Dwight Eisenhower Essay, Research Paper
If you listened in history class you probably have heard his name
before. He was born in a small town called Deniso in western Texas in the
year 1890 (Hargrove 22).Then he and his family moved to a railroad town
called Abilene in the state of Kansas. Here Dwight Eisenhower grew up
with his 13 other family members. (Hargrove 19). Dwight David
Eisenhower is one of Americas greatest heroes with his military career to
his two terms as President of the United States.
Dwight Eisenhower had many accomplishments to and from West
Point through World War One. Ike Eisenhower wanted to serve his country
in any way he could. He found the idea of being a sailor in the U.S Navy
intriguing, but when he later applied for entering he found that he was too
old at the age of 20. Then after studying hard Eisenhower was accepted at
the West Point Military Academy with the help of a U.S senator (Hargrove
33). At college Ike showed himself as a hero on the Army Football team as
an end (Hargrove 34). He also found an easier procedure for working
advanced calculus (Hargrove 36). At the end of his college career in 1915,
Eisenhower graduated number 61 out of a class of 164 (Hargrove 38).
Eisenhower’s military journey began during World War One. When he
graduated college World War One was still raging through Europe. Instead
of fighting in the infantry overseas Eisenhower was to stay home on U.S
bases (Hargrove 41). After being promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel,
Eisenhower was sent to Camp Colt to train soldiers about tanks (Hargrove
42). Then in the year 1933 he became one of the important advisers to
General Douglas MacArther (Hargrove 45).
Dwight David Eisenhower worked his way up through the ranks
during World War Two and then led the Allies to victory in D-Day. Dwight
showed his skill of organizing the movement of large numbers of troops. He
was then promoted several times in the next few years.Then in 1941
Eisenhower was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Third Army (Hargrove
49). Then shortly after the promotion to “Chief of Staff”, Ike was again
promoted to the position of Brigadier General (Hargrove 50). Soon he was
put in charge of the Allied forces in Europe (Hargrove 52). He now
controlled the armies of the United States, Britain, and Canada (Hargrove
7). Eisenhower and other Allied Generals planned the invasion of
Normandy (Hargrove 12). Eisenhower would lead the 6,483 sea vessels,
about 800,000 men, and 12,000 aircraft across the English Channel to
Normandy France (Benson 12). Eisenhower had hoped that the Germans
would fear an invasion at the close French city of Calais (”The Beaches
of…” 9). There were to be five beaches invaided with the code names;
Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword, and Juno (”The beaches of…” 28). In the end
Dwight D. Eisenhower led the Allies to victory on June 6,1944. If
Eisenhower had made a wrong choice, Hitler would have continued to rain
V-1 & V-2 rockets on London (Benson 7). Eisenhower had now
successfully completed the most important invasion in history wiping out all
most 100% of German units. Luckily Allied forces only suffered 76%
casualties (Barry 30).
Dwight Eisenhower was one of the most popular and successful
presidents in our country’s history. Eisenhower was elected to the office of
president twice. His first term with vice president Richard Nixion began in
1952 (Hargrove 65). Then again in 1956 Dwight Eisenhower was reelected
to president winning by a landslide (Hargrove 76). Dwight Eisenhower
solved many problems of his era. He helped to stop the Korea war with
peacetalks (Hargrove 67). Eisenhower also enforced the desegregation of
public schools making way for the start of equal schooling (Hargrove 79).
Dwight Eisenhower substantially helped prevent what could have been an
all out war in the Middle East (Reeder 149). Eisenhower started many
important programs and made great advancements in the United States.
“The atom, once mans’ slayer will now become his most productive
servant”. This is what Eisenhower said when he pushed for the start of the
International Atomic Agency (Reeder 145). He also organized the Army to
create a space program, which eventually launched Explorer I (Hargrove
81). President Eisenhower signed the two last states into the Union, Alaska
and Hawaii (Hargrove 82). He also started to build a mass network of
interstate across the country from coast to coast (Hargrove 82). On January
20, 1961 Dwight Eisenhower left the office of President and was succeeded
by newly-elected President John F. Kennedy (Hargrove 87).
In closing I believe that Dwight David Eisenhower is one of our
greatest American heroes. Even after his presidency Eisenhower still was
one of the most popular people and admired people through the mid to late
1960’s. He lived on a farm in Gettesyberg Pennsylvania spending much of
his time playing golf ( Hargrove 88). Then in 1969 on March 28, Dwight
Eisenhower died due to a long battle with heart problems. He was then
buried in his hometown of Abeline, Kansas. “America will be a lonely land
with out him, but America will always be a better nation-stronger, safer,
more conscious of its heritage, more certain of its destiny-because Ike was
with us when America needed him,” this is what President Lyndon Johnson
said after Eisenhower’s death (Hargrove 89).