II.

Early Life

Born in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890, Eisenhower grew up on a small farm in Abilene, Kansas. His devout and industrious parents, David and Ida, raised six sons. Interested in sports and history, young Dwight went to West Point Military Academy, partly to take advantage of the free higher education it offered. Eisenhower was commissioned an infantry officer upon graduation in 1915 and married Mamie Doud the following year. They had two sons, one of whom died in childhood.

Eisenhower did not see combat duty during World War I, but he was decorated and promoted to lieutenant colonel for his administrative skills in commanding a tank corps training centre. In the inter-war years, he was recognized as a promising leader at the Command and General Staff school and served as an industrial mobilization planner and as aide to the army chief of staff, and later military adviser to the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur.