Dwight Eisenhower Biography

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Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas the third of seven boys. In 1892 the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, which Eisenhower considered as his home town. As a child, he was involved in an accident that cost his younger brother an eye; he later referred to this as an experience teaching him the need to be protective of those under him. Dwight developed a keen and enduring interest in exploring outdoors, hunting and fishing, cooking and card playing, from a man named Bob Davis who lived by the river. And though his mother was against war, it was her collection of history books that first sparked Eisenhower's early and lasting interest in military history. He persisted in reading the books in her collection and became a huge…show more content…
As a freshman, he injured his knee and developed a leg infection which extended into his groin and which his doctor diagnosed as life threatening; the doctor insisted that the leg be amputated but Dwight refused to allow it, and miraculously recovered, though he had to repeat his freshman year. He and his brother Edgar both wanted to attend college, though they lacked the money. They made a pact to take alternate years at college while the other worked, in order to earn the tuitions. Edgar took the first turn at school, and Dwight was employed as a night supervisor at the Belle Springs Creamery. Edgar asked for a second year, Dwight consented and worked for a second year. At that time, a friend "Swede" Hazlet was applying to the Naval Academy and urged Dwight to apply to the school, since no tuition was required. Though Eisenhower was among the winners of the entrance exam competition, he was beyond the age limit for the Naval Academy. He then accepted an appointment to West Point in…show more content…
He and her family were also immediately taken with one another. He proposed to her on Valentine's Day in 1916. A November wedding date in Denver was moved up to July 1 due to the pending outbreak of World War I. In their first 35 years of marriage they moved many times. The Eisenhower’s had two sons. Doud Dwight "Icky" Eisenhower was born September 24, 1917, and died of scarlet fever on January 2, 1921, at the age of three. Their second son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, was born on August 3, 1922 while they were in Panama; John served in the United States Army, retired as a brigadier general, became an author and served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. John, coincidentally, graduated from West Point on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He married Barbara Jean Thompson on June 10, 1947. John and Barbara had four children: Dwight David II, Barbara Ann, Susan Elaine and Mary Jean. Eisenhower was a golf enthusiast later in life, and joined the Augusta National Golf Club in 1948. He played golf frequently during and after his presidency and was unreserved in expressing his passion for the game. After golf, oil painting was Eisenhower's second hobby. He painted about 260 oils during the last 20 years of his life to relax, mostly landscapes but also portraits of subjects such as Mamie, their grandchildren, General Montgomery, George Washington, and Abraham
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