FOR THE RECORD: PRESIDENTS IN UNIFORM, PART IV
Harry S. Truman saw combat during World War I. Truman served in the Missouri National Guard from 1905-1911, and rejoined in May 1917. When the U.S. entered the war, his unit became part of the regular army. Truman served with the 129th Field Artillery from August 1917 to May 1919. He rose in rank from lieutenant to major before his discharge. In April 1918, Truman was named commander of Battery D of the 129th Field Artillery. His unit saw action at St. Mihiel that September and the Meuse-Argonne offensive in September through November 1918. Truman was discharged as a major at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas. Truman often credited his military service and the friends he made in the Army for his successful political career.
Dwight David Eisenhower is another example of the war hero turned presidential candidate. Ike, as his friends called him, graduated from West Point in 1915. During World War I, he requested overseas duty, but remained in the U.S. in training and organizational duties, at which he excelled. Recognized for his logistical and strategic abilities, he held a series of increasingly important staff positions including special assistant to the assistant secretary of war, and on the staff of General Douglas MacArthur, then the Chief of Staff of the Army.
With U.S. entry into World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ike was called to Washington and assigned to the position of assistant chief of staff in charge of war plans. In March 1942, newly promoted to major general, he became chief of the general staff’s operations division. That June he became commander of U.S. forces in Europe. Promoted to lieutenant general, he was the allied commander of the invasions of North Africa in November 1942, Sicily in July 1943, and Italy in September 1943. In December 1943, President Roosevelt named Eisenhower Supreme Allied Commander, and placed him in charge of planning the final invasion of Europe and the final defeat of Nazi Germany. Eisenhower’s success in holding together the various allies and his strategic and logistical abilities all contributed to the final allied victory. After the war, he returned to the U.S. to become army chief of staff.
Eisenhower resigned from the army in 1948, and became president of Columbia University. He returned to the army in 1950 when President Truman named him Supreme Commander of NATO forces. He again resigned from the army in July 1952, following his
Latest Articles