European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 3, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                D rum Roll to greatness continued from Page 15 impressive grasp of tactics during Maneu vers in Louisiana came to the attention of chief of staff Gen. George c. Marshall. Shortly after Pearl Harbor he was summoned to the Pentagon. With his growing reputation for organizational brilliance and knowledge of strategy Ike became Marshall a protege and his Rise through the ranks became meteoric. Protege or not the Book on Ike was that he paid his Way working 15 hours a Day As he took on key jobs in the War department. But there was something More. People just seemed to like Ike. He was confident but not arrogant. He walked with a Bounce and laughed from his gut. The fellow with the lopsided million Dollar smile got along with almost everybody was a natural mediator and inspired Trust. And yet he was still stuck behind a desk his dream of a combat command seeming As far away As Ever. In june 1942, Marshall selected now maj. Gen. Eisenhower Over 366 senior officers to be commander of troops in Europe. By july he had jumped to lieutenant general. Though outside the army Ike was still a virtual unknown president Roosevelt a at Marshall surging a named him to head operation Torch the Allied invasion of North Africa. After years of trudging in the trenches of obscurity destiny was suddenly pushing Ike Eisenhower along almost faster than he could change uniforms. The boy who had nearly lost his leg the youth who nearly had t gone to West Point and almost did no to get his commission when he got there the Gung Hoyoung officer stymied from fighting in the first big War All those roles were smoke in his past. The Drums were rolling Thunder now and though not out leading Bayonet or tank charges Ike would experience All the War that he could Ever imagine from his Vantage Points of immense responsibility. In Eisenhower a portrait of the hero Peter Lyon attempts to unscramble the Man from the myth and show that the Ike behind the famous Grin and Quot simple Soldier Quot facade was an enormously Complex Subtle Man who Learned Well the uses of Power. He could be As affable and Folksy As any of the people who worked the wheat Fields Back on the Plains and he could turn As unyielding As Kansas dirt in a drought when he had to. What became More and More apparent was his awesome willpower. In the Days ahead he would need All that and divine guidance and Blind Luck and anything else he could conjure up. He seemed to be getting it. The successful operation in North Africa was followed by bold triumphs in Sicily and on the italian Mainland. The lad who nearly went Navy was now a full general a supreme commander of the Allied expeditionary forces preparing for the ultimate assault against Hitler s Quot fortress  what a Long Way from Abilene from feeding chickens and Selling vegetables to Picky housewives. 1 with All the Energy and self discipline How surprised the spit and polishers of his Cadet Days would have been of a dedicated Dynamo he plunged into the incredibly difficult task of forging the american and British armies with their highly individualistic often temperamental commanders and different fighting philosophies into a massive cooperating amphibious striking Force such As the world had never  a a the germans soon Felt How Well Ike had succeeded. Out of the chill Dawn Mist of june 6,1944, the allies struck the shores of France like a Hundred thousand avenging Angels. His command philosophy however seemed to Stem less from Angels than from the football Fields of his youth. Apply maximum Force against the enemy give him no rest strike boldly and fight As a land sea and air team without regard for nationality or division of glory. Quot i Don t believe in fighting Battles just to Chase someone out of somewhere a he said. Quot our object is to trap and smash the  hitlers legions soon were being trapped smashed and chased sent reeling Battle flags drooping backward across the Rhine pursued like Wolf driven not president Eisenhower signing the Bill that admitted Hawaii to the Union aug. 21, 1959. Sheep toward Berlin. In an astounding 11 months from the Day they charged onto the beaches of Normandy the Eisenhower machine had bulldozed the proclaimed thousand year third Reich into yesterdays bad news. Though Ike had the reputation of saying Quot i made a mistake a when he made a mistake he was not so moved when he took criticism from Winston Churchill and others As being politically naive for letting the russians capture Berlin first. His reply delivered with some heat was that the politicians had already mapped the zones of occupation in Germany with Berlin placed deep in the soviet zone. A now look or. Prime minister a he told his Good Friend Winston Quot you were the ones who agreed to All these things. I  in summing up Ike a wartime accomplishments a military historian and former British general . Sixsmith wrote Quot his special Genius was his skill at management. He managed the generals the admirals and the air marshals even the politicians. His task was to Weld together a Force which was not Only an Allied Force but one drawn from All the services and to direct it so that its whole weight was used most effectively in the single aim of the defeat of the common enemy. That he did  a German commander later said that Ike took Quot great gambles. And won a and was regarded by the German general staff As the greatest general of the War. The greatest general and later the Quot or. President Quot was a fellow who had read the Bible through twice by the time he was 18, who liked to paint and Cook a especially his famous vegetable soup a who Chain smoked cigarettes until he was 58 and then quit cold Turkey who refused to Wear a fancy silk top hat to his own inaugural 9 a very human fellow. My As a boy he wrote in his autobiography Quot i ii daydreamed now and then about the highest and most i Remote peaks of All. To be a train Engineer. Racing a a across the land steam engine hissing Bell ringing. §1 breaking the record from St. Louis or some other Distant ii mythical place or to set Down the next three batters on 9 nine pitches in the last half of the ninth with the bases 9 loaded to the thunderous applause of 500 spectators �1 certainly i never thought of myself or those about me As �1 makers or participants in any other kind of history 9 Quot he was the general who truly hated War Quot wrote 19 historian Stephen Ambrose Quot but who hated the nazis 9  he was also Quot full of love for life and people he 9 would naturally and effortlessly fix those Clear Blue eyes 9 on a listener or a speaker and he would draw the Man in 9 As the Magnet attracts the bits of Metal. He looked like an Al honest Man with nothing to hide because he was an 11 honest Man. People trusted him because he was of  if Ike a place in history was firmly secured because of f his leadership in War his ranking As a Leader in peace is h less certain. As his country s 34th president he ended Tho korean War but his two terms 1953-1961, produced few 1 dramatic legislative or foreign policy initiatives. It was the 1 Era of a cold War that could have gone hot and what is 1 certain is that Ike kept the peace in a dangerous decade i shortly after he left office a National poll of academic i historians placed him nearly at the Bottom of the list of 1 presidents. By the Early 19k s a new poll had elevated j him to ninth. Others might disagree but historian 1 Ambrose author of the supreme commander the two 1 volume Eisenhower and other books on Ike believes his 1 political reputation a is almost certain to Rise to the Point i that he will soon be ranked with Wilson and the two 1 Roosevelt As one of the four truly great presidents of the 20th  to Ike deeply conservative in his own beliefs Quot nevertheless instinct try sought the Middle ground on i every political problem Quot wrote Ambrose. A a favorite i saying was that the extremes to the right and to the left a on any political dispute Are always wrong. Whether or not that principle is defendable As a philosophical position is debatable but it works for the Leader of a democracy a 1 Ike balanced the budget stopped inflation and gave a the nation eight years of peace and Prosperity says a Ambrose. How Many other presidents can make that g statement Quot whether or not one agrees with his i decisions such As. To go slow on race relations Reform 1he was an inspiring and effective Leader. As president i he was the Man in charge just As surely As he had been 1 supreme  former president Nixon who served As Ike a vice president expressed amazement that a everybody liked Ike Quot because Quot Ike liked  in his experience said Nixon most politicians were men with Quot Strong  before he died in 1969, the admiration of the people who worked for Ike from Washington to Europe and Back to Washington often bordered on worship. Sometimes it seemed the Man from Abilene not Only came from the heart of America in his time he was the heart of America. Ike administers the oath As he turns Over his Post As army chief of staff to Gen. Omar Bradley at the Pentagon in 1948. Looking on president Truman next to Eisenhower army Secretary Kenneth c. Royall. Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes sunday june 3,1990