Dwight Eisenhower was inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States on January 20, 1953, becoming the first president to take office under the Twentieth Amendment's schedule who had not served in a previous elected position. He had never held political office. He had never voted in a presidential election before his own. Born in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890, and raised in Abilene, Kansas, Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915 and spent decades as a career military officer. He rose to prominence as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, planning and executing the D-Day invasion of Normandy and accepting Germany's unconditional surrender. After the war, he served as Army Chief of Staff and as the first Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Both parties courted him as a presidential candidate. Eisenhower chose the Republicans, won the nomination, and defeated Adlai Stevenson in a landslide. His campaign slogan, "I Like Ike," was one of the most effective in American political history. His inaugural address focused on the Cold War and the global struggle against communism. He spoke of the need for strength, sacrifice, and collective security. The Korean War was still being fought, and Stalin was still alive in Moscow. The world Eisenhower inherited as president was more dangerous than any his peacetime predecessors had faced. He brought to the presidency a general's understanding of logistics, organization, and the management of complex bureaucracies. His cabinet was heavy with business executives, leading one critic to describe it as "eight millionaires and a plumber." His management style was deceptively passive: he preferred to work behind the scenes, letting subordinates take public positions while he maintained flexibility. The transition from Supreme Commander to President was, in one sense, seamless: both roles required managing enormous organizations and balancing competing interests. In another sense, it was entirely new: democratic politics required persuasion rather than orders, and Congress could not be commanded like a military staff.