Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969) commanded the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during the Second World War, overseeing Operation Torch in North Africa and the Normandy landings of Operation Overlord in 1944, before serving as the 34th President of the United States from January 20, 1953, to January 20, 1961, with Richard Nixon as his vice president; he held the five-star rank of General of the Army after 37 years of military service. As president his central goals were containing communism and reducing federal budget deficits; he considered the use of nuclear weapons during the Korean War, and his administration backed coups against governments in Iran and Guatemala. He signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and deployed federal troops to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, and domestically oversaw the creation of the Interstate Highway System and of NASA. Historical evaluations place him among the upper tier of American presidents.