Dwight D. Eisenhower won the first election on the strength of his military leadership. The Supreme Allied Commander, in charge of the Normandy landings on D-Day in 1942, the man who glad-handed Churchill and Stalin and had the unquestioning loyalty of his generals, cruised to a victory in the presidential elections of 1952. He accomplished a lot during his four years, but the continual stress affected his health dramatically. There were questions about his returning to campaign for his re-election; ones he put to rest when announcing he would run again.

On this day, February 29, in 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower went before the press in one of his regularly scheduled news conferences. After discussing the work of the Red Cross at some length, along with several farm bills in Congress, he gave the much-anticipated decision: he will run again.

Winning the second election as easily as he won the first, with wide public support behind him and the freedom from worrying about his re-election, Eisenhower embarked on one of the most ambitious public works projects in history. The Interstate Highway System, a refined version of the German Autobahn, built thousands of miles of highways, bridges and offramps connecting the major cities of the United States. It wasn’t only constructed to expand trade and travel, Eisenhower thought, but to move about military force quickly and easily should there be an invasion.