--- title: "The way Dwight D. Eisenhower coped with stress could kill lesser men" date: "2025-02-26" modified: "2025-02-26" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/the-way-dwight-d-eisenhower-coped-with-stress-could-kill-anyone/" categories: - "Heroes" - "History" - "War History" - "World War II" tags: - "Famous Veterans" - "Food" - "Military History" - "Presidents" - "World War II" --- # The way Dwight D. Eisenhower coped with stress could kill lesser men ![eisenhower stress postwar world]() *The face you make when you win the war and then learn you have to preside over the post-war world. (Getty Images)* Dwight David Eisenhower: Five-Star General, Supreme Allied Commander and President of the United States. Few people in the history of the world were faced with one of the many problems with the magnitude faced by the one presented to him, let alone all of them. **Also Read: [‘Pressure’ is a D-Day film unlike any other before it]()** The man who simply preferred to be called “Ike” eventually found the answer to every one of them, but before and even as his solutions were implemented, he did an incredible amount of anxious fretting and worrying about whether or not they would succeed. These days, it’s hard to find images of Ike where he isn’t either smiling or looking absolutely confident in everything he is doing. But underneath that genial veneer, whether it’s as a U.S. Army general or as the Leader of the Free World, Eisenhower was secretly roiling with doubt, anxiety and uncertainty. The way he dealt with the stress of the job(s) didn’t help much—and might have contributed to his seven heart attacks and a stroke. ### Sleeplessness ![General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, standing outdoors amongst a group of soldiers at night, World War II. (Photo by Anthony Potter Collection/Getty Images)]() *General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, standing outdoors amongst a group of soldiers at night. (Anthony Potter Collection/Getty Images)* To overcome the stressors of his work, Eisenhower tried to work his way out of it. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, he was a brigadier general, Chief of Staff to the Third Army in San Antonio, Texas. A week later, he was at the War Department in Washington, advising Gen. George C. Marshall on what to do in the Pacific. That's one hell of a career trajectory. While informing Marshall of how to win the war against Japan, he was working until 10 pm, ignoring illnesses and even reorganizing the entire planning department. He worked day and night to get supplies and aircraft to the soldiers fighting the Japanese in the Philippines. Marshall was so impressed, he promoted Eisenhower and then sent him to England to see how a cross-channel invasion of France was coming and how it could be sped up. Ike sent in his recommendations, and Marshall again promoted him and told him to implement those recommendations. Within a year, Eisenhower would lead the logistical problems of landing in North Africa and defeating the Nazis there. Sicily and Italy would be invaded by the end of 1943 and Ike would be planning for Operation Overlord next. It was so much work, his boss had to order Eisenhower to visit his wife. By this time, Ike was suffering from high blood pressure and insomnia and was sleeping around [two hours a night](). He made the decision to launch the invasion at 4:15 in the morning on June 5, 1944 and was still awake at 5:30 a.m. the next day, pacing as naval batteries hit German defenses. ### Smoking ![Eisenhower stress Supreme Allied Commander appeared at his head quarters in Rheims, France, for the historic signing of Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies on May 6, 1945.]() *Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, appeared at his head quarters in Rheims, France, for the historic signing of Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies on May 6, 1945. Safe to say he earned that smoke. (Bettman)* A lot of people measure their smoking in the number of cigarettes per day. Heavy smokers keep track by the number of packs of cigarettes they smoke every day. Dwight D. Eisenhower smoked so much, [his *lighter* began to show the wear and tear]() of overuse. Depending on who you ask, the future president was smoking four to six packs a day, pacing as he pondered what to do next, managed the alliance between the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union, and generally tried to ensure he had all the ships, supplies, ammunition, and men in the right places to make four amphibious landings over the course of two years, not to mention making sure he had the right generals to lead them. He quit smoking in 1948, two years before ascending to the Oval Office, but there’s no doubt he thought about picking the habit back up when world crises hit again and again. He was losing the Space Race, ending the Korean War, containing communism and enforcing civil rights. No biggie. ### All the Coffee ![dwight eisenhower stress coffee]() *Eisenhower drinks a cup of coffee at Allied Headquarters in Paris. It wasn't his first and sure wouldn't be his last. (AFP via Getty Images)* Eisenhower might have quit smoking at some point, but he never put down a single cup of coffee if it was still full, even after his first heart attack in 1955. Some observers say he drank [as many as 20 cups of coffee]() during the D-Day invasion. Others say that was a lighter day for the future president, as he was known [to drink some 24 cups a day](). It’s a well-known fact that cigarettes and coffee are great combinations for anyone (anyone who still smokes cigarettes, that is). General and later President Eisenhower would probably argue that pacing around the room was also a good addition. Eisenhower would die of congestive heart failure, the body’s inability to pump blood, in March 1969, after the aforementioned six heart attacks and a stroke (which came during a cabinet meeting). He wasn’t the only president to suffer cardiovascular problems. Grover Cleveland, Warren Harding, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all had heart trouble—maybe it had something to do with the job. ### Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty **• [The history of Rip It, the beverage that fueled the War on Terror]()** **• [American troops drank 2 million energy drinks during Operation Epic Fury]()** **• [That time Neil Armstrong survived ejecting from his fighter jet in Korea]()** ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()