Study of Eisenhower's Coherent Use of Military Power

In December 1941, Dwight Eisenhower was ordered to report
for duty at the War Plans Division (OPD) of the War Department in
Washington and thus began his ascent to the pinnacle of American
strategy. Like many soldiers, this was not a journey he
approached with enthusiasm. Eisenhower felt that having missed
combat in World War I hindered his career, and so found
assignment to the War Department "a hard blow."1
But despite a
plea to Brigadier General Haislip, Chief of the Personnel
Division, Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall insisted
Eisenhower was the proper man for the job.2
"By General
Marshall's word," Eisenhower feared, "I was completely condemned
to a desk job in Washington for the duration."3
Eisenhower's anxiety did not come solely from careerism. He
knew that his training and experience only partially prepared him
for the complexity, subtlety, ambiguity, and frequent confusion
of high-level strategy. Though confident of his soldierly
skills, he was not so automatically sure of his ability in a
realm where political acumen and horizontal leadership mattered
more than vertical command relationships. Confidence there would
come later.