Dwight D. Eisenhower
1890 – 1969 American Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, thirty-fourth president of the United States
Second World War Allied commander and two-term president who warned the country about the military-industrial complex.
- Religion
- Presbyterian
- Affiliations
- United States Army, Republican Party
Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded Allied forces in Europe during the Second World War before winning the presidency in 1952. His years in office saw the creation of NASA and DARPA, the launch of the Interstate Highway System, and a policy of nuclear deterrence paired with covert operations abroad. In his 1961 farewell address he warned that the growing tie between a permanent arms industry and the military could threaten democratic control, coining the phrase military-industrial complex. He had earlier framed military spending as a theft from human needs in his Cross of Iron speech.
Connections
- associate of Allen Dulles — Appointed him CIA director.
- successor of Harry Truman — Handed the presidency to Eisenhower in 1953.
In the timeline
- 1952 Eisenhower elected president won the presidency
- 1953 Atoms for Peace speech the president who gave the speech
- 1953 Operation Ajax overthrows Mossadegh authorized the operation
- 1953 'New Look' defense strategy adopted in NSC 162 adopted under his administration
- 1953 Operation Ajax overthrows Mossadegh authorized the operation
- 1953 Stalin dies; Eisenhower finds CIA unprepared the president who found the CIA unprepared
- 1953 Eisenhower's 'Cross of Iron' speech the president who gave the speech
- 1954 Operation PBSuccess overthrows Arbenz in Guatemala authorized the operation
- 1954 Eisenhower states the domino theory articulated the doctrine
- 1956 Launch of the Interstate Highway System the president who launched it
- 1958 Founding of DARPA the president whose administration created it
- 1958 Founding of NASA the president who created it
- 1960 – 1961 Congo independence and the Lumumba crisis his administration moved against Lumumba
- 1960 U-2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union the president caught in the U-2 affair
- 1961 Eisenhower warns of the military-industrial complex the president who gave the warning