Eisenhower said he didn't have a problem fighting Germany?

Factual Questions
1

I recently read something that mentioned that Eisenhower was asked if, considering his German ancestry, if he was uncomfortable fighting Germany. He supposedly responded by saying that once his family was in America, their nationality was American, not German.

I can’t find any source of this quote of his. Anyone have any ideas?

2

Just thought I’d ask again…

3

Never heard of this. But given the way he led the advance, I don’t doubt his sincerity. D-day must have been brutal for him. May have been our best general … ever.

4

Eisenhower was Pennsylvania Dutch and his ancestors had immigrated in the 1700’s. Pennsylvania Dutch has really become an ethnicity of its own (through development in the British colonies and later the US) that is separate from German-Germans from modern Germany. The “Homeland” of Pennsylvania Dutch people is south and southeastern Pennsylvania, especially Lancaster County and nearby areas, Philadelphia, and some areas of Maryland and Virginia (e.g. Loudoun County, Harrisonburg, etc.)

5

Would it be too much to call him uber-leet?

6

I’m not sure i’d call him a great general. He never really found himself in a position to demonstrate the classical General skills a la Patton, eg commanding an army group or division overcoming a similar force.

Fantastic logician, coalition commander, diplomat, grand strategist. Certainly, no question, but he never got to demonstrate battlefield level flair.

7

I would argue that a great General only needs to demonstrate what is required from the circumstances at the time and not some theoretical scorecard that he never had to face and applies more to board game or video game logic rather than real-world events. He was great at everything he needed to do during WWII and that is plenty good enough in my view. Eisenhower was also a great and underrated president. He his strategic thinking gave us the Interstate Highway system (inspired by the German Autobahn) which influenced later American development in countless under-appreciated ways.

I don’t doubt his sincerity either. Germans were and are the most common ethic group in the U.S. and I haven’t heard many reservations from soldiers from even more recent German heritage about fighting against their old homeland during WWII. Some of them did get preferential treatment when they were captured as POW’s (on both sides) but almost everyone had a clear side.