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"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
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NEW PROGRAM FEATURES A new documentary on Dwight D. Eisenhower's rise to the presidency was released by Starbright Media Corporation (SMC) on Memorial Day, 2014, just prior to the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy, France. The Supreme Commander of the largest invasion force in the history of warfare was Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The success of the D-Day operation was the first step in Eisenhower's rise to the presidency of the United State, according to Dr. George A. Colburn, writer-producer of the documentary. "If the landings had failed, Eisenhower's personal history would be very different than it turned out to be," Colburn said. "I doubt if he would have been on active duty for any length of time after the Allied troops had been pushed back into the sea," he added. "As Supreme Commander, he was responsible for the entire operation; there would have been no one else to blame for its failure." The announcement by President Roosevelt that “Ike” would lead the Allied armies into Nazi-occupied Europe in the spring of 1944. They had expected Ike’s boss, Gen. George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of America’s miltiary, to get the appointment. The documentary ends on election night, 1952 – less than 8 years after D-Day – as Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected, becoming the 34th president of the United States. "Our story is a stark reminder that this 5-star General of the Army was a force for peace in the world following his command of troops in the final stage of World War II," Colburn noted.. "He was the great warrior of World War II , but he knew that human society could no longer allow another global war – and its modern weapons of destruction – to break out again." Ike's "hero" status as the D-Day Supreme Commander contributed greatly to his political popularity in post-war America, a nation living in the fear of a new war – this one a so-called "Cold War" – with "miutually assured destruction" the likely outcome of a nuclear attack by either side. Over the past 25 years, Colburn is the producer of almost 10 hours of prime-time programming on Eisenhower's military and poltical careers, 1941 – 1961.
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