Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 'Ike,' was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from December 1943, responsible for planning and executing Operation Overlord (the Normandy landings) and the campaign through France, Belgium, and Germany to Berlin. An expert staff officer and military politician rather than a battlefield commander, his genius was in managing the extraordinarily difficult coalition of British, American, French, and other Allied commanders — particularly the volatile relationship between Montgomery and Patton — and in making the irreversible decision to launch D-Day on 6 June 1944 despite marginal weather. His broad-front advance through France to Germany was conservative compared to Montgomery's preferred 'single thrust' and Patton's drive south, but it succeeded. After the war he served as NATO's first Supreme Commander and was elected the 34th US President (1953-1961), in which capacity he warned famously against the 'military-industrial complex.'
- Lived: 1890 CE – 1969 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: general, supreme commander, president
