Party Affiliation: Republican
- He injured his knee trying to tackle eventual Olympic and NFL great Jim Thorpe during Army football's 27-6 loss to Carlisle in 1912. He never played again.
- Dwight Eisenhower was the only president to serve in both world wars, and was promoted to five-star general in the midst of World War II.
- Health was not Ike’s middle name (David was, though). He was a chainsmoker, had between two and seven heart attacks, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, and died of cardiac arrest in 1969 at the age of 79.
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- He championed and signed the bill authorizing the Interstate Highway System, making your soul-searching cross-country roadtrip possible.
- His mother, a pacifist, cried when he enrolled in West Point. But his 1915 graduating class became known as the “class the stars fell on”, producing 59 generals.
- In response to the panic over Russia’s Sputnik satellite, the Eisenhower administration oversaw the creation of NASA in October, 1958.