Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 to 1967)

Instead of staying on his parents' farm, David Eisenhower studied engineering at (the former) Lane University in Kansas.

In 1911, he entered the Military Academy at West Point and became a first lieutenant in a Texas infantry regiment in 1914.

Marriage to Mamie Geneva Doud. The marriage produced two sons. Unfortunately, the older one died when he was four years old. Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes an instructor on the Mexican border. Dwight D. Eisenhower completed his military training at West Point in 1915 and was stationed at various bases throughout the United States.

After the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Eisenhower desperately wanted a transfer to the front lines in Europe. However, this was denied him and so he was sent to Pennsylvania, where he trained tank drivers from then on. Eisenhower showed there for the first time great leadership qualities and organizational skills. In 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Graduated from a general staff school and became commander of a tank battalion in 1927. During the period of the great economic depression, his military career also stagnated.  

In 1935, he went to the Philippines, where he served as a U.S.-deployed military advisor to the then-new pro-American Philippine government. As MacArthur's chief of staff, Eisenhower led the buildup of the Philippine Air Force.

With the outbreak of World War II, his career gained new momentum. Dwight D. Eisenhower went to London as commander-in-chief of American forces in Europe, from where he organized the actions of the troops in Africa and Europe.

November 8, 1942: Under Eisenhower's leadership, the landing of Allied troops in Morocco and Algeria and fought there the German troops of Rommel.

After completing the campaign in North Africa in May 1943, troops subordinate to Eisenhower landed in Sicily on July 10. This was followed by the surrender of Italy in the fall.

December 18: Eisenhower was appointed Allied Commander-in-Chief for the invasion of France, Operation Overlord, by then U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. As a member of the U.S. General Staff, he was instrumental in planning the fight against Nazi Germany and Japan.  

The operation began on June 6, 1944 with "D-Day" and was its most important success.

Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the decisive order for the landing of the Allied forces in Normandy on June 5. Under his leadership, the campaign against the Germans in Europe proceeded. He distinguished himself as an excellent coordinator who made the interaction of ambitious commanders and variously trained and equipped units possible.

May 7: At General Eisenhower's headquarters in Rheims, the unconditional surrender of all German forces was signed. Until November, he commanded the American occupation forces in Germany and assumed the office of military governor in the American occupation zone. As military governor, he ordered strict German demilitarization and denazification. In November, President Truman appointed him to Washington as Chief of Staff. Eisenhower became president of Columbia University in New York and published his memoirs under the title "Crusade in Europe".

The NATO Council in Brussels appointed Eisenhower commander-in-chief of NATO forces in Europe on Dec. 19. He established NATO headquarters in Paris and led the first buildup phase.

Eisenhower resigned from office on April 11 to devote himself entirely to the campaign for the American presidency as the Republican candidate.

Many wanted to persuade him to run for president as early as 1948, and so Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had previously been a nonpartisan, joined the Republican Party in 1952 and ran for U.S. president. In the 1952 election, he clearly defeated his Democratic rival by 442 votes to 82 in the Electoral College. He made Richard Nixon, who later became president himself, his vice president.

Two terms for Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 to 1961)

Following his campaign promise, Eisenhower went to Korea after the election to advance armistice negotiations. On July 27, 1953, an armistice was reached in Korea.

Eisenhower governed the United States as a "progressive conservative." He continued the social programs introduced by the Democrats and worked to end segregation between the white and African-American populations.  

He also advanced the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which funded the highway network in the U.S. with federal aid in subsequent decades.  

October/November 1956: During the Suez Crisis, Eisenhower condemned the actions of Britain and France and used the full diplomatic weight of the United States to call off the British-French intervention and withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza. Similarly, Eisenhower condemned Soviet actions during the uprising in Hungary.

As the former commander-in-chief of NATO forces, he primarily advocated strengthening the military alliance, including support for membership for the now democratic (West) Germany.

Eisenhower's second term was marked by the emerging Cold War. In 1957, Eisenhower founded the U.S. space agency NASA in response to the Soviet Union's first launch of the "Sputnik" satellite into space.

Eisenhower receives Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at Camp David in September 1959. He makes trips around the world to rally countries to his side in preparation for the Geneva Summit Conference in 1960. However, the summit conference of the four victorious powers of World War II failed because the Soviets shot down an American U2 reconnaissance plane over Soviet territory. Khrushchev consequently rejected Eisenhower's planned trip to the USSR in June 1960. Thus Eisenhower's ambitions to leave office as a bringer of peace failed.

On January 20, 1961, Eisenhower handed over the reins of government to Kennedy and retired to his farm near Gettysburg.

Even during his presidency, Eisenhower struggled with some health problems as a chain smoker. His health went downhill after His term and he suffered seven heart attacks. Finally, on March 28, 1969, Dwight D. Eisenhower died of heart failure at the age of 78.  

Dwight D. Eisenhower met his wife Mamie while stationed in Texas in 1915, and the two married just a year later in July 1916 and remained married until Eisenhower's death. She herself died about a decade later in 1979, and the marriage produced two sons, Doud Dwight Eisenhower and John Eisenhower (b. Aug. 3, 1922, †2013). Doud was born in 1917 and died of scarlet fever when he was only three years old. John was born in 1922 and died in 2013. Like his father, he also became a general in the U.S. military and served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium.