DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
(Dwight David Eisenhower)
This was hand written the day before D-Day by Eisenhower. It was to be issued in the event of a failure of operation Overlord—the D-Day landings. The success was by no means a sure thing and the greatness of Eisenhower is indicated by the fact that he was not arrogant, kept the possibility of failure in mind, and took it upon himself to accept the responsibility of things had not gone well. This was one of the greatest quotations that was never made.
The President was asked at a press conference to give an example of a Richard M. Nixon idea that Eisenhower had adopted in their first administration.
Critiquing agreements such as those at Yalta:
This statement was made when he was a general of a segregated army fighting for a segregated nation that had not yet passed the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act. Even he misjudged the capability of the armed forces to desegregate.
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower GCB OM GCS CCLH KC NPk was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he became a five-star general in the Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of Normandy in 1944–45 from the Western Front.
