OPINION — A recent trip to Normandy, France — site of June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion — led to a comparison of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Donald J. Trump.
Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, successfully planned and executed the invasion that led to freeing Europe from Hitler’s stranglehold. NATO’s first supreme commander in 1951, he became the Republican candidate for president in 1952, winning that election and the 1956 election by landslides.
The third of seven sons born to German immigrants David and Ida, he shared chores and daily Bible readings at the dining table. He accepted an appointment to West Point in 1911, graduating in 1915 a second lieutenant, beginning a lifelong journey as a civil servant, compassionate leader and friend to the people of the world.
