Read Online The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys : The Men of World War II by Stephen Ambrose - Free Book Online

commander had to be an American, a process of elimination brought it down to Eisenhower.  There were, nevertheless, manifold positive reasons for Eisenhower’s selection.  Overlord, like Torch, was going to be a joint operation, and Eisenhower had proved that he could create and run an integrated staff and successfully command combined British-American operations. No other general had done so. Adm. Andrew Cunningham, now a member of the CCS (he had assumed the duties of First Sea Lord in mid-October), had said it well when he left the Mediterranean. He told Eisenhower it had been a great experience for him to see the forces of two nations, made up of men with different upbringings, conflicting ideas on staff work, and basic, “apparently irreconcilable ideas,” brought together and knitted into a team. “I do not believe,” Cunningham said, “that any other man than yourself could have done it.”
    The key word was “team.” Eisenhower’s emphasis on teamwork, his never-flagging insistence on working together, was the single most important reason for his selection, much more important than his generalship, which in truth had been cautious and hesitant. Eisenhower’s dedication to teamwork was, of course, a theme that had characterized his whole life, stretching back to Abilene High School baseball and football games.
    Gathering the disparate forces for Overlord, welding them into a genuine team, making the plans for the actual engagement, and directing the action once the conflict began were challenges rather like coaching a football team, albeit on an immensely larger scale. The job required an ability to spot and exploit each player’s strength, and to force each player-many of them “stars,” egotistical and self-centered-to merge his talents with the others in order to fight together in a common cause. Marshall, for all his awesome abilities, did not have the patience required to work smoothly and efficiently with prima donnas, especially British prima donnas. Nor did Marshall have Eisenhower’s experience in commanding amphibious operations. General Brooke, a man who was consistently and scathingly critical of Eisenhower’s professional competence, recognized this truth. “The selection of Eisenhower instead of Marshall,” he wrote, “was a good one.”
    Another, related factor in Roosevelt’s choice was Eisenhower’s popularity.  Everyone liked him, responded positively to his outgoing personality, even when they disagreed with his decisions. His hearty laugh, infectious grin, relaxed manner, and consistent optimism were irresistible.  Equally important, he was physically strong enough to withstand the rigors and pressures of a long and arduous campaign. Fifty-three years old, he was tough enough to get along on four or five hours’ sleep a night, to shake off a cold or the flu, to rouse himself from near-total exhaustion and present a cheerful face to his subordinates. It was not that he did not pay a price for all his activity, but that he did not let it show. In September 1943 a friend told him that he was pleased to see from some snapshots taken in Sicily that Eisenhower looked so healthy. In reply, Eisenhower said, “I must admit that sometimes I feel a thousand years old when I struggle to my bed at night.” Nevertheless, the overriding impression he gave was one of vitality. Dwight Eisenhower was an intensely alive human being who enjoyed his job immensely.  That quality showed in his speech, his mannerisms, his physical movements, most of all in his eyes. They were astonishingly expressive. As he listened to his deputies discuss future operations, his eyes moved quickly and inquisitively from face to face. His concentration was intense, almost a physical embrace. The eyes always showed his mood-they were icy blue when he was angry, warmly blue when he was pleased, sharp and demanding when he was concerned, glazed when he was bored.
    Most of all, they bespoke his supreme