President Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower, called Ike by his parents at a young age, was the 34th president of the United States of America. He was born October 14th, 1890 in Denison, Texas. As the first president born in Texas, but soon moved to Kansas. His Presbyterian family was very poor and he had to work throughout his youth; his dad was a mechanic and his mom was a pacifist (cause that brings in a lot of money).
In 1909 he graduated from high school and went to West Point after joining the military so that they would pay for college. He started off as a second lieutenant in World War II, commanding a training center, but kept learning in the Army War College. Soon after that, he joined General MacArthur's staff. He went to the Philippine's and was in a number of executive positions, before quitting the Army and becoming the president of Columbia University. He left this to be appointed the Supreme Commander of NATO by President Truman. When WWII started, Ike was Commander General Walter Krueger's Chief of Staff, but he was promoted to Brigadier General in 1941, and in March 1942, Major General. In June, he was given command of the entire U.S. army in Europe. He was in charge of the entire D-Day operation, and in December 1944 he got to Five Star General.
Dwight Eisenhower ran with Richard Nixon as his vice president on the Republican side in 1952. Their presidential platforms mostly dealt with communism and governmental waste. Ike won with 55% of the popular vote and 442 electoral votes, destroying their opponents Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. He promised that he himself would go to Korea to end the war there. His simple slogan was "I Like Ike". He also promised a corruption free administration at home and a strong NATO agreement. They were the first Republicans to get into the White House in 20 years. He was the last president born in the 19th century, oldest president ever elected at that point in time, and one of five president to not go for Senator or another elected office first. As president he expanded all of the New Deal programs, with an emphasis on Social Security, and put them all into The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1953 an Armstice was signed seperating Korea into North Korea and South Korea, including in the agreement a no military area along the 38th Parallel. In 1954 the Supreme Court decided on the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that schools should be desegregated. Eisenhower realized the Domino Theory, that the Soviet Union would have an easier time with every new communist uprising they tried to inspire.
His earned his second term in his campaign against Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefaveur in 1956 with a landslide of 457 out of 531 electoral college votes. That same year he established the new federal highway system using the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. It let him built huge, wide roads between major and medium cities, saying it was for the evacuation of cities as major targets. Ike sent Federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to help the integration of blacks into an all-white school and make sure no trouble came about in 1957. In 1960 an American spy plane crashed into Russian territory, really irritating the Soviet Union. They didn't get over it for a while, but Eisenhower simply said that reconnaissance in national security was an important matter.
In January 1961 he retired and moved to Pennsylvania to write his autobiography. He died on March 28, 1969 of congestive heart failure.
Below is a map of every country that President Eisenhower visited during his presidency.
President "Ike" Eisenhower is probably the coolest person I have ever read so much. He was either the first oor last person to do pretty much everything.
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/dwightdeisenhower/p/peisenhower.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/dwightdeisenhower/a/ff_d_eisenhower.htm
Go to this site for a TON of cool Ike Eisenhower facts!
http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/eisenhower.html
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