"Dwight D. Eisenhower: Life Before the Presidency" Topic

"Born on October 14, 1890, in a house by the railroad tracks in Denison, Texas, Dwight David Eisenhower spent his youth in the small farm town of Abilene, Kansas. His father, David, worked as a mechanic in a local creamery. His mother, Ida, a Mennonite, was a religious pacifist who opposed war. Eisenhower did family chores, delighted in hunting and fishing and football, and eagerly read military history. In 1911, he won an appointment to West Point, where he played football until he suffered a serious knee injury. His pranks, fondness for cards and smoking, and average grades earned him little respect from his teachers. They thought that he would be a good officer, but not a great one.

Rising in the Ranks

After graduating in the middle of his class—61st out of 164—Eisenhower spent the next few years at one disappointing station after another, beginning with a stint as a second lieutenant at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. It was there that he met and married Mamie Doud. At Camp Meade, Maryland, Eisenhower became friends with George S. Patton, Jr. Both Eisenhower and Patton published articles in 1920 advocating that the Army make better use of tanks to prevent a repetition of the static and destructive trench warfare of World War I. But Army authorities considered Eisenhower insubordinate rather than visionary and threatened him with a court-martial if he again challenged official views on infantry warfare.

Eisenhower was doubly fortunate when he was transferred to a new assignment in the Panama Canal Zone and got to work as executive officer for General Fox Conner, who appreciated Eisenhower's critical thinking about infantry warfare. Conner became Eisenhower's patron and arranged for a prized appointment that helped propel Eisenhower's career, as a student at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Eisenhower graduated first in his class of 245 officers, and he was quickly given important assignments. He served as an aide first to General John J. Pershing, commander of U.S. forces in World War I, and then to General Douglas MacArthur, the Army's chief of staff…"
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In your opinion… Eisenhower was THAT good?…or only a lucky man?

Amicalement
Armand

He was in the right place at the right time but that is part skill and part luck. At a time when technology was changing he was able to understand the impact of the technology and adapt to it. That is more then I can say for many of the WWI generals who didn't see the impact of technology and killed millions of soldiers while they learned on the job.

A recipe of; intelligence, bloody-mindedness, fearlessness, a pinch of being in the right place at the right time and a dash of knowing the right people ….

He never held a field command. He was never really tested as a general in the conventional sense. He was a highly skilled administrator and was adept at holding a highly disparate team together at a critical time, no small thing.

They thought that he would be a good officer, but not a great one.

They got that bit right! Poor general, average diplomat, poor president. Yes he kept the allied coalition together, just, and that with the help particularly of Alanbrooke to keep Monty in line. Fortunately by the time the cracks started to show at the end of '44 the Germans were practically beaten and it held together long enough to deliver victory.

I have always maintained that Ike's decision to 'go' on June 6th would place him among the great generals of history no matter what else he may have done in his career. You'd have to look long and hard to find a more courageous decision.

He was a great choice for the job of SCAEF. I doubt if anyone could have done it better. I also think he was a good, maybe great, president. I doubt, however, that he would have been anything special as a division or corps commander.

What happened with him at the Bulge?… it was only responsability of Bradley…?

Amicalement
Armand

Over time historians, as they are able to study his policies and their results, have steadily ranked Eisenhower as one of our better Presidents with many putting him in the top 10.

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He was on the winning side so by definition a winner. Better at being President than most of them. Also a heck of Golfer

Even IF he did nothing else but keep the coalition together and functioning as well as it did, he'd get a thumbs up from me.