On this day in 1943 General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. President Franklin Roosevelt’s first thought was to have General George Marshall take that position but Marshall was running the war back in Washington and FDR decided it was more critical to keep him where he was. Ike proved to be an excellent choice. When you consider what he did in WWII and as POTUS of the United States from 1953-61 [he would be on the Mount Rushmore of 20th Century presidents} one of the great Americans of the Century and the overall opinion of him just continues to rise.