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Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961.

During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.

Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower on October 14, 1890, at 208 East Day Street in Denison, Texas. He was the third of seven sons born to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover, of German, English and Swiss ancestry. He was named David Dwight and was called Dwight; he reversed the order of his given names when he enrolled at West Point Military Academy.

A Republican, Eisenhower entered the 1952 presidential race to counter the isolationism of Sen. Robert A. Taft, and what he crusaded against as "Communism, Korea and corruption" (that is, the policies of President Harry Truman in those areas). He won by a landslide, ending two decades of New Deal control of the White House.

As President, Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons, forcing China to agree to a cease-fire of the Korean War. He maintained pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, gave priority to inexpensive nuclear weapons and reduced the other forces to save money.

He had to play catch-up in the Space Race race after the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957.

On the domestic front, he helped remove Joe McCarthy from power but otherwise left most political chores to his Vice President, Richard Nixon. Ike refused to roll-back the New Deal, but instead enlarged the Social Security program and launched the Interstate Highway System.

He was the first term-limited president in accordance with the 22nd Amendment. His two terms were peaceful, and generally prosperous except for a sharp economic recession in 1958-59. Historians typically rank Eisenhower among the top ten U.S. presidents.

Eisenhower died of congestive heart failure on March 28, 1969, at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C. The following day his body was moved to the Washington National Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel where he lay in repose for twenty-eight hours. On March 30, his body was brought by caisson to the United States Capitol where he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda. On March 31, Eisenhower's body was returned to the National Cathedral where he was given an Episcopal Church funeral service. That evening, Eisenhower's body was placed onto a train en route to Abilene, Kansas. His body arrived on April 2, and was interred later that day in a small chapel on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library. Eisenhower is buried alongside his son Doud who died at age 3 in 1921, and his wife, Mamie, who died in 1979.

Nixon spoke of Eisenhower's death, "Some men are considered great because they lead great armies or they lead powerful nations. For eight years now, Dwight Eisenhower has neither commanded an army nor led a nation; and yet he remained through his final days the world's most admired and respected man, truly the first citizen of the world."