it was decided that a second allied face would be opened in the West. The Americans providing the majority of the men and the material, the chief of the operation would be thus American. President Roosevelt which cannot do without his military adviser, the general George Marshall, it is quite naturally that Eisenhower is selected for this mission.

With the head of SHAEF ( Supreme Headquarter Allied Expeditionary Forces ), Eisenhower plans the Opération Overlord and orders the most important force of invasion of all times. Often called into question by the British but supported by Marshall, Eisenhower, by its calm, its psychological smoothness answers perfectly the strong characters that are Montgomery, Patton and the Général de Gaulle. Vis-a-vis the obstinacy of the General who defends the political sovereignty of France, Eisenhower gives up the installation of AMGOT and authorizes even 2nd dB general Leclerc to enter Paris in August 1944. Less than one year later, Eisenhower achieves the fixed goal: to obtain the Capitulation without condition of the Germany.

The shortly after the war, Eisenhower succeeds Marshall with the head of the staff of the army, posts that it leaves in 1948 to become president of the Université of Columbia. It keeps however the contact with the staff where it intervenes as an adviser. In 1950 president Truman appoints it supreme commander of NATO.

Electoral campaign

D. Eisenhower had never been interested in the policy at the point never not to have even voted. The president Truman, who doubts being able to be re-elected in 1948, offers an incredible opportunity then to him, that to be the candidate of the Democratic party to the presidency with Truman like candidate with the vice-presidency. D. Eisenhower refuses and Truman is re-elected of accuracy.

For the elections of 1952, it is the Republican party which this time proposes with D. Eisenhower to become candidate. He starts an electoral campaign which led it through forty-five States. Its speeches seek to reassure the Americans and its strategy consists in never not mentioning the name of its adversary, but tackling the assessment of its predecessor. Its platform turns around three topics: to put an end to the corruption which reigns in Washington, to finish some with the war of Korea and to face communist subversion.

The electoral campaign does not occur however without clashes. D. Eisenhower chose like candidate with the vice-presidency Richard Mr. Nixon, which is shown to have diverted funds with its profit. It drew some thanks to a very emotional speech where it the Jura that, some are the consequences, he would not force his daughter to give up her pup, a gift received during the countryside. D. Eisenhower, on its side, has some troubles because of the support of the Senator McCarthy, who affirms that many governmental stations are infiltrated by the Communists.

D. Eisenhower was elected with a comfortable majority of 55% and its mandate begins in January 1953.

Presidency

1953

January 20th: Installation of Dwight D. Eisenhower as a thirty-fourth chair of the United States of America.
April 1st: creation of the ministry for health, education and the social assistance.
May 22nd: Eisenhower signs the law “on the submerged grounds” which gives to the federal government the authority on the economic resources of territorial water. It is this law which allows the government, and not in the States, to allot patents of mining claims of oil platforms.
July 26th: Eisenhower announces the conclusion of an armistice in Korea and the partition of the country in two zones separated by the parallel 38e.
August 1st: Eisenhower proposes the widening of the law on the health insurance.
August 7th: Eisenhower signs a law making it possible to admit 241.000 refugees in addition to the normal quota of immigration.
October 8th: Eisenhower announces that the USSR made clash a bomb H.
December 8th: Eisenhower, in a speech made with the United Nations, fact of the proposals on the use of the nuclear power for peaceful purposes what gave rise to the International agency for the Atomic energy (IAEA) based in Vienna.

1954

April 23rd - June 17th: the senator McCarthy chairs the commission intended to eliminate the communist sympathizers from the armed forces.
April - July 21st: the United States refuses to intervene in the Vietnamese conflict. France goes to Dien-Bien-Phu on May 7th and the conference of Geneva ratifies the partition of the country in two zones.
May 13rd: Eisenhower signs a américano-Canadian agreement to open a sea route between the area of the Big lakes and the Atlantic Ocean while passing by the St. Lawrence. It was inaugurated on April 25th, 1959.

1955

March 16th: Eisenhower declares that the United States is ready to use the atomic weapon in the event of conflict with communist China.
July 21st: Eisenhower takes part in the first conference of the great powers, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the USSR in Geneva. He proposes a right of overflight of the military installations in order to promote a mutual trust.
September 24th: Eisenhower is victim of an heart attack.

1956

February 29th: Eisenhower announces its candidature for a second presidential mandate. It in vain tries to convince Richard Nixon, her vice-president, to give up being candidate.
May 31st: Eisenhower approves the overflight of the territory of the USSR by U-2 spy planes.
June 29th: Eisenhower signs a law making it possible the federal government to create a network of highway between the States. In theory this network is intended for national defense.
November 1st: Eisenhower puts an end to the law which obliges the blacks to leave their place to the white.
November 6th: Eisenhower beats the democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson with more than 9 million voice in advance. The democrats remain majority within the Congress.

1957

January 5th: Eisenhower lays down its policy with respect to the Middle East: the “Eisenhower Doctrines” granting an economic support for the States opposed to the expansion of the Communist regimes.
January 20th: Installation of David D. Eisenhower for a second mandate.
September 9th: Eisenhower signs a law on the “civic rights”, the first since the law of emancipation signed by Lincoln.
November 25th: Eisenhower is victim of a second heart attack

1958

January 31st: the United States launches their first satellite Explorer 1.
April 2nd: Eisenhower proposes a space civil agency; it signed the law creating NASA the next on July 29th.

1959

January 3rd: Alaska becomes the State forty-ninth of the Union.
August 21st: Hawaii becomes the fiftieth State of the Union.
15 - September 27th: president Khrouchtchev pays an official visit in the United States.

1960

May 1st: a U2 spy plane is cut down whereas it flies over the USSR later involving the cancellation of the meeting of the great powers envisaged in Paris two weeks.
November 8th: John F. Kennedy, candidate of the Democratic party gains the presidential elections against the Richard Nixon vice-president.

1961

January 17th: Short speech of end of mandate of the president. This speech remained famous because of the warning statement formulated by Eisenhower against the " complex militaro-industriel".

Foreign policy

On the external level, a policy of firmness is applied in order to make move back the Soviet zone of influence; for Eisenhower, it is not question of considering any armed crusade but especially of being dissuasive. This results in the launching of a program of nuclear deterrence, in theory intended to avoid a new confrontation. The death of Stalin in 1953 modifies the East-West relations and the hour is with the relaxation. Eisenhower puts an end to the Guerre of Korea and refuses to engage militarily at the sides of France in Indo-China. The consequence is the independence of Kampuchea, Laos and the separation of the Vietnam in two parts who involved, for the United States a long and difficult war. The hour is rather with the clandestine actions orchestrated by the CIA such as the inversion of the government gauchist of the Prime Minister of Iran Mohammed Mossadegh in August 1953 and the seizure of power by the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, that of the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala in June 1954 and the attempt failed in Indonesia in 1958. In 1956, the Soviet intervention with Budapest and the crisis of Suez recall that the Cold war is far from being finished.

In 1957, launching by the USSR of the satellite Sputnik surprises the western world. Eisenhower reinforces the defense policy then and accelerates the development of the intercontinental missiles and engages the country in a very ambitious space program.

1960 mark rupture of the dialog with Khrouchtchev because of the business of the U2 cut down on the Soviet territory. This same year, John F. Kennedy becomes the new president of the United States: the hour of the change arrived.

Interior policy

On the internal plan the mandates of president Eisenhower are characterized by a relative prosperity and the revival of the saving in consumption after the years of war. It is with him that one owes the few 65.000 km of highways connecting the States between them which have an unquestionable impact on the lifestyle of the Americans. One owes also some advanced him in the social domain with the extension of the health insurance, the retirement at 62 years for the women and the increase in trade union rights.

One of the most irritating problems was caused by the Senator McCarthy and its fight against supposed the communist infiltrations within the government. Although it never could obtain the least inculpation, it was with the eyes of certain Americans a rampart car-proclaimed against the communist projection. Eisenhower never sought to confront it directly but it succeeds in obtaining a vote of censure in its opposition in 1954 by using with its advantage a new means of expression: television. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, shown espionage with the profit of the USSR and carried out the June 19th 1953 were, indirectly, the victims of paranoia anticommunist.

In the cultural field, Eisenhower promulgates the law creating the National Farming Center with Washington DC.

Immigration, civic rights and minorities

The Second world war and the requirements of production allowed the minorities, the blacks in particular, to evaluate their role in the american company. The levelling claims start to appear in particular in the field of education. In May 1954 a decision of the Supreme court prohibits the segregation in the public schools and in October 1955 a black coed is allowed in a university of a State of the south, Alabama. The great popular movements begin in December 1955 with Montgomery, Alabama and transfer the arrival of a charismatic organizer Martin Luther King. The vote of the civic rights was not done without difficulty, a senator used even his right to speak to make a twenty-four hours speech and twenty-seven minutes, a record, in order to delay the vote of the Senate and Eisenhower the army had to utilize to oblige certain schools to open to the black pupils.

Federal government and capacities of the states

The presidency of Eisenhower marks a certain increase in the federal capacity which, for example, assoit its authority on territorial water. The creation of a minister of education, health and social assistance makes it possible to finance federal projects but does not remove that little authority in the States as one can see it in the difficulties of the government of imposing desegregation in the schools.

Reprocess

In retirement, Eisenhower remains very solicited and writes its memories. He dies the March 28th 1969 with the Walter Reed Army Hospital of Washington. The dignitaries of 78 countries as of the thousands of anonymities paid homage to this exceptional man who had marked the history of the world during nearly a quarter century.

Anecdotes

D. Eisenhower lived long enough after the end of its mandate to see the election of its vice-president Richard Mr. Nixon with the presidency and to attend the marriage between its grandson and Julie Nixon, girl of the president.

D. Eisenhower left documents concerning the Second world war in a pit with the American cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer. It will be open according to its wishes only in the morning of the June 6th 2044, date of the 100e anniversary of the Normandy landing in Normandy.

Eisenhower was at its hours painter naturalist amateur

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