In the United States, the hero of the war often becomes president after a major war. It was George Washington after the Revolutionary War, Ulysses Grant after the Civil War, and Dwight Eisenhower after World War II.
Eisenhower before becoming president
Dwight Eisenhower was born in Texas in 1890.
His family was a German immigrant who emigrated from Germany to Switzerland and from Switzerland to the United States in the 18th century due to the turmoil over religious reform, his mother worshiping Jehovah's Witnesses, and his father both Protestant and Jewish. It is also said that there is.
Eisenhower's achievements are by no means wealthy, and I heard that Eisenhower, who wanted to go on to school after graduating from high school but got a job at a sugar factory due to financial difficulties, but still had the intention of going on to school, would be exempt from tuition if he became a military officer. After taking an examination at the Navy School and the Army Military School, he entered the Army Military School due to age and other issues. I continued to work in the military.
He became a lieutenant colonel in 1936, when Eisenhower's superior was General Douglas MacArthur.
At this time, Eisenhower was a lieutenant of MacArthur, and Eisenhower continued to file a transfer notice to leave MacArthur quickly, but MacArthur highly valued Eisenhower's skill and squeezed the transfer notice each time. That is.
When he finally returned to Washington in 1940, Eisenhower made good progress, becoming a colonel in March 1941 and a brigadier general in October 1941.
When Japan attacked the United States on Pearl Harbor, Eisenhower was appointed as Deputy Director of the War Planning Bureau of the General Staff Headquarters in recognition of his military service in the Philippines, and he planned the operation against Germany, which was the basis of the subsequent Normandy landing operation. Was adopted by General Marshall, and Eisenhower was promoted to General Staff as it was, transferred to the General Staff Headquarters in London according to the plan, and became the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers.
Eisenhower, who became Commander in Chief, succeeded in Operation Torch in Morocco and Algeria, and was finally promoted to General in 1944. He has been a lieutenant colonel for 16 years, and only four years after becoming a colonel until he became a general. Napoleon is also an amazing promotion speed.
Eisenhower, who became a general, went to the Italian campaign with General Patton and succeeded in surrendering Italy led by the Fascist Party, and was appointed as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expedition to Germany by Franklin Roosevelt.
It is the start of the famous Normandy landing operation in history. In December 1944, Eisenhower finally took the position of Marshal, the highest rank in the army.
The invasion operation, also known as "D Day" today, was a success, with Germany finally surrendering in May 1945 and the Empire of Japan surrendering in August, the worst war in human history. The war is over.
After the war, he became the commander-in-chief of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), ran for the US presidential election in 1952, was elected brilliantly, and became the 34th president of the United States.
At this time, Eisenhower was nominated as a candidate by both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party because he did not belong to a political party, and eventually he ran for the Republican Party because the Democratic Party administration continued for 20 years.
Perhaps because of that, Eisenhower did not hurt his opponent during his election and won the election.
The Vice President at this time was Richard Nixon, who later became President.
34th President of the United States
Even after World War II, the world was not at peace. Eisenhower embarks on a truce in the Korean War when he becomes president. The Korean War is still a truce.
After that, although he showed no intervention in ethnic conflicts in Asia, he intervened in Vietnam to prevent Vietnam from communizing after the withdrawal of France, and opened the beginning of the Vietnam War after the regular troops did not dispatch.
However, in the Indochina War between France and Vietnam, Truman provided material support to the French army, so it may be said that the beginning was opened in Truman's time.
In 1956, Egypt's President Nasser proclaimed the nationalization of the Suez Canal, which caused Britain and France to insist on military intervention against Egypt, but Eisenhower opposed this, but Eisenhower for anti-cooperation when Egypt approached the Soviet Union.・ Announced D. E. E. Eisenhower, declared military intervention in the Middle East, and dispatched US troops when a riot actually occurred in Lebanon in 1958.
On the other hand, upon Stalin's death, a compromise occurred with his successor, Khrushchev, who participated in the 1955 Geneva 4 Giant Meeting, and the meeting between the British, French, and Soviet giants was realized. In 1959, Khrushchev visited the United States and a peaceful coexistence mood flowed, but the Soviet Union succeeded in developing a continental ballistic missile, and when the U2 incident continued, tensions ran between the United States and the Soviet Union again.
In the Far East, the Japan-US Security Treaty was revised to strengthen the alliance with Japan, but there was a big backlash in Japan, which caused Eisenhower's visit to Japan to be cancelled.
Domestically, it has taken a policy that emphasizes the protection of industrial capitalists like the Republican Party, especially the rise of a new type of industrial capitalist called the military-industrial complex at this time, Eisenhower regards this as dangerous and calls for its suppression, but with the Soviet Union The endless arms race could not be stopped and the military-industrial complex could not be prevented from growing.
According to one theory, the next president, Kennedy, was assassinated by this military-industrial complex, and it was not until the Eisenhower era that even the president, like the former industrial capitalists, could not control its existence. There will be. After this, the military-industrial complex's management will become president, but that is still a long way off.
After the president's term, Eisenhower rarely appeared in public and died in 1969. He was 78 years old.
Personal evaluation of Eisenhower
Eisenhower's rating was low because the next generation Kennedy was too intense and had to be compared to Kennedy at all times. The reason may be that it has lost the space race with the Soviet Union, which has hurt the pride of the American people.
Also, Eisenhower often changed his reaction from the beginning, such as the response to the Indochina War and Egypt, which may have been the cause of his disappointment.
However, from an objective point of view, there is no point of making such a positive evaluation, but there is no particular mismanagement, and I think that it is rather ranked high among the presidents of all time.
Regardless of the president, as a military officer, he is in charge of planning and directing the Normandy landings operation of the century that led to the victory of World War II, and he is one of the best commanders in world history. However, he was also a strong opponent of Truman's dropping of the atomic bomb, and after the war he left behind the words, "What would have been good if the United States had won the war without using nuclear bombs."