Eisenhower's Accomplishments

Everyone knows Dwight Eisenhower as a War Hero or the President of the United States. In this speech, I want to talk about Eisenhower's humble upbringing which would lead him to Westpoint. His integrity that he possessed and his ability to dissolve nasty situations. Which would lead him to become one of the only 5 star generals the United States has ever seen. His notoriety that he gained along the way that took him all the way to the Oval office. Today I will be talking about the many accomplishments of this General and President.
But before becoming a 5 star general and President of the United States Dwight Eisenhower had a very poor upbringing. Conceived in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890, Dwight David Eisenhower experienced childhood
in Abilene, Kansas, as the third of seven children in a poor family. After graduating high school Dwight worked at his Uncle's creamery and at night he would work as a fireman to get enough money to get his younger brother Edgar through college at the University of Michigan. In 1911 about two years after graduating received approval to attend west point where his college education would be free. He became a star football player at West Point and got average grades. After having to quit football because of knee injuries and would graduate from West Point in 1915. While at West Point Eisenhower had very good social skills and said the proper things to pick up others' participation. His solid identity and overpowering considerate mindset propelled trust. Schoolmates viewed him as a characteristic pioneer who searched for approaches to cover up debate and sort out a collective endeavor' toward a shared objective. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant after finishing college. At Camp Meade, Maryland, Eisenhower became close to George S. Patton, Both Eisenhower and Patton distributed articles in 1920 pushing that the Army to improve utilization of tanks to keep a redundancy of the static and ruinous trench fighting of World War I. Be that as it may, Army experts considered Eisenhower resistant instead of visionary and undermined him with a court-martial and second guessed his knowledge of infantry warfare.(Richardson & Pach). This later turns out to be quite ironic as you guys can imagine as you see him progress as a soldier. “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower)This shows even though he got off to a rocky start in his military career his moral compass was in the right place and would serve him well as he progressed in his military career. When World War II broke out Eisenhower was training the Third Army in field maneuvers in Louisiana. While training more than 400,000 troops it was revealed that Eisenhower had a talent for strategic planning and that earned him a position as a brigadier general. Five days after the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor brought an American revelation of war on the Axis Powers, Col. Walter Bedell Smith called Third Army's head of staff. Smith, Secretary of the General Staff in the War Department, revealed to Eisenhower that General George C. Marshall needed him in Washington instantly. Marshall knew Eisenhower by notoriety as a man who might accept accountability, yet he put that notoriety to the test quickly. Eisenhower was put to the test quickly, Marshall represented an issue to which he knew the appropriate response. To his surprise, Eisenhower kept on answering Marshalls questions right and impressed him so much that he started to give Eisenhower more and more tasks which would lead to promotions. Something that goes under the radar is how important Marshall played a role in young Eisenhower's life. Without General Marshall, we might have never even heard of Dwight Eisenhower. If Marshall did not summon Eisenhower would we not see Eisenhower's skill at battle plans which could have completely changed the direction of the War and history? I guess we will never know but I am thankful that George Marshall made the decision he did. With the addition of Eisenhower for the United States making War plans the United States army would succeed during WWII. Resulting in more promotions coming Eisenhower's way as he continued to prove himself through battle planning. After Eisenhower was brought in by Army Chief of Staff George Marshall, Marshall would bring Eisenhower everywhere with him when it came to planning.
In just two months, Marshall promoted Eisenhower to the chief of the War Plans Division where he received his second general’s star. In June 1942, Marshall sent him to England on a special mission to build cooperation among the Allies as Commanding General, U.S. Army, European Theater.(Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum) It is remarkable to think this guy was just spotted by General Marshall and in just 2 quick months he would be promoted to Chief of war plans. This really goes to show how good he was at his job that he was promoted so quickly while being admired by his peers. Starting in November 1942, Eisenhower headed Operation Torch, the cooperated Allied invasion of North Africa. He then coordinated the land and/or water capable attack of Sicily and the Italian terrain in 1943 that prompted to the fall of Rome in June 1944. Eisenhower was selected leader of the Allied Expeditionary Force in December of that year and given the obligation of initiating the arranged Allied invasion of Nazi-run Europe. On D-Day (June 6, 1944), more than 150,000 Allied strengths crossed the English Channel and raged the shorelines of Normandy; the intrusion prompted to the freedom of Paris on August 25 and handed the hold of the war over Europe conclusively in the Allied course. Having ascended from Lieutenant colonel in the Philippines to incomparable authority of the successful strengths in Europe in just five years, Eisenhower returned home to a legend's welcome in 1945 to fill in as head of staff of the U.S. Armed force.(Smith) A quote from Eisenhower that I really like because it can be related to many aspects of life is,“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless. But planning is indispensable.(Eisenhower "National Defense Executive Reserve Conference").” This shows how hard of a hard worker
Eisenhower was when making these plans and how much thought he must have put into it. What he's saying is making a plan is great but it's just a plan.Without a course of action of how you are going to complete the plan the plan you made is worthless. It's planning the steps that you have to take to reach your goal is what's important not the goal. After Germany's surrender in May 1945, Eisenhower received a hero's welcome at victory ceremonies in several Allied capitals, including Washington, D.C., London, Moscow, and Paris. After the war ended Eisenhower would come back to the US a hero and decided to become the President of Columbia University. However, his stay at Columbia was short lasted as he his peers convinced him into running for office.
Eisenhower inspired confidence with his plain talk, reassuring smiles, and heroic image. He kept a demanding schedule, traveling to forty-five states and speaking to large crowds from the caboose of his campaign train. The slogan "I like Ike" quickly became part of the political language of America. Eisenhower also got his message to the American people through 30-second television advertisements, the first time TV commercials played a major role in a presidential election. (Richardson & Pach)When elected in 1952 Eisenhower went straight to work. He Sponsored and Signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Eisenhower worked extremely hard to get the bill signed and said it was his favorite piece of legislation. A year later he would sponsor the and Signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1957 which was very important to him and he faced a lot of backlash for it. Sadly after it was passed congress amended the bill and weakened its effectiveness. A quote that President Eisenhower said that I really like because it shows his level-headedness on issues was, “Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.((Eisenhower "Farewell Address").” This quote is important because Eisenhower when the president was faced with a lot of war scenarios and managed to maintain peace. Not many people would expect this out of a 5-star general, rather they would probably expect someone that was looking for a fight. Instead, Eisenhower always looked for a peaceful route and tried his best to keep the United States out of war. Eisenhower was stood up to with real Cold War emergencies consistently he was in office: Korea, Vietnam, Formosa, Suez, Hungary, Berlin, and the U-2. While more than once America appeared on the precarious edge of war and people around him clamored to drop the Bomb, Eisenhower constantly kept a level head. He managed placidly and soundly with every circumstance, continually finding an answer that stayed away from war without lessening America's prestige. Eisenhower would be a two term president serving from 1953-1961. Eisenhower's ability to keep us out of war I find very admirable. At the time America had the strongest Military in the world and he could have easily boasted its power but instead, he looked the other direction and approached every situation with peace first and war second.
I hope I portrayed to you briefly how great of a person Dwight Eisenhower was. The maturity that he had from such a young age. To keep his composure when so many lives were in his hands was amazing. To his presidency where he kept the country safe and kept a level head when others around him wanted him to make a rash decision. And lastly his love for the country and his devotion to making it a better place for us Americans to live in today. Thank you