“Surely God Himself must tremble at the task before you,“ Churchill declared with trembling consternation. To this General Dwight D. Eisenhower serenely replied, “If God is at my side, how
can I fail? When Eisenhower believed the time was right to begin the invasion, he ceased his pacing, humbly looked his subordinates in the eye, and softly, but firmly gave the order, “OK, let’s go.”

At that precise moment, because he had uttered those words and set into motion the largest invasion force in history, he was in that moment, the most powerful man in the annals of the world. Conversely, in the moment to follow, when that order fell upon the ears of his subordinates and beyond, he became at once the most powerless. He had unleashed an unimaginable fury but could control nothing of what was to come. It was in the hands of his sergeants and
privates now. They were on their way to hell on earth.

Through a million acts of bravery, the invasion was successful, and over time the Supreme Commander and his allies would liberate all the great capitals of Europe. In Paris, the Eisenhower would stand before the elaborate grave of a fellow conqueror, the Emperor Napoleon, and think to himself how ostentatious his tomb was.

Tellingly, Adolf Hitler, when standing in the same spot earlier, had marveled with envy at its magnificence. The future President quietly made the decision then and there that when he died, he wanted to be interred in the same standard military casket that the soldiers dying on the beaches and fields of Europe had been. In twenty-five years it would be so.

Not too long after his visit with Napoleon, Eisenhower would stand in the enemies’ captured country, victorious. Basking in the light of victory, his subordinates would set about to draft a communiqué to President Franklin D. Roosevelt boasting of their conquest, each draft becoming more overwrought and florid than the one before. Surely, they thought, such a grand moment must have as its companion an equally grand proclamation.The war weary Eisenhower listened to each draft intently and with his customary humility, politely set them all aside and simply wrote the following single sentence…

“The mission of this Allied force was fulfilled at 02:41 local time, May 7, 1945”

Temperance is a virtue which is rare these days. This is why History’s example, such as with General Eisenhower remarkable forbearance, is so very important.