“I did my homework and came away in awe, I must say,” Gehry said. “He was a superb human being.”
Historic career
From his West Point attendance beginning in 1911 to his post-war service in 1953, on through his two-term presidency, Eisenhower was always moving forward.
On his role in the Normandy invasion during WWII: “That’s quite enough for one lifetime, I think,” Gehry said. “And he did much more than that as president.”
Eisenhower shot through the ranks as he shouldered increasing responsibility during World War II.
In March 1942, Eisenhower was promoted temporarily to major general. Just four months later, he received another temporary promotion, to lieutenant general, then led successful Allied invasions of Northern Africa with Operation Torch and the Tunisia campaign. In February 1943, he was temporarily promoted to general before being receiving two permanent promotions on the same day — brigadier general and major general — on Aug. 30, 1943. In December 1943, Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces. Operation Overlord was launched June 6, 1944 on the shores of Normandy. The D-Day invasion tested Eisenhower’s strategic prowess and confirmed his place among military greats. Eisenhower was promoted to 5-star general of the Army on Dec. 20, 1944.
The cost of war
But for all the military accolades, Eisenhower knew the cost of war and it humbled him. In a June 12, 1945, radio address at Guildhall in London, a year after the Normandy invasion, Eisenhower accepted the Freedom of London Award from the city. He offered his thanks for the distinction and expressed regret over the need for the appointment of an Allied commander in chief and the cost of war.
“Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends,” Eisenhower said.
What made Eisenhower a great leader, both in the military and political arenas, were his skills in diplomacy and people management. said Susan Eisenhower, a foreign policy strategist and granddaughter of Eisenhower, whose new book “How Ike Led” looks at the principles that drove some of the important decisions the president faced.
“He managed in an extreme way to keep a factious alliance together,” Susan Eisenhower told Military Times. “Which was sometimes easier and sometimes difficult, but he understood that unity of purpose was what was required to win in the European theater.”
It was unprecedented to have an American military commander lead an international effort such as the one brought about by the Second World War.
“His subordinates were fully integrated,” Susan Eisenhower said. “By the time D-Day comes around he is given the authority over the Army, the Air Force and the Navy and that integrated control makes him one of the greatest advocates for an integrated command in the form of the Joint Chiefs and other things as the post war period comes.”
Eisenhower’s growing popularity
Though Eisenhower is revered today as a military leader and as a president, there were critics of his time who claimed he wasn’t doing enough or didn’t come off very polished during some interviews, wrote Chester J. Pach Jr., an associate professor of history at Ohio University.
In a 2017 C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey, Eisenhower ranked fifth among all presidents up to the Barack Obama administration, set below presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt. According to the survey, Eisenhower had ranked ninth seven years prior.
Pach attributes Eisenhower’s rising score to the release of more records and papers throughout the years giving historians more material to cover.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct the date of Eisenhower’s Guildhall address in London and clarify his military chronology.