Eisenhower's Leadership Qualities

Dwight D. Eisenhower is considered one of the most influential military leaders who accomplished much more than back-to-back presidential offices during the mid 1950’s through 1961. As a military leader, Eisenhower commanded the Allied forces in Western Europe during World War 2 (History.com, 2009). He is well known for his role as a leader in the invasion of the beaches of Normandy during the Nazi-occupation of Europe, other wise known as D-Day. Among some of his greatest achievements as the 34th president of the United States, Eisenhower helped our country prosper in a time of uncertainty and unrest. Eisenhower demonstrates many leadership qualities that prove him worthy of his many different roles during his lifetime.
As a commander of
He spent time in political positions for some time after the war and had already earned a prestigious reputation. At the Republican Party’s national convention that July, Eisenhower won the nomination on the first ballot. His slogan for his campaign was “I Like Ike,” Ike was his nickname (History.com, 2009). He ended up beating out Adlai Stevenson to become the 34th president of the United States (History.com, 2009). Eisenhower possessed qualities and characteristics that many citizens of the United States found fitting to be the president during an era following the Second World War.
Some of the leadership qualities Eisenhower demonstrated during his presidential campaign were seen through the tasks and initiatives he took on. For example, Eisenhower created the Interstate highway System, the single largest public works program in U.S history (History.com, 2009). His innovation brought about a whole new model of transportation and a new meaning of efficiency. Eisenhower cared deeply about the nation he was
Going back to his roots, Eisenhower stood strong on his values and beliefs and did not do much to advance forward for civil rights. You could say that his adaptive leadership qualities were not strong. It’s possible that his strong military background made it hard for him to focus more and domestic problems versus foreign ones. He did not give much public support to the famous integration case Brown v. Topeka in 1954. A man by the name Orval Faubus saw this as an opportunity to make Eisenhower look bad. Faubus was from Arkansas called a court order to integrate Central High in Little Rock (Ambrose). “He called out the Arkansas National Guard and placed it around the high school, with orders to prevent the entry into the school of about a dozen Negro pupils.” (Ambrose). Eisenhower proved to handle this situation with poise by calling in the 101st Airborne and sent them to Little Rock. Both the National Guard and the 101st cooperated and ensured peaceful integration (Ambrose). Eisenhower did not particularly like using the military to handle these issues and did not plan to use it in such a manner again.
Eisenhower’s most effective accomplishments could be seen in his foreign policies. For example, “Under the rising threat of Soviet nuclear weapons technology, Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Dulles did succeed in strengthening NATO and in creating the Southeast Asia Treaty