United StatesWho was Dwight D. Eisenhower?
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was a career Army officer who commanded Allied forces in Europe during World War II and later served as president of Columbia University and as the first Supreme Commander of NATO. Declaring himself a Republican in 1952, he won the presidency that year and was re-elected in 1956. His approach, often called Modern Republicanism, criticized the expansion of government under Harry Truman while preserving and modestly extending established New Deal programs. Abroad, he pursued containment of the Soviet Union while seeking to hold down military costs.
Political views
Signed legislation expanding Social Security, raising the minimum wage and creating the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Source: millercenter.orgLaunched the Interstate Highway program in 1956, creating a 41,000-mile national road system.
Source: millercenter.orgSent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 to enforce school desegregation after the governor used the National Guard to block it.
Source: millercenter.orgSecured the first federal civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, though he rarely spoke out publicly to advance the cause.
Source: millercenter.orgAdopted the New Look security policy, relying on nuclear deterrence and covert CIA action to contain communism at lower cost.
Source: millercenter.orgAuthorized CIA operations that helped remove governments in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954.
Source: millercenter.org
Legacy
Contemporaries sometimes saw Eisenhower as a passive, above-the-fray president, but historians who later studied his papers described a more active behind-the-scenes leader, and his reputation among scholars has risen substantially. Admirers credit him with ending the Korean War, avoiding direct war with the Soviet Union, keeping defense costs in check and building lasting infrastructure. Critics fault his reluctance to speak publicly against segregation, his cautious response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, and covert interventions abroad whose long-term consequences remain debated. Moderate Republicans and advocates of military restraint both cite his record.
In their words
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.