Dwight D. Eisenhower

===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" />