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Meet Amazing Americans U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
Photograph of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and D-Day paratroopers.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses American paratroopers on D-Day.

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Eisenhower Decides on D-Day
The Allied planners knew they could not control the weather for D-Day ("D-Day" was the first day of any military operation during the war. The expression "D-Day" has come to mean the greatest single Allied operation of World War II, the invasion of Normandy). Late on the evening of June 2, 1944, Eisenhower, his top generals, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to review the weather forecast. The news was not good--D-Day, June 5, promised cloudy skies, rain, and heavy seas. Eisenhower decided to wait another day to see whether the forecast might improve. Less than 24 hours before the scheduled invasion Eisenhower gathered his advisers again. The forecast indicated that the rain would stop and there would be breaks in the clouds by mid-afternoon on June 5. What do you think Eisenhower did?
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