The Military Career of Dwight D. Eisenhower
As a staff officer, Eisenhower never actually left the United States throughout World War I, instead staying behind to train troops preparing to disembark (Dwight David Eisenhower 4). He was severely disappointed that he was not appointed to serve overseas. After the war, the Army shrank by over half its ranks in the ensuing peacetime, and Eisenhower reverted back to his regular rank as captain. He was quickly promoted to major, and he retained this rank for the next sixteen years (Dwight David Eisenhower 5). This was a very quiet time for the military; without imminent threat anywhere except perhaps in the Pacific, postings were uneventful, promotions were slow, and budget squeezes kept the standing numbers down. Only the Navy stood on alert in the Pacific. However, during these relatively peaceful years, he would have the opportunity and fortune to serve under such great men as Generals John J. Pershing, Walter Krueger, and Douglas MacArthur, essentially training with the military geniuses of the time, preparing him for the oncoming arena of war (Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower). Because of the sluggish peacetime assignments and budgets, Eisenhower did not receive his first battalion command until 1940. He had been lucky enough to train with tanks and had developed some familiarity with armor in appointments during World War I. Eisenhower was also smart enough to use some of his peacetime years augmenting his education, seeking admittance to Command and General Staff School, and upon graduating top of his class, subsequently attending the Army War College and Army Industrial College (Dwight David Eisenhower 5).
Training at his Fort Meade assignment under George S. Patton allowed him to work through tactical maneuvers, preparing him for Command and General Staff School, while also forging a lifelong friendship with the exceptional general. He went to the Panama Canal Zone as a major in the early 1920s, serving under on of the most influential men in Eisenhower’s life, Brigadier General Fox Conner. There he continued his study of tactics and strategy under the supervision of Brigadier General Connor, who also assigned a varied reading program to Eisenhower, including Tacitus and Plato. They spent much of their time debating the shortcomings of the most recent Treaty of Versailles, and speculating on whether these defects made another war imminent, and how the United States should and would participate this time. Eisenhower’s extensive military education eventually led to an assignment within the War Department in the 1930s, where he began to deal with Army-wide issues, and could continue to study tactics (Dwight David Eisenhower 6). Here he also worked closely with Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur, crafting speeches and reports on MacArthur’s behalf, focusing on army mobilization (Dwight David Eisenhower 8). Considered the most skilled of all the staff officers at that time, Eisenhower even accompanied MacArthur to the Philippines in 1935 as an assistant, gaining valuable insight which he would later incorporate into his plans for the Pacific when World War II exploded. Upon his return from the Philippines in 1939, Eisenhower saw numerous short-term assignments.
Finally in June of 1941, he settled in the Third Army at San Antonio under Lieutenant General Walter Krueger. There he noted the problems of training the Regular Army for mobilization in the global theater, and the additional issue of assigning officers with little practical experience to the soldiers. Focusing on mobilization and readiness tactics, he brought his considerations of these issues to bear in the highly publicized war games that year, roundly defeating the Second Army and gaining some national attention as a master tactician. By the time World War II had started, Dwight David Eisenhower was already a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, but his finest commanding hours were yet to come. In late 1941, just after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he was called upon by the Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to come to Washington, D.C., to participate in the War Plans Division of the General Staff as they attempted to develop a plan for the Far East. Soon after arrival, and based upon Eisenhower’s initial recommendations, which correlated with Marshall’s own plans, Chief of Staff Marshall assigned to him the Philippines and the Far Eastern Section of the War Plans Division (Ambrose 5-6, Dwight David Eisenhower 9). Marshall prized a certain amount of independence and the ability to problem-solve in his staff, and Eisenhower not only took this to heart, but employed this in developing policy. The result was a good working relationship with the Chief of Staff.
Unfortunately the plans for the Far East and assisting the Philippines had no real solution. The United States and Great Britain determined that their initial focus should be on Germany, and Eisenhower became chief of the War Plans Division, where he threw himself into developing strategy to combat the Axis (Dwight David Eisenhower 10). Eisenhower felt strongly that disciplined action to focus resources on necessary goals was the key to success. He also developed plans to keep the Soviet Union involved in the war, something he felt was essential. In wartime, promotion and progression come quickly. In 1942, Eisenhower gained command of the invasion of North Africa and the march against the Italian forces (Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower). Marshall and Eisenhower had preferred to follow a different strategy, but finally chose this plan as a lesser evil (Dwight David Eisenhower 12). They felt that splitting the forces between Europe and North Africa would weaken both campaigns; however, political and military opinions in the United States and Great Britain favored the split. It was a difficult time for Eisenhower; still with the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel, and the temporary rank of Lieutenant General, he found himself for the first time in a war arena developing tactics for success in a difficult, amphibious invasion, oftentimes commanding senior officers with much more experience handling troops.
A number of successes resulted from his command of the North African invasion; he began to learn the art of diplomacy as he dealt with other Allied commanders and staff, he landed successful invasions in Sicily and mainland Italy, and saw the surrender of the Italian Army (Dwight David Eisenhower 13). Eisenhower’s greatest command came when he became Supreme Commander of the troops invading France on D-Day (Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower). Although his campaigns in North Africa and Italy were already considered successful at this point, Eisenhower hated to leave the job unfinished, as they had not yet reached Rome (Ambrose 307). But finally the Allies had turned their attention to a European invasion as the means to defeating Germany; Marshall and Eisenhower had wanted to move against Germany first, but now the rest of the Allies were ready as well (Dwight David Eisenhower 13). The number one objective was the destruction of the Wehrmacht. The coordination of troops for the invasion of the beaches of Normandy required complete cooperation with Allied commanders and troops, and Eisenhower never worked harder to keep the disparate groups in sync. He went beyond mere agreement, working to get other commanders to accept the policies that the coalition decided upon; he felt that it was essential that commanders not only agree to these policies, but work to actively support them (Dwight David Eisenhower 14).
His goal, at which he was successful, was to remove nationalistic overtones, and to develop truly Allied strategies for the prosecution of the war. Although unbelievably costly, the Normandy invasion was successful, in part because of Eisenhower’s ability to adapt the Allied plans to the ever-changing situation. Additionally, his willingness to act quickly, arranging the attack before Germany could fully prepare, tilted the scales in the Allieds’ favor (Ambrose 416). While maintaining a firm view of the broad policies, he allowed for changes at the tactical level according to the unique situations which continually arose (Dwight David Eisenhower 14). Eisenhower had also made it his policy that all units continuously train for combat, from units far removed from the theater of war to those standing at the front lines (Ambrose 175). Upon return to the United States after the end of World War II, Eisenhower at first accepted an appointment as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, before retiring from the Army in 1947 (Dwight David Eisenhower 15). Eisenhower attempted to settle down a little bit and accepted an appointment to Columbia University, but left after a short time to assume command of the NATO forces in 1951 (Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower). There he again worked to imbue the alliance with a sense of cooperation, coalition, and partnership (Dwight David Eisenhower 15).
In some ways the Presidency can be considered the highest military office which one may achieve, and Russian emissaries talked Eisenhower into running for office in 1952 (Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower). As Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he attempted to ease the strain of the Cold War on diplomatic relations. He attempted to develop a plan for mutual aerial surveillance of the United States and Soviet Union, although the two countries could not come to an agreement. Unfortunately, relations between the two countries deteriorated with Eisenhower’s support of middle eastern countries and Nationalist China against Nikita Krushchev’s Communist regime. He also was responsible for the promotion of full desegregation of the Armed Forces, feeling strongly that “there must be no second class citizens in this country (Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower). He used his military experience and relied on the experienced men and women around him. A truce was signed in 1953, ending the Korean War (Dwight David Eisenhower 16).
Throughout his career, Dwight D. Eisenhower made well thought out decisions and stuck with them, earning the respect of fellow officers, senior commanders, and the general public as President. He was commended as an honest, forthright man, and people trusted his opinions and decisions because he brought to bear his extensive training and experience along with his natural ability and intelligence. His lengthy career in the military neither made him a warmonger nor peace fanatic; he sought a middle ground, where citizens’ rights received protection through the maintenance and promotion of peace.
Ambrose, Stephen E. The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1970. “Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower.” White House Official Biography. Accessed May 24, 2006. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/de34.html “Dwight David Eisenhower.” CMH Pub 71-40. United States Army. Accessed May 24, 2006. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/ike/ike.htm
