Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms For Peace

Words: 1865
Pages: 8

Dwight D. Eisenhower, or Ike as he was known, was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas. He was the third son of seven sons born to his parents David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower. He lived in a tiny house with his parents located near the railroad tarcks where his father David made a living cleaning train engines. When he was one and half years old he moved to Abiline, Texas where his father found a better job working for his brother-in-law's creamery. When Dwight was 4 years old his ten month old brother Paul died of Diptheria, however despite this tragedy his childhood was a happy one, as he often reflected on later in life, and one of these cherished memories was playing baseball and football at his high school. After graduating from high school Dwight joined his father working at the creamery and had a second job working as a fireman. He used money he earned from his job to help pay for his brother Edgar's tuition at the …show more content…
In the first year of his presidency, 1952, he directed and arranged an armistice that brought peace to South Korea's border. Also during that year he made his famous "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations General Assembly. The speech was in response to the fact that both the United States and Russia had both recently developed atomic bombs. The purpose of the speech was to promote applying atomic energy to peaceful uses, rather than using it for weaponry and warfare. In his efforts to stop the threat of an atomic war he met with Russian, British and French leaders at Geneva. Throughout his presidency Eisenhower managed Cold War-era tensions with the Soviet Union under the looming threat of nuclear weapons. On the homefront he maneuvered behind the scenes to discredit the rabid anti-Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy which escalated tensions between communism and the