As the commander of successful campaigns in Africa, Sicily, and Italy, showing growth throughout his career unequaled in military history, Eisenhower was the perfect choice for Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force for the invasion of Europe.
Though the Allies had learned invaluable lessons during the previous campaigns and even in the disastrous failure at Dieppe, D-Day would be much more complex and the stakes much higher. There was a clear understanding amongst the Allies that this single operation would become the make-or-break defining moment of the entire war.
The authorization for the Invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord), issued by the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff to Eisenhower, February 12, 1944 stated in part:
You will enter the continent of Europe and, in conjunction with the other United Nations, undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her armed forces . . .
With this directive in hand, he got down to work. When he undertook the procurement of landing craft for Normandy, the strongest resistance came from Churchill, gravitating toward a second landing in the south of France. While Eisenhower agreed that this was essential to opening more seaports and supply routes to the war effort, Operation Overlord was his primary objective. He succeeded in acquiring sufficient landing craft for the invasion force.
When he requested that bombers be reallocated from missions inside Germany to target railroad stations and bridges in France in order to hamper German reinforcements from getting to the beaches, it was argued that he would be removing proven effort at undermining the German war machine. He prevailed.
He insisted that, using paratroopers, the beaches could be locked down from behind, SHAEF argued that such actions would result in the destruction of valuable airborne divisions. The airborne landings proved essential to the success of the operation.
After the war, Eisenhower would go on to become the supreme commander of NATO. As the 34th president of the United States, he would conclude negotiations with China to end the Korean War, and reduce the bulk of the military in favor of nuclear weapons whilst keeping pressure on the Soviets during the cold war. He would spur the space program to great successes in response to the Soviet Sputnik launch, enlarge social security, and champion the Federal Aid Highway Act. Eisenhower is generally regarded as one of the top ten presidents.