weekend. time for a quick comment from our viewers. buck e-mailed me to say -- >> oliver: a poor kid's is farm boy the architect is in europe with his granddaughter to members of his staff talk about the soldier who became president >> i think my grandfather felt completely destroyed. to write david eisenhower. next. "war stories". oliver: i am oliver north.

this is "war stories". the eisenhower presidential library in kansas to memorialize the life and times of one of the extraordinary a beloved soldiers serving as a 34th president. eisenhower has been described as an optimist only is expected to win whether playing poker against classmates board outmanoeuvring hitler's best generals. and the woman behind the of me and her perseverance earned her the respect of the nation. stay with us for the inside look at one of the greatest heroes of world war ii. he was once described as looking like he fought history instead of making it >> he did not say as the one role for him and everybody else. >> i don't think eisenhower

knew where she was born for a long time they did not discuss texas. >> his parents hoped he would be born a girl. but during a violent thunderstorm dwight david eisenhower made his entry into the world in texas 8090. he struggled with a $10 a week he earned on the railroad. in the family would turn to the first cowtown abilene kansas. as a historian who has written one of the post acclaimed biographies. >> u.s.-born in poverty and realized he would not only have to work hard to work harder than the next guy. his mother was the backbone of the family. the father was on the

selling side and did not say much. oliver: this is the house where they raised there six sons now part of the presidential library. >> with the six boys it is just remarkable they are rambunctious they fought in argued a and i can agree to temper one's story he beat the tree into lgbt and bloody. >> key had a great deal of difficulty to control his temper. oliver: susan eisenhower learned a lot about her grandfather for grandmother. >> he had a number of strategies to manage his temper. one was to keep a diary in he would use that to blow off steam. >> poverty was something he never got over. he knew he would not have an education beyond high school the only way to get a free

education was to apply to the naval academy but few people though the first appointment was to the naval academy but he was too old in those days you could not be over 19 to enter annapolis. he had a fallback position. oliver: what type of student was yet west point? >> popular but not terribly successful. he did everything in his power to get himself thrown out. in his junior year he racked up over winter demerits and spent a lot of time marching as a punishment. >> asking to report to the company officer which is the big overcoat that is all they wore. nothing under it. [laughter] he had demerits for dancing to wildly that his partner actually showed her ankle on the dance floor.

>> he learned it was not in the curriculum of how to play poker. >> he was so good with his incredible skill and that he had he could play without ever showing expression at all. >> that help to support the poor kid at. >> within months of being commissioned as an army officer it was almost as if he had an epiphany. piece of the realized that i did get serious. so when 1916 he met and married one of the wealthiest debutantes debutantes, mamie. ♪ >> mamie always said she

thought she was pretty cute. the man she would marry is up about lizard but here was ike eisenhower was a complete contrast. not a society boys. it was a tremendous shock when she actually married him and found out about our real-life. mamie gave him push back if she did not like something or thought he was talking nonsense she would tell him. oliver: noting as ph.d. she did it with gusto but a fight needed to teach her how to cook. september 1970 marked the birth of there first son. the eisenhower family george -- tempered his disappointment to was not seeing action in the first world war. this was eycks boyhood home.

wed "war stories" continues a family tragedy that would please have a seat.

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oliver: christmas 1920. the 38 major and his 24 year old wife is enjoying life in maryland. with ikes closest friend called georgie with his wife beatrice. >> there appall hours of the '92 discussed take tactics and how to use in combat. >> there were a popular social couple and a the quarters that they live did was always known as my grandmother could play the piano very well to seven and to be named mascot of the tank corps but suddenly life took a cool turn.

-- cruel turn. this wonderful little boy aged three had scarlet fever then mamie came down with pneumonia and was forbidden to visit her son. >> the child died and she could not say goodbye. >> my grandfather was holding the boy when he died. event it destroyed him that he had been away so much. >> eisenhower played himself for the conditions they were living is the reason why? did mickey does not blame anybody. it is probably the most dramatic crocheting event in eisenhower's life. is haunted him until the day he died. >> every september 24th grand dad would said my grandmother yellow roses.

oliver: one year after his death the eisenhowers headed for panama. said defending and policing of the panama all -- canal zone. he said i have made my choice and my country comes first. she had to reconcile herself. oliver: his commander was a brigadier general fox connors gimmicky tudor did military history and with world affairs. >> to acquire the knowledge and skill but mamie was pregnant again this time dealing with the challenges of the meet -- living in the jungle. >> they were given quarters that had not been occupied said years so they had to fumigate to get the rodents and the of lizards and they

burrowed into the betting -- betting. >> the death of the sun was a dark cloud. >> bike was not a help. >> he figured he he could do anything to have to grapple with this awful tragedy and it took a toll on their marriage. >> at one point she went home to mom to produce the baby. my father was born in denver and was not a big rush to come back and that was an important turning point. but then she decided she really was married to the right person the extraordinary man named dwight eisenhower and in her later years she say don't ever go home to your mother. sticking out. oliver: in 1922 mamie and

baby john went back to the panama canal. after two tough years they returned with eric ike was annoyed to learn the army wanted him to coach football. for the next few years he was stationed dinkins's and georgia and washington d.c. >> one year they moved five times. >> then in 1929 it was on to france with the european battlefields. breed well in germany the nazi party and was rising to power. and one month after the stock market crash ike was that the war department planning the mobilization and douglas macarthur

couples eisenhower out of the general staff to say you are working for me as chief of staff. >> eisenhower was said jack of all trades he got the job done. >> he found getting the job done was not always easy. in the unwillingness to listen to a vice only being told the good news and not the bad news. >> but it probably did more to sour macarthur then the entire relationship. oliver: near the 20,000 world war i veterans marched on the capitol to demand early payment of a $1,000 bonus. >> macarthur gloated about

it. these are his brothers soldiers and he thought they deserved better. oliver: eisenhower wrote the official after action report. if he made the mistake or the police made the mistake is here is what happened. oliver: but his feelings it is stopped him with macarthur going to the philippines they had to defend the island nation against japan. and yet when macarthur retires and goes to the philippines eisenhower goes along. >> he says i need you and i want you to come with me. >> there was literally no army he had to create an army from nothing. no money.

>> eisenhower never failed to speak up when he disagreed with macarthur. actually had screaming matches. he would save the doglike what of doing then why do you fire me but then macarthur not only took it but then would console eisenhower in say call that temper of your. >> his diaries our planet but dash pretty blunt. >> he was cautiously trying to get out of the philippines. >> the war cause the already come. the new world war ii was coming and he was hopeful he would play a role. oliver: finally returning to the united states the end of the 1939. >> then he makes lieutenant-colonel he is 50 years old. oliver: during the summer of

1941 as his son goes to west point his next big break comes from texas has third army chief of staff. >> the first time that eisenhower started to be noticed outside of the military. oliver: the louisiana of maneuvers of 1941 a massive war game with tactical operations of a force of two under 20,000 soldiers. >> one of the things that attracted eisenhower they asked him a question duty gave them an answer. >> to brigadier-general. >> the surprise attack on pearl harbor changes everything for eisenhower.

went we return dealing with church real it even his old boss macarthur makes him as

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...and check your connection status... ♪ ...anytime, anywhere. ♪ [ dog growls ] ♪ oh. so you're protesting? ♪ okay. [ male announcer ] introducing xfinity my account. available on any device. oliver: 1941 following the japanese attack on pearl harbor america was officially in the two front or. eisenhower was summoned to washington by the chief of staff. >> roosevelt totally trusted him. he asked eisenhower to update the strategy where he carefully out why is the reason.

the basically expected the overall strategy for world war ii. >> for more as the staffer in the war department. >> eisenhower discovered how wrong he was issued a 42 -- june 1942. eisenhower's role is to begin the work with of british. >> but marshall has supreme confidence although he had never served in the combat he got a lot of well and was up master strategist irresponsible for court dating several armies to be a soldier a year engaged

diplomat. >> with churchill in the allies because we have been through these situations that is not something you learn from a textbook. >> but they hit it off. but eisenhower saw someone not only he could work with but somebody he trusted he stood up to churchill and he respected any officer who was stand up to him. >> churchill found that you cannot outmanoeuvre eisenhower but he could match you stroke for stroke. the first corps native

forces to invade french north africa and use it as a springboard for a leader invasion of southern europe. >> the commander was american. and they do have the blessing of wins to churchill. he was the only one submitted. >> what lessons does is and how were burned? >> he learns what it takes to be a supreme commander. he is a rookie now not only a command of large forces but has generals and admirals working for him who out to bring him not only in a break but experience. so he has to deal with people who are far superior to him. he also has to deal with failure. >> we were not trained as well as we should have been. we were up against german

troops who had been there and done that. we got our faces rubbed in the mud. at one point eisenhower didn't think he could cut it and was prepared to resign to send a telegram to marshal and the chief of staff said you cannot do that. he suppressed a. oliver: decision time for the normandy invasion and under the weight of a golf balls on the shoulders of one man, eisenhower. next. "war stories".

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♪ ♪ >> ike was very, very discouraged. we went into north africa believing we were going to win

the war and win it fairly quickly, and we got a very, very rude awakening. oliver: the desert fox and his elite divisions inflicted more than 6,000 american casualties. ike was shattered. >> he was not used to seeing those casualty reports. >> in terms of yardage lost, it was the greatest defeat for the american army in world war ii. oliver: and that meant the writing was on the wall. >> george patton was summoned by eisenhower to take over. oliver: by this time, eisenhower is now senior to the guy he admired so much, george patton. >> very much senior. oliver: is that affecting their relationship? >> not so much to eisenhower, but patton thinks eisenhower has become too british, that he too much favors the other side, that the americans aren't getting a fair shake. eisenhower said this is an ally war, it is going to be won bilal lies. and he saw -- byç allies. and he saw himself as an allied commander. and that wasn't always a

terribly popular position the take. oliver: back in washington, d.c., mamie boosted morale among the wives. >> my grandmother ran her life at the wardman tower much like he ran his life in europe. the spouses of ike's staff actually lived in mamie's apartment building. ill really fell to mamie to keep people buoyed up, to keep their optimism alive. when one of the wives broke down after dinner one evening and said, oh, mamie, it's all right for you, your husband is, you know, commanding operations, he's not actually out in the field -- which, by the way, wasn't true for all of the war -- mamie said, janie, war's hard, but we all have to hold up. there's not much you can do to help your husband, but there's a lot you can do to hurt him. my grandparents had another pact, and that was during the war they did not go out or socialize. and mamie's position was that she would not be seen in a

restaurant or go out and socialize with friends publicly as long as her husband was sending people into battle. >> anybody that met 'em liked him. and if he called you into the office, you'd better stand at attention. ol at 25 -- oliver: at 25, he was proud to be in the -- [inaudible] she met her husband mickey when she was a driver for ike in north africa. >> to mickey, he was another father. it made mickey happy and me happy too. oliver: they met most of the allied generals in those tense days leading up to the normandy invasion. >> mckey said you could always -- mickey said you could always tellhen the general had a bad night, because the ashtray was full of cigarette butts. oliver: and some of the generals were nicer than others. how was patton? >> i thought he was a wonderful guy. he'd get in the car and be cussing all the way in.

heath get out and turn around and say i forgot i had a woman driver. he didn't forget. [laughter] oliver: did you ever drive montgomery? >> that was a big headache because montgomery thought eisenhower was not qualified for the job and made it very clear that he should have had that job. ♪ ♪ >> whenever couples are separated from one another, there's always an inevitable amount of gossip. oliver: the november 1942 issue of "life" magazine featured this story of the commanding general and this photograph of his personal staff that he called family. driver kay somersby received a caption that raised eyebrows. >> pretty irish woman who also serves as driver. that caption is a real clue as to how that rumor might well have gotten started. if mrs. somersby had been an unattractive woman, i don't think there would have been any rumor at all. >> people would come up and say, what is all this? is it true? and mickey's answer was, do you want the truth or do you just

want a good story? and they'd back off because mickey said he put the general to bed every night. mickey didn't go to bed until he did. and he woke him up in the morning. >> letters my grandfather wrote my grandmother during the war were very, very affectionate, and they really reflect deep personal relationship they had. ♪ ♪ >> he said, if i'm ordering these men to their death, they need to see who's doing the ordering. oliver: this is the picture of the four-star general meeting with the 101 rsz airborne just hours before the allied invasion began on the beaches of normandy, france. the deception of using pattedton as setting up a false headquarters up and down the british coast -- >> operation fortitude. he created this fictitious army group and rubber tanks and wooden trucks -- oliver: a poker player's bluff? >> i think so.

the germans were continued that patton was the best of th allied generals. ergo, patton will be leading the allied invasion. oliver: the weather becomes an enormous factor at the last moment. >> between june 4th and june 6th, 1944, dwight eisenhower had to make not only the most difficult decision of his career, but a decision of historic consequences, and that was to postpone the normandy landings. the weather was just simply too bad. but they couldn't call it off forever. oliver: 150,000 seasick troops were aboard some 7,000 allied vessels waiting to go ashore. suddenly, there was a break in the weather. >> he goes around the room, he talks to his admirals, his generals, but in the end he is a very lonely man. the decision falls on his shoulders. oliver: as the landing is proceeding, he goes back to his quarters, and he writes out -- >> he writes out a note and stuck it in his breast pocket.

and the note read "our landings have failed, i have withdrawn the troops." "if any blame occurs for this, it is mine and mine alone." his naval aide, harry butcher, was going to send his shirt to the laundry, and he finds this note. and thankfully for history, this was preserved. oliver: were people thinking this war was going to be over by christmas? >> by the autumn. the terrible weather sets in, the forest, these terrible battles are fought where we take tremendous casualties, far worse than normandy. and the realization has come home to eisenhower that this war will not end in 1944. [gunfire] >> along comes this great last gasp p by hitler at the battle of the bulge. oliver: it was december 16, 1944, and it was also pearly and mickey's wedding day. >> battle of the bulge started

very early. he still goes to the wedding. >> he knew what was going on all the time. he was getting reports. oliver: five months after the wedding, two german officers marched into eisenhower's office and surrendered what was left of the third reich. >> he just growled at them and said do you understand the terms of what you have signed? you had better understand it, because i will hold you personally responsible. he signs a simple telegram saying, folks, the war is over. oliver: with world war ii finally over, the five-star general and mamie retreat to private life. president harry truman has other ideas. that's just ahead on "war stories." ♪

♪ ♪ oliver: general dwight d.izen hur returned home from europe to a hero's welcome in november,

1945. >> he was appointed chief of staff of the united states army, something he didn't really like at all. he's looking at demobilization of the armed forces, and the general, run of the mill forces that chief of staffs do. oliver: it was the run of the mill that finally got to ike in 1948. >> let's face it, this has got to be a little bit boring. oliver: retiring from the army, eisenhower became the president of new york's columbia university, but mamie soon discovered that their days of living under a microscope were far from over. >> she got anonymous letter from one of the wives of the faculty member suggesting that. [applause] eisenhower get her bangs cut. and she said, well, i'm not here to be made over. oliver: ike and mamie also purchased their first and only home, a tranquil 200-acre farm in gettysburg, pennsylvania. >> eisenhower was highly interested in the civil war, and it was a wonderful homestead. he was a gentleman farmer.

oliver: december, 1950, five months after communist north korea invaded democratic south korea, the ivy league college president was back in uniform. >> president truman selects him to be the first supreme headquarters allied powers europe commander: eisenhower relished the nato role. oliver: there's some thinking that truman asked eisenhower to become supreme allied commander in europe because he was afraid of him politically. any truth to that? >> president truman asked eisenhower to take that post because he was the only man in the world that could pull it off. oliver: andrew goodpastor, former supreme commander of nato, served as staff secretary at the white house and was one of ike's closest confidants. >> he really devoted himself to the building up of this collective force, but there were people who were pressing him to run for president.

♪ you like ike, i like ike, everybody likes ike for president. >> people had been talking about running eisenhower for president since '44, and it was probably the last grassroots election of a president. >> he had a real shouting match with senator robert taft. who was opposed to the idea of the united states being so involved in nato, and he often said that it was that moment that caused him to go down that road. >> an opening rally that gives the eisenhower bandwagon the momentum of a comet. >> then they had the famous new york rally for him, and jackie cochran has been referred to as the female chuck yeager. flew the film over, and it moved him to tears, that there was that much support. oliver: ike ran against democrat adelaide stephen szob. --

steepson. with mamie at his side, the 62-year-old war hero campaigned tirelessly. eisenhower also encountered one of the era's most controversial figures, senator joseph mccarthy, the self-appointed leader of the communist manhunt then at the point of his power. >> they met in the deepest secrecy in a hotel room in illinois. oliver: an eisenhower spend writer and author of the book "who killed joe mccarthy." >> eisenhower had no use whatsoever for mccarthy. he skinned mccarthy alive, just the two of them in the room. oliver: ike had also planned to denounce the wisconsin senator during a speech in milwaukee. >> his staff persuaded him to take the passage out. they did not want to see eisenhower lose the state of wisconsin. eisenhower hated having to do it. oliver: after a landslide victory, america welcomed the 34th president with the first

coast the coast televised inauguration. ike kept his campaign promise to end the war in korea, and on july 27, 1953, a truce was finally signed. ♪ ♪ >> the so-called happy '50s were far from happy. this was a very dangerous time period. the hungarian revolt, we had covert actions in galt guatemale had covrt actions in central africa. any of these could have at any one time exploded. eisenhower was very good at keeping things from exploding. oliver: a u2 spy plane is shot down, the soviets capture the pilot, and president eisenhower is caught in a lie. did it tarnish his presidency? you decide when "war stories" returns. ♪ ♪@?

♪ ♪ oliver: is the 53, fred -- 1953, chuck yeager went mach 2. and eight months after nuclear tests in nevada, dwight eisenhower introduced atoms for peace. >> this greatest of destructive forces can be wopped into a -- developed into a great boon for the benefit of all mankind. >> it was a shock to some people, that we could have peaceful use of nuclear power. we have a whole new world out there. >> he was very meticulous about having these press conferences. he said we're not going to dance at the end of their string, we're going to present what we're doing and then why. oliver: andrew goodpastor shaw the president combine work and play. >> he would go out and play golf, take an hour out to go out and do chip shots on the white house lawn. on occasion he would want to sit

and talk in a relaxed fashion. ♪ ♪ >> she developed something called mare their's syndrome which is a terrible affliction that effects the inner ear, and it disturbs your sense of balance. there was some gossip about the fact that mamie drank too much alcohol. anybody who knew her certainly knew well this was something she never had a problem with. oliver: the war years had taken their physical toll. ike suffered his first heart attack while on vacation in colorado. jim was an around conservativist at the eisenhower library. >> he suffered a heart attack shortly after midnight on september 24, 1955. when the public first heard, they were shocked. he was a hero to them, and the prospect of losing him shook them up rather badly. >> before very long he was able to come back to rest, recuperate up at gettysburg, and he

operated out of a small room out at the farm. and then he gradually was able to pick up his physical activity and then came down to the white house. ♪ ♪ oliver: despite rapid recoveries, the 66-year-old president's health problems continued. this left vice president richard nixon and his wife pat hosting some white house events. >> in june 1956 he had a acute crisis of what we call crohn's disease now. he apparently had had that all of his adult life. it was in november 1957, his speech was slurred. >> i came in, and i found that he was unable to speak, and i told him, mr. president, you've got to go over to the white house, to the mansion and go to bed. >> and they decided he had a, so-called little stroke that didn't seriously impair him except for perhaps a day or two.

>> eisenhower was held in very special regard in the soviet union. he is the only foreigner who was ever invited to stand on lenin's tomb and receive the review of the russian armed forces. that was done in appreciation for what was done in world war ii. oliver: all that seemed forgotten as the cold war heated up with soviet premier nikita khrushchev. >> eisenhower had all sorts of information through the u2 which was very, very tightly controlled. a plane could give enormous amounts of information as to what the soviets were doing and were not doing. oliver: francis collins. were you aware of that particular flight? >> oh, yes. oliver: did you brief him? >> i did. oliver: two weeks before a crucial summit conference,

francis gary powers went down in his u2 over the soviet union. >> i got the word from the cia. we had a cover plan, but it was very thin. and then the next thing we knew, khrushchev lowered the trap on us, and he showed a plane which was not the u2, but he also had the pilot. oliver: there are some people who say that when president eisenhower didn't come out and immediately say that's our guy, that's our airplane, that it in some way diminished his presidency. >> the record will show that when eisenhower himself spoke, he laid it out. he said it's an ugly necessity to get that kind of information to protect against surprise attack. >> open society in the day of present weapons are the only answer. oliver: after a propaganda trial and 128 months -- 18 months in a soviet prison, powers was released. >> eisenhower said that

hindsight is much more accurate than foresight but nowhere near as valuable. ♪ ♪ oliver: with john f. kennedy inaugurated, the eisenhowers looked forward to a calmer life in gettysburg, but it didn't start out that way. >> aerial films reveal the presence on cuban soil of offensive russian nuclear weapons. >> i was with eisenhower during the cuban missile crisis. we were working on the memoirs, but occasionally some secretary would come through the door with a note, hand it to the president, and it's the white house is calling. one time he came back into the room and said, boy, that was good, that was good news. [laughter] but he didn't tell us what the good news was. oliver: u2 photographs show that khrushchev had put missiles into cuba and was lying about it. more on the life of dwight david eisenhower when "war stories" continues. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ >> i think it was hard because over time it became really quite clear that he probably was never going to go home. >> susan watched her grandfather spend his last year not at the farm, but at walter reed army hospital. >> he died in march of 1969, and, of course, seeing him go, as mamie always said, was the hardest thing she ever did. oliver: mamie would join her beloved husband in 1979. they rest here at the eisenhower center in abilene, kansas. ike never forgot his modest roots here in the heartland of the american plains. his words inscribed here affirm his modesty: humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends. dwight david eisenhower, soldier and president, served us well when america needed him most.

his is a war story that deserves to be told. i'm oliver north. good night. ♪ ♪ the rest of you have a great weekend. stossel: it's raining car wrecks. these lawyers want your money. they're parasites. so are politicians. they rarely kill us, but they suck everything out of you of us. >> $35 million have been made in green energy loans. >> it is something promised by the federal government. >> what does it mean? it means they will print a ton of money. stossel: unions are parasites too. this group is mad at me. >> teach john, teach. stossel: america's parasite economy. that's our show tonight.