Ultradog MN

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Today in 1944 a greatful and hopeful America conferred the first of 5 stars on it's greatest generals and admirals who were then driving the enemy back to their own borders.
Dec. 15th William Leahy - Fleet Admiral
Dec. 16th George Marshall - General of the Army
Dec. 17th Ernest King - Fleet Admiral
Dec. 18th Douglas MacArthr - General of the Army
Dec. 19th Chester Nimitz - Fleet Admiral
Dec. 20th Dwight Eisenhower - General of the Army
Dec. 21st Henery (Hap) Arnold General of the Army Air Force
Bill Halsey will get his 5th star a year from now and Omar Bradly in 1950.

Never before had an American been given this rank.
But never before had an American fought a war of this scope and magnitude either.
Those guys, all of them, have always been my heros. Read a book about any of them and you will find a man who was both decent and fair in peace time, yet brilliant and hard driving in war.
Give a thought to these fellows this week on the 70th anniversary of their gaining the highest rank in our military's history.
 
Eisenhower was the least qualified of all the great generals that could have been picked.
They picked over hundreds of generals that had more qualifications than Ike, but he was on the inside of the beltway crowd.
 
I think my dad who served as a Colonel under Ike would disagree with you. Study the prep and intelligence of D-Day. Ike had the Germans totally fooled.
Richard Proud American in NW SC
Got a pic of my dad somewhere with Ike at a Christmas gathering with troops.
 
(quoted from post at 14:14:08 12/15/14) Eisenhower was the least qualified of all the great generals that could have been picked.
They picked over hundreds of generals that had more qualifications than Ike, but he was on the inside of the beltway crowd.
There was no "[i:38dd121356]beltway[/i:38dd121356]" until much later, long after Ike, one of the most popular presidents of modern time, had passed away and I-495/I-95 became part of the Ike initiated interstate system...however, there certainly was a "[i:38dd121356]crowd[/i:38dd121356]" of politicians.
 
So lets review, Harvey- how about a list of the "hundreds of generals" more qualified than Ike who were Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, Supreme Commander of NATO, Army Chief of Staff, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? The tie breaker can be whether they were also President of Columbia University (or any other university with more than 26 students, for that matter).

Need to lay off the Kool-Aid, there, Harv. . .
 

I remember all the 20th century presidents staring with FDR. Wasn't old enough to remember much about Roosevelt and what I do remember was during WorlD War II. After the war started Roosevelt listened to his generals. Before the war Roosevelt was the darling of the news media. abundant politicians since him have had the same advantage. Eisenhower was an organization man and had the gift of selecting good subordinates. He carried that same set of skills into his presidentcy The only administration figure I remember getting in hot water was, I think Sherman Adams who can be Googled. Eisenhower's economic policies were better than any other 20th century president, including Reagan who I would rate as a close second to Eisenhower.

KEH
 
(quoted from post at 18:51:35 12/15/14) All of you Ike fans should read about Operation Keelhaul.
General Patton was worth more than a dozen Ikes

Keelhaul was conducted in 1946, Ike was in DC at the time as Chief of Staff of the Army. That means he was soldier subjected to the lawful orders of the president, Harry Truman. Seeing as nothing he was ordered to do (which would have been to order the mission) was illegal or immoral at that time. It was honoring an agreement made between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin about 2 weeks before Roosevelt died.

So nice try at trying to smear him but no cigar.

Rick
 
Harv,

List these "hundreds of generals" you state.

By the way, there was no term such as "beltline" in those days...never heard of then...beltlines were not built until after Pres. Eisenhower was promoting the Interstate System in the 1950s.

What serious history books have you read? No, the History Channel does not count.

LA in WI
 
I worked with a man that served under both Patton and Ike. Said Ike was a better planing commander and able to keep things together. To many egos among the ones he had to deal with.

Patton was a better field commander. Would have gone nuts stuck in an office. Dealing with the people Ike had to.
 

I am currently reading a biography of W. Churchill. The loss of 100,000s of thousands of lives in WWI can to a great degree be blamed on the egos of military leaders, censorship and refusal of different nations military leaders to cooperate with one another. This recent experience was likely to have been on the minds of the various world leaders as they planned together and then chose a supreme leader for the European front in WWII.
 
Don't you know?

Harvey is an (invisible) rabbit! If you don't recall, watch the movie starring GENERAL Jimmy Stewart...hehe!
 
(quoted from post at 20:45:23 12/15/14) Eisenhower had the unenviable task of making everybody play nice together. Had a time just with Patton and Montgomery.

But he couldn't get DeGaul to play with anyone else!
 
If people want to believe everything they read and hear from the major news media that is their business.
But remember the hype from the official government version is a lot different from the truth.
In this country the gov. doesn't control the news media, but the news media controls the government.
 
(quoted from post at 11:01:58 12/16/14) If people want to believe everything they read and hear from the major news media that is their business.
But remember the hype from the official government version is a lot different from the truth.
In this country the gov. doesn't control the news media, but the news media controls the government.

Soooooooo you are telling us that we should disregard any and all books and Congressional Records because there just might be information from media in them, and we should instead take everything from Harvey2 as gospel?
 
I detected a trace of sarcasm in your reply.
When people can't accept the truth, they attack the messenger.
That is what happened over two thousand years ago.
 

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