Dwight D. Eisenhower: Farewell Address (1961) Commentary by Scott A. G. M. Crawford, Eastern Illinois University

About the Author

Dwight David Eisenhower, later nicknamed “Ike,” was born in Denison, Texas, and brought up in Abilene, Kansas. He was the third of seven sons. A childhood passion for sports led to his becoming a well-regarded athlete at Abilene High School, where he graduated in 1909.

Athletics, particularly football, sustained Eisenhower at West Point, where in his 1915 graduating class he was only sixty-first in academic standing; of note is the fact that this graduating class produced no fewer than fifty-nine future generals. Eisenhower later demonstrated his full education potential at the Command and General Staff College, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where as a major in 1926 he graduated first in a class of 275. In 1933 he became an aide to General Douglas MacArthur, chief of staff of the U.S. Army, eventually serving with MacArthur in the Philippines. By March 1941 Eisenhower was a full colonel, and later that year he was made chief of staff to the commander of the...