"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)
U.S. President
University President 1948–1953
Eisenhower rose to world prominence through his leadership of the Allied forces during World War II. As commanding general of American forces in Europe, he conducted successful campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. As supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he directed the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, and the subsequent military campaign—one of the most complex such operations in history—that culminated in victory over Nazism. He became America's 34th president in 1952 and was easily reelected the nation's chief executive in 1956. During his presidency, the United States brokered the truce that ended the Korean War, introduced atomic weapons to the armed forces, sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce the desegregation of its public schools, launched the first U.S. space satellite, created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and sent the first U.S. military advisers to Vietnam.
|