In the months leading up to D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s attention was in relentless demand, whether he was negotiating, rallying troops, or solving crises from his headquarters in Bushy Park, London. He projected optimism but resisted it. The day of the invasion he gave a rousing speech exhorting tens of thousands of young men of the “Great Crusade” ahead of them. Then he wrote out a draft of a resignation letter in case the invasion failed.

Outwardly, Eisenhower was a genial cypher. He was liked by all and seemed to make success inevitable. Inwardly, says author Michel Paradis, he was abuzz with brilliance, exhaustion, will, frustration, and the awareness that failure was always a possibility.

Drawing on his new book The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, Normandy, and the Birth of the American Superpower, Paradis discusses the strategic planning of Operation Overlord—which led to D-Day and the liberation of France—focusing on the six months preceding the mission when Dwight Eisenhower grew from a widely respected general into one of the singular figures of American history.

Copies of The Light of Battle (Mariner Books) are available for purchase.

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