The Note In Ike’s Pocket – Eisenhower and D-Day

“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold, and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.”  Eisenhower D-Day letter

History remembers the D-Day landings as a great success. They opened the door to the final destruction of the white supremacist Nazi tyranny. Unprecedented in their scope and unparalleled in their success, the landings on Normandy’s beaches are rightly considered a brilliant example of military strategy. But for Eisenhower, D-Day also carried with it the chance for horrific failure. The absolute success of Eisenhower’s D-Day plans was not preordained.

However, a deeper look at the history of D-Day shows that success was far from certain. There had never been a large-scale seaborne invasion of a defended coastline in the history of warfare that had succeeded! Had the Germans employed a better defense, better intelligence, better strategy, the offensive might have failed. The weather didn’t help. Hitler did not fully grasp the significance of what was happening, or his forces would have been better deployed. The Allied supply line could have failed. Any of these factors – let alone a combination of them could have led to a German victory on the beaches of Normandy. The Eisenhower D-Day plans could have resulted in a tremendous defeat for the Allies.

Ike was well aware of the overwhelming odds. While Eisenhower had great confidence in his plan and his men, Eisenhower was a humble leader prepared to take responsibility if the landing failed. With Edward R. Murrow and Ernie Pyle daily reporting the deaths piling up among soldiers and civilians alike, Eisenhower knew that casualties among the men he loved would be heavy but that the ultimate goal would be worth it. And so he wrote a note n pencil on a 4 1/2-by-7-inch sheet of notebook paper, explainingg why the landing had been a failure, just in case. In his original draft, Eisenhower included the phrase, “this particular operation (had failed.) he changed it to, “My decision to attack” Karen had failed.) This small edit demonstrates the depth of Eisenhower’s willingness to take personal responsibility, his humility, and the wisdom of his leadership.

Of course, we know that the Eisenhower D-Day strategy turned out to be a brilliant success. On July 11, with Allied troops driving through France, Eisenhower discovered the letter was still in his wallet. He showed it to a fellow officer, Capt. Harry C. Butcher who recounted in his memoirs that Ike saved it for posterity. Today the original in the Eisenhower Memorial Library in Abilene, Kansas.

We live in an era where, increasingly, political leaders seem unwilling to take real responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Many of us have heard a standard political apology “if anyone was offended by what I said, I’m sorry you were offended.” There is a world of difference between that apology and simply saying I was wrong”. As in so many aspects of his life as a soldier and as a president, Eisenhower sets the example for all of us of moral leadership.