Dwight david eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower

Early Life and Family

Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower on October 14, 1890, at 208 East Day Street in Denison, Texas, the first president born in that state. He was the third of seven sons born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover, of German, English and Swiss ancestry. The house in which he was born has been preserved as EisenhowerBirthplace State Historic Site and is operated by the Texas Historical Commission. He was named David Dwight and was called Dwight; he reversed the order of his given names when he enrolled at West Point Military Academy. Eisenhower married Mamie Geneva Doud of Boone, Iowa, on July 1, 1916. The couple had two sons: Doud Dwight and John Sheldon Doud. Doud Dwight was born September 24, 1917, and died ofscarlet fever on January 2, 1921, at the age of three. Their second son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, was born the following year on August 3, 1922; John served in the United States Army, retiring as a brigadier general, became an author, and served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971. John, coincidentally, graduated from West Point on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was married to BarbaraJean Thompson on June 10, 1947. John and Barbara had four children: Dwight David II "David", Barbara Ann, Susan Elaine and Mary Jean. David, after whom Camp David is named, married Richard Nixon's daughter Julie in 1968.

Religion
Eisenhower's father, Hans Nicholas Eisenhauer, was probably of Lutheran or Reformed Protestant practice. Eisenhower's mother, Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower,previously a member of the River Brethren sect of the Mennonites, joined the Bible Students which would evolve into what is now known as Jehovah's Witnesses between 1895 and 1900, when Eisenhower was a child. The Eisenhower home served as the local meeting hall from 1896 to 1915.
When Eisenhower joined the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1911, his ties to Jehovah’s Witnesses wereweakened because of the group's anti-militarist stance. By 1915, his parents' home no longer served as the meeting hall. All the men in the household abandoned the Witnesses as adults. Some hid their previous affiliation.
Eisenhower was baptized, confirmed, and became a communicant in the Presbyterian Church in a single ceremony on February 1, 1953, just 12 days after his first presidentialinauguration. He is the only president known to have undertaken these rites while in office. Eisenhower was instrumental in the addition of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and the 1956 adoption of "In God We Trust" as the motto of the United States, and its 1957 introduction on paper currency. In his retirement years, he was a member of the Gettysburg Presbyterian Church inGettysburg, Pennsylvania. The chapel at his presidential library is intentionally inter-denominational.
He questioned evangelist Billy Graham about how people can be certain whether they are going to Heaven or Hell after death.
Eisenhower was sworn into office with his personal West Point Bible, open to Psalm 33:12, at both his 1953 and 1957 inaugural ceremonies. Additionally for 1953, he includedthe Bible that George Washington had used in 1789 (belonging to St. John's Masonic Lodge No. 1), opened to II Chronicles 7:14.

Early Military Career
Eisenhower enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1911. His parents, who were against militarism, did not object to his entering West Point because they supported his education. Eisenhower was a strong athlete andenjoyed notable successes in his competitive endeavors. Eisenhower graduated in 1915. He served with the infantry until 1918 at various camps in Texas and Georgia. During World War I, Eisenhower became the #3 leader of the new tank corps and rose to temporary (Bvt.) Lieutenant Colonel in the National Army. He spent the war training tank crews in Pennsylvania and never saw combat. After the war,...