1941 – The Year Eisenhower Became a General Part 2

What mattered was that Eisenhower’s performance was recognized by those who counted. He later proclaimed that the experience gained during the Louisiana Maneuvers was “incalculable.” However, the lavish publicity accorded Eisenhower left lingering resentments in Krueger who felt his chief of staff had taken credit for a plan he insisted he had conceived.

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Mark Clark conducted the formal critique of the Louisiana Maneuvers. Near its end, he was handed a telegram from the War Department containing the names of officers being nominated by Roosevelt for promotion to major general, along with some twenty colonels being advanced to brigadier general. Clark scanned the list, read their names, then announced, “That’s it.” The group was dismissed and as the fortunate selectees were surrounded and congratulated, Eisenhower, visibly deflated by the omission of his name from the list, had one foot out the door when Clark banged his gavel and intoned, “I forgot one name – Dwight D. Eisenhower.” Amid the throng of people Clark heard Eisenhower laugh, “I’ll get you for this, you sonofabitch.”

Eisenhower was genuinely elated at becoming a general after twenty-six years of military service. On October 3,1941, with his wife, Mamie and her parents present, Krueger pinned the single silver stars of a brigadier general on Eisenhower’s shoulder tabs. Afterwards, the new general proudly accepted the salute during the first of many parades that would be staged in his honor.

With his promotion, Eisenhower had reached a goal he never expected to attain. “But the nicest part of all, I’ve quickly discovered,” he wrote to a friend, “is to be assured by good friends that the War Department was not too d—- dumb in making the selection.” A family friend, Askel Nielsen, wrote to request an autographed photo. Flattered, Eisenhower wrote back, “I am hurrying it off at once – it would be tragic to have you change your mind. Wouldn’t you like three or four???”

The only worrisome aspect of his promotion was that Eisenhower had performed so well as Krueger’s chief of staff that he feared having to serve out the coming war in a succession of staff jobs, which would exclude him once again from obtaining a combat command. He had missed World War I stuck in Camp Colt, Pennsylvania training troops, and was determined it would not happen twice.

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Shortly after the maneuvers McNair sent Marshall his evaluations of those he recommended for higher command. Virtually everyone over the age of fifty was excluded. Almost as an afterthought, the last name to appear on a list of seven unrated “others” named as potential division commanders was the name “Eisenhower.” McNair clearly felt no compelling need to rate any higher a career staff officer who had never commanded more than a battalion. Indeed, were it not for the glowing reputation he gained during the maneuvers, it is arguable that Eisenhower’s name would not have appeared at all.

Eisenhower and Patton were among a mere handful of officers over fifty years old to be retained, and later promoted. In 1989, Patton’s son would tartly observe that, “McNair’s predictions were not too hot. Take notice of Ike at the bottom of the list – ‘an also ran.’”

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