Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight Eisenhower’s parents, David Jacob and Ida Elizabeth (Stover) Eisenhower, moved their family from Denison, Texas, to Abilene, Kansas, where their forebears had settled in a Mennonite colony. David worked in a creamery, the family was poor, and young Dwight and his brothers were introduced to hard work and a strong religious tradition.

Eisenhower was more interested in sports than in his studies at Abilene (Kansas) High School. He matriculated at the U.S. Military Academy, where he ranked 61st academically out of 164 graduates. He ranked first in a class of 275 at the army’s Command and General Staff School and then graduated from the Army War College.

Eisenhower became famous for his military leadership during World War II. After planning the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and mainland Italy, he became supreme commander of Allied forces in western Europe (1943) and planned the Normandy Invasion (1944) and the conduct of the war in western Europe until the German surrender (1945).

The 34th U.S. president, Eisenhower served two terms, from 1953 to 1961. His tenure came at the end of fighting in the Korean War but during the Cold War. A period of general economic growth and prosperity, it was the age of the housing, television, and baby booms but also the era of McCarthyism.

Eisenhower urged economy and honesty in government. His basically conservative views on domestic affairs were reflected in his administration’s “modern Republicanism,” a program that called for reduced taxes, balanced budgets, a decrease in government control over the economy, and the return of certain federal responsibilities to the states.

Whether the U.S. should maintain its embargo initiated by Dwight D. Eisenhower against Cuba is hotly debated. Some say Cuba has not met the conditions required to lift it, and the US will look weak for lifting the sanctions. Others say the 50-year policy has failed to achieve its goals, and Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States. For more on the Cuba embargo debate, visit ProCon.org.