Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David Eisenhower's realization of the American dream, that any child can grow up to be president, began in the Midwest before the turn of the 20th century. His parents traced their ancestry back to the Pennsylvania Dutch, a German and religious heritage that would leave its mark on all six of their sons (a seventh, Paul, died in infancy). His father David Eisenhower hated farming, but he also failed as a general store owner, so he left his native Kansas to work the railroads in Texas when his third son was born. Although the child was originally named David Dwight Eisenhower, his mother, who thought two Davids in one house would be confusing, reversed his name to Dwight David....