The German-Americans who Led the U.S. to Victory during World War II

Photo of General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Naval History and Heritage Command. July 19, 2020

May 29, 2025

Andrew Carlson – Featured Columnist

The 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) recently occurred on May 8, 2025 and the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day) will occur September 2, 2025. It may come as a surprise to the reader that the top two American commanders during World War II in Europe and the Pacific were German-Americans! 

German-American General Dwight D. Eisenhower received his fifth star when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)  promoted him to Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force December 1944. Eisenhower came from German ancestry in Pennsylvania as historian Walter Kamphoefner noted Eisenhower’s grandfather Johann Peter Eisenhauer, “preached in German…” when The Eisenhower family moved out west to Texas they changed the spelling of their name from “Eisenhauer” to “Eisenhower.” Ultimately the Eisenhower’s settled in Abilene, Kansas. Eisenhower’s German ancestry was used to America’s advantage during “Operation Torch” the Allied invasion of North Africa 1942-1943, which Eisenhower successfully planned and supervised. Leaflets were produced and distributed among the Arabs in North Africa to counter rumors that Eisenhower was Jewish. Pulitzer Prize winning author Rick Atkinson cites, “A rumor in Arab neighborhoods that Eisenhower was a Jew sent by the Jew Roosevelt to establish a Jewish state in North Africa required a leaflet campaign stressing the general's German Protestant ancestry.” Eisenhower’s German ancestry helped ease tensions between the U.S. military and Arabs in North Africa. After the war ended Eisenhower would serve as America’s 34th president.

German-American Admiral Chester E. Nimitz acquired his fifth star when FDR promoted him to Fleet Admiral December 1944. Nimitz came from German ancestry in Fredericksburg, Texas. Nimitz’s father passed away five months before he was born and was raised by his German Grandfather Charles Henry Nimitz. Kamphoefner notes that Chester Nimitz, “…was brought up bilingually in Fredericksburg, Texas and probably had German as his first language.” Fredericksburg now has a museum honoring him there. 

Nimitz’s German language skills were utilized by the U.S. Navy when they sent him to study diesel engines in Germany in 1913. Nimitz’s diesel studies were cut short due to the outbreak of World War One. Nevertheless, Nimitz learned enough to help transition the U.S. Navy’s submarines to diesel power. During World War II Nimitz received notability when he defeated a larger opponent (the Japanese had four aircraft carriers to America’s three) at the Battle of Midway in 1942. After the war Nimitz served as Chief of Naval Operations and oversaw the transition of the U.S. Navy from diesel power to nuclear power.

Coincidently, Eisenhower and Nimitz were good friends both during and after World War II. The picture featured in this article contains a gregarious greeting from President Eisenhower to Nimitz dated March 26, 1957, “To an old Comrade-in arms, of wars in the field and wars in Washington, from his devoted friend Dwight D Eisenhower.” The letter accompanying the photograph reads:

DDE / The White House / March 26, 1957 / Dear Chester: I was delighted to see again that picture of  the two of us taken in Richmond some too many years ago, and grateful to you for inscribing one copy for me.

The other is being returned to you with this note. It brings to you my best wishes for your health and happiness and, as always, my warm regards. Sincerely DE

Although Germans came under suspicion during World War II the German ancestry of Eisenhower and Nimitz did not prevent their promotion by FDR nor did their German ancestry impede their performance on the battlefield. FDR’s decision to advance them turned out to be a cognizant one as history has shown. However, one cannot help but wonder if FDR may have also been trying to make a point about proving German-American loyalty when he promoted Eisenhower and Nimitz to the nation’s highest military positions?

Interesting Facts: 
General Carl Andrew Spaatz (similar to Eisenhower) came from German ancestry in Pennsylvania. Spaatz led the Eighth Air Force in bombing campaigns against Germany.

Spaatz’s 8th Air Force flew bombers built by the Boeing Company. Boeing Company was founded by German-American William Boeing whose father Wilhelm Böing was a German immigrant. The umlaut was dropped from the Böing family name and changed to Boeing. Boeing Company developed the B-17’s during the 1930’s that became an essential part of the Allied bombing campaign in Europe.

The Eisenhower’s reinstituted non-segregated Easter Egg Hunt’s at the White House in 1954. 

Further Reading:
“Eisenhower Ancestry | Eisenhower Presidential Library.” 2019. July 25, 2019. 

“Chester W. Nimitz: A Legacy of Leadership in the Pacific Theater.” 

Walter Kamphoefner, “The German-American Experience in World War I: A Centennial Assessment,” Yearbook of German-American Studies 49 (2014), 8.

Rick Atkinson, An Army At Dawn (New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2002), 196.