Dwight D. Eisenhower

== After World War II (1945–1953) ==

=== Military Governor of the American-occupied zone of Germany ===
[[File:American Sector Germany.png|thumb|General Eisenhower served as military governor of the American zone (highlighted) in [[Allied-occupied Germany]] from May through November 1945.]]
Following the German unconditional surrender, Eisenhower was appointed military governor of the American-occupied zone of Germany, located primarily in [[Southern Germany]], and [[Office of Military Government, United States|headquartered]] in [[Frankfurt am Main]]. Upon discovery of the [[Nazi concentration camps]], he ordered camera crews to document evidence for use in the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. He reclassified German [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] (POWs) in US custody as [[Disarmed Enemy Forces]] (DEFs), who were no longer subject to the [[Geneva Conventions|Geneva Convention]]. Eisenhower followed the orders laid down by the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] (JCS) in directive [[JCS 1067]] but softened them by bringing in 400,000 tons of food for civilians and allowing more [[fraternization]].<ref>Zink, Harold (1947). ''American Military Government in Germany'', pp. 39–86</ref><ref>Goedde, Petra. "From Villains to Victims: Fraternization and the Feminization of Germany, 1945–1947", ''Diplomatic History'', Winter 1999, Vol. 23, Issue 1, pp. 1–19</ref><ref>Tent, James F. (1982), ''Mission on the Rhine: Reeducation and Denazification in American-Occupied Germany''</ref> In response to the devastation in Germany, including food shortages and an influx of refugees, he arranged distribution of American food and medical equipment.<ref>Zink, Harold (1957). ''The United States in Germany, 1944–1955''</ref> His actions reflected the new American attitudes of the German people as Nazi victims not villains, while aggressively purging the ex-Nazis.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=421–425}}</ref><ref>Goedde, Petra (2002). ''GIs and Germans: Culture, Gender and Foreign Relations, 1945–1949''</ref>

===Army Chief of Staff===
In November 1945, Eisenhower returned to Washington to replace Marshall as Chief of Staff of the Army. His main role was the rapid demobilization of millions of soldiers, which was delayed by lack of shipping. Eisenhower was convinced in 1946 that the Soviet Union did not want war and that friendly relations could be maintained; he strongly supported the new United Nations and favored its involvement in the control of atomic bombs. However, in formulating policies regarding the [[atomic bomb]] and relations with the Soviets, Truman was guided by the State Department and ignored Eisenhower and the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]]. Indeed, Eisenhower had opposed the use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese, writing, "First, the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon."<ref>Richard Rhodes, ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb,'' with Rhodes citing a 1963 profile called "Ike on Ike, in ''Newsweek'' November 11, 1963</ref> Initially, Eisenhower hoped for cooperation with the Soviets.<ref name=Ambrose>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=432–452}}</ref> He even visited [[Warsaw]] in 1945. Invited by [[Bolesław Bierut]] and decorated with the [[Virtuti Militari|highest military decoration]], he was shocked by the scale of destruction in the city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.polskieradio.pl/39/156/Artykul/747362,Dwight-Eisenhower-wielki-Amerykanin-i-wielki-zolnierz |title=Dwight Eisenhower in Poland |publisher=Polish Radio |access-date=April 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420131100/http://www.polskieradio.pl/39/156/Artykul/747362,Dwight-Eisenhower-wielki-Amerykanin-i-wielki-zolnierz |archive-date=April 20, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, by mid-1947, as east–west tensions over economic recovery in Germany and the [[Greek Civil War]] escalated, Eisenhower agreed with a [[Containment|containment policy]] to stop Soviet expansion.<ref name="Ambrose" />

=== 1948 presidential election ===
In June 1943, a visiting politician had suggested to Eisenhower that he might become president after the war. Believing that a general should not participate in politics, [[Merlo J. Pusey]] wrote that "figuratively speaking, [Eisenhower] kicked his political-minded visitor out of his office". As others asked him about his political future, Eisenhower told one that he could not imagine wanting to be considered for any political job "from dogcatcher to Grand High Supreme King of the Universe", and another that he could not serve as Army Chief of Staff if others believed he had political ambitions. In 1945, Truman told Eisenhower during the [[Potsdam Conference]] that if desired, the president would help the general win the [[1948 United States presidential election|1948 election]],<ref name="pusey1956">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/eisenhowerthepre002645mbp#page/n11/mode/2up | title=Eisenhower, the President | publisher=Macmillan | author=Pusey, Merlo J. | year=1956 | pages=1–6 | access-date=November 7, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021230806/https://archive.org/stream/eisenhowerthepre002645mbp#page/n11/mode/2up | archive-date=October 21, 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1947 he offered to run as Eisenhower's running mate on the Democratic ticket if MacArthur won the Republican nomination.<ref name="nyt20030711">"[https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/us/truman-wrote-of-48-offer-to-eisenhower.html Truman Wrote of '48 Offer to Eisenhower] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603084430/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/us/truman-wrote-of-48-offer-to-eisenhower.html |date=June 3, 2017 }}" ''The New York Times'', July 11, 2003.</ref>

As the election approached, other prominent citizens and politicians from both parties urged Eisenhower to run. In January 1948, after learning of plans in [[New Hampshire]] to elect delegates supporting him for the forthcoming [[1948 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]], Eisenhower stated through the Army that he was "not available for and could not accept nomination to high political office"; "life-long professional soldiers", he wrote, "in the absence of some obvious and overriding reason, [should] abstain from seeking high political office".{{r|pusey1956}} Eisenhower maintained no political party affiliation during this time. Many believed he was forgoing his only opportunity to be president as Republican [[Thomas E. Dewey]] was considered the probable winner and would presumably serve two terms, meaning that Eisenhower, at age 66 in 1956, would be too old to run.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=455–460}}</ref>

=== President at Columbia University and NATO Supreme Commander ===
[[File:Eisenhower Yule Log.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower lighting the Columbia University Yule Log, 1949]]
[[File:EisenhowerAlmaMater.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower posing in front of ''[[Alma Mater (New York sculpture)|Alma Mater]]'' at Columbia in 1953]]
[[File:General Eisenhower presents Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru an honorary degree from Columbia University.jpg|thumb|As [[President of Columbia University|president of Columbia]], Eisenhower presents an honorary degree to [[Jawaharlal Nehru]].]]
In 1948, Eisenhower became President of [[Columbia University]], an [[Ivy League]] university in New York City, where he was inducted into [[Phi Beta Kappa]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbk.org/WEB/pbkdocs/Phi%20Beta%20Kappa%20Presidents%20.pdf |title=ΦΒΚ U.S. Presidents |access-date=August 16, 2017 |publisher=Phi Beta Kappa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008021125/https://www.pbk.org/WEB/pbkdocs/Phi%20Beta%20Kappa%20Presidents%20.pdf |archive-date=October 8, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> The choice was subsequently characterized as not having been a good fit for either party.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|loc=ch. 24}}</ref> During that year, Eisenhower's memoir, ''[[Crusade in Europe]]'', was published.<ref>''Crusade in Europe'', Doubleday; 1st edition (1948), 559 pages, {{ISBN|1125300914}}</ref> It was a major financial success.<ref name="owen-171-172"/> Eisenhower sought the advice of Augusta National's Roberts about the tax implications of this,<ref name="owen-171-172">{{harvnb|Owen|1999|pp=171–172}}</ref> and in due course Eisenhower's profit on the book was substantially aided by what author [[David Pietrusza]] calls "a ruling without precedent" by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of the Treasury]].  It held that Eisenhower was not a professional writer, but rather, marketing the lifetime asset of his experiences, and thus he had to pay only capital gains tax on his $635,000 advance instead of the much higher personal tax rate. This ruling saved Eisenhower about $400,000.<ref>Pietrusza, David, ''1948: Harry Truman's Victory and the Year That Transformed America'', Union Square Publishing, 2011, p. 201</ref>

Eisenhower's stint as the president of Columbia was punctuated by his activity within the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], a study group he led concerning the political and military implications of the [[Marshall Plan]] and [[The American Assembly]], Eisenhower's "vision of a great cultural center where business, professional and governmental leaders could meet from time to time to discuss and reach conclusions concerning problems of a social and political nature".<ref name="warshaw-20"/> His biographer [[Blanche Wiesen Cook]] suggested that this period served his "the political education", since he had to prioritize wide-ranging educational, administrative, and financial demands for the university.<ref>{{harvnb|Cook|1981|loc=ch. 3}}</ref> Through his involvement in the Council on Foreign Relations, he also gained exposure to economic analysis, which would become the bedrock of his understanding in economic policy. "Whatever General Eisenhower knows about economics, he has learned at the study group meetings," one Aid to Europe member claimed.<ref>{{harvnb|Cook|1981|p=79}}</ref>

Eisenhower accepted the presidency of the university to expand his ability to promote "the American form of democracy" through education.<ref name="warshaw-18">{{harvnb|Jacobs|1993|p=18}}</ref> He was clear on this point to the trustees on the search committee. He informed them that his main purpose was "to promote the basic concepts of education in a democracy".<ref name="warshaw-18"/> As a result, he was "almost incessantly" devoted to the idea of the American Assembly, a concept he developed into an institution by the end of 1950.<ref name="warshaw-20">{{harvnb|Jacobs|1993|p=20}}</ref>

Within months of becoming university president, Eisenhower was requested to advise Secretary of Defense [[James Forrestal]] on the unification of the armed services.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=140–141}}</ref> About six months after his appointment, he became the informal [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] in Washington.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=145–146}}</ref> Two months later he fell ill with what was diagnosed as acute gastroenteritis, and he spent over a month in recovery at the [[Augusta National Golf Club]].<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=162–164}}</ref> He returned to his post in New York in mid-May, and in July 1949 took a two-month vacation out-of-state.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=168–169, 175}}</ref> Because the American Assembly had begun to take shape, he traveled around the country during summer and fall 1950, building financial support for it, including from [[Columbia Associates]], a recently created alumni and benefactor organization for which he had helped recruit members.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=152, 238–242, 245–249}}</ref>
Eisenhower was unknowingly building resentment and a reputation among the Columbia University faculty and staff as an absentee president who was using the university for his own interests. As a career military man, he naturally had little in common with the academics.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=479–483}}</ref> The contacts gained through university and American Assembly fundraising activities would later become important supporters in Eisenhower's bid for the Republican party nomination and the presidency. Meanwhile, Columbia University's liberal faculty members became disenchanted with the university president's ties to oilmen and businessmen.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

He did have some successes at Columbia.  Puzzled as to why no American university had undertaken the "continuous study of the causes, conduct and consequences of war",<ref name="y-s-ix"/> Eisenhower undertook the creation of the [[Institute of War and Peace Studies]], a research facility to "study war as a tragic social phenomenon".<ref name="jacobs-235-236">{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=235–236}}</ref>  Eisenhower was able to use his network of wealthy friends and acquaintances to secure initial funding for it.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=484–485}}</ref> Under its founding director, international relations scholar [[William T. R. Fox]], the institute began in 1951 and became a pioneer in [[international security studies]], one that would be emulated by other institutes in the United States and Britain later in the decade.<ref name="y-s-ix">{{harvnb|Young|Schilling|2019|p=ix}}</ref> The Institute of War and Peace Studies thus become one of the projects which Eisenhower considered his "unique contribution" to Columbia.<ref name="jacobs-235-236"/> As the president of Columbia, Eisenhower gave voice to his opinions about the supremacy and difficulties of American democracy. His tenure marked his transformation from military to civilian leadership. His biographer Travis Beal Jacobs also suggested that the alienation of the Columbia faculty contributed to sharp intellectual criticism of him for many years.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|1993|pp=17ff}}</ref>

The trustees of Columbia University declined to accept Eisenhower's offer to resign in December 1950, when he took an extended leave from the university to become the Supreme Commander of the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO), and he was given operational command of NATO forces in Europe.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|pp=251–254}}</ref> Eisenhower retired from active service as an army general on June 3, 1952,<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|p=279}}</ref> and he resumed his presidency of Columbia. Meanwhile, Eisenhower had become the Republican Party nominee for president of the United States, a contest that he won on November 4. Eisenhower tendered his resignation as university president on November 15, 1952, effective January 19, 1953, the day before his inauguration.<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|2001|p=299}}</ref>

At home, Eisenhower was more effective in making the case for NATO in Congress than the Truman administration had been. By the middle of 1951, with American and European support, NATO was a genuine military power. Nevertheless, Eisenhower thought that NATO would become a truly European alliance, with the American and Canadian commitments ending after about ten years.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=502–511}}</ref>

=== Presidential campaign of 1952 ===
{{Main|1952 United States presidential election}}
{{See also|Draft Eisenhower movement}}
[[File:I Like Ike button, 1952.svg|thumb|upright|Eisenhower button from the 1952 campaign]]
President Truman sensed a broad-based desire for an Eisenhower candidacy for president, and he again pressed him to run for the office as a Democrat in 1951. But Eisenhower voiced his disagreements with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and declared himself to be a Republican.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|p=512}}</ref> A "[[Draft Eisenhower]]" movement in the Republican Party persuaded him to declare his candidacy in the 1952 presidential election to counter the candidacy of non-interventionist Senator [[Robert A. Taft]]. The effort was a long struggle; Eisenhower had to be convinced that political circumstances had created a genuine duty to offer himself as a candidate and that there was a mandate from the public for him to be their president. [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] and others succeeded in convincing him, and he resigned his command at NATO in June 1952 to campaign full-time.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=524–528}}</ref>
[[File:1952 Ike For President Ad.webm|thumb|"I Like Ike" televised campaign ad, 1952]]
Eisenhower defeated Taft for the nomination, having won critical delegate votes from Texas. His campaign was noted for the simple slogan "[[I Like Ike]]". It was essential to his success that Eisenhower express opposition to Roosevelt's policy at the [[Yalta Conference]] and to Truman's policies in Korea and China—matters in which he had once participated.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|p=530}}</ref><ref name="time 2008">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html|magazine=Time|date=November 10, 2008|title=When New President Meets Old, It's Not Always Pretty|first=Nancy|last=Gibbs|access-date=November 12, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111030347/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html|archive-date=November 11, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> In defeating Taft for the nomination, it became necessary for Eisenhower to appease the right-wing Old Guard of the Republican Party; his selection of Richard Nixon as the vice-president on the ticket was designed in part for that purpose. Nixon also provided a strong [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] reputation, as well as youth to counter Eisenhower's more advanced age.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=541–546}}</ref>
[[File:ElectoralCollege1952.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|1952 electoral vote results]]

Eisenhower insisted on campaigning in the [[Southern United States|South]] in the general election, against the advice of his campaign team, refusing to surrender the region to the Democrats. The campaign strategy was dubbed "K<sub>1</sub>C<sub>2</sub>" and was intended to focus on attacking the Truman administration on three failures: the Korean War, [[Red-baiting|Communism]], and [[Corruption in the United States|corruption]].<ref>Herbert H. Hyman, and Paul B. Sheatsley, "The political appeal of President Eisenhower." ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' 17.4 (1953): 443-460 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2746036 online].</ref>

Two controversies tested him and his staff, but they did not damage the campaign. One involved a report that Nixon had improperly received funds from a secret trust. Nixon [[Checkers speech|spoke out adroitly]] to avoid potential damage, but the matter permanently alienated the two candidates. The second issue centered on Eisenhower's relented decision to confront the controversial methods of Joseph McCarthy on his home turf in a Wisconsin appearance.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|pp=556–567}}</ref> Eisenhower condemned "wickedness in government", an allusion to gay government employees who were [[lavender scare|conflated with communism]] during McCarthyism.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Lavender Scare |first=David K. |last=Johnson |date=March 22, 2023 |isbn=978-0226825724 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |page=121 }}</ref>

Eisenhower defeated Democratic candidate [[Adlai Stevenson II]] in a landslide, with an electoral margin of 442 to 89, marking the first Republican return to the White House in 20 years.<ref name="time 2008" /> He also brought a Republican majority in the House, by eight votes, and in the Senate, evenly divided with Vice President Nixon providing Republicans the majority.<ref>{{harvnb|Ambrose|1983|p=571}}</ref>

Eisenhower was the last president born in the 19th century, and he was the oldest president-elect at age 62 since [[James Buchanan]] in 1856.<ref name="'70s">{{harvnb|Frum|2000|p=7}}</ref> He was the third commanding general of the Army to serve as president, after [[George Washington]] and [[Ulysses S. Grant]], and the last not to have held political office prior to becoming president until [[Donald Trump]] entered office in January 2017.<ref>{{cite web| last=Crockett| first=Zachary| title=Donald Trump is the only US president ever with no political or military experience| url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/11/13587532/donald-trump-no-experience| website=vox.com| date=January 23, 2017| access-date=January 8, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106051351/http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/11/13587532/donald-trump-no-experience| archive-date=January 6, 2017| url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Election of 1956 ===
{{Main|1956 United States presidential election}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1956.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|1956 electoral vote results]]
In the United States presidential election of 1956, Eisenhower, the popular incumbent, was re-elected. The election was a re-match of 1952, as his opponent in 1956 was Stevenson, a former Illinois governor, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier. Compared to the 1952 election, Eisenhower gained [[Kentucky]], [[Louisiana]], and [[West Virginia]] from Stevenson, while losing [[Missouri]]. His voters were less likely to bring up his leadership record. Instead what stood out this time "was the response to personal qualities— to his sincerity, his integrity and sense of duty, his virtue as a family man, his religious devotion, and his sheer likeableness."<ref>{{cite book|first1=Angus|last1=Campbell|first2=Philip L.|last2=Converse|first3=Warren E.|last3=Miller|first4=Donald E.|last4=Stokes|title=The American Voter|url={{GBurl|id=JeYUrs_GOcMC|p=56}}|year=1960|page=56|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226092546}}</ref>