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I have a question about General Eisenhower's footwear in the following picture.

The picture was taken in 1945, presumably just after war's end.......as Patton is still alive?

I'm curious if the buckle brogans Eisenhower is wearing are military issue.........or just a privilege of rank?

I've not read anything about this type of footwear.......worn by Eisenhower or any other member of the military.

Can't say for sure about if they were issue or not, but under the circumstances, those could have been the best shoes he had with him at the time, or were the most handy.

R.

I guess my curiosity was further piqued by a shoe company which has the pictured style as "The Eisenhower".

Which might imply the General's footwear was more common knowledge than I thought?

Generals can and do wear whatever the [bleep] they want to.

I would think as Supreme Allied Commander nobody was going to tell him what he could or couldn't wear. Was FDR going to say it?

Arthritis in his hands/wrists, maybe? Buckles might've been easier and less painful to secure than low quarter lace-up dress shoes.

Don't think so. He was criticized for playing golf a lot when POTUS. Dems liked to call him the "Do Nothing President". Probably spent a lot less time than Obama.

Basically.

Folks then were a helluva lot more concerned with winning a war than with his "fashion sense".

Patton was a fashion plate, however.

Was Patton's ivory-handled, single action .45 military issue or a privilege of rank?

Guess....

Considering he'd personally killed Pancho Villa's right-hand man with one of those Colts, and he was the U.S. Army's youngest ever Master of the Sword (trained with the best swordsmen in Europe before WWI), I doubt anyone wanted to try to take them away from him.

http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g34.htm

General Officers can make up their own uniforms. Still today, you will still see some wearing the belt/buckle like Patton has on, in utility uniforms.

To answer the question, to the best of my knowledge that type shoe was not GI issue.

BCR

FDR wouldn't. Only one man might have. That was Marshal who control Europes supple of personell and materials. But the President had already set the "Europe first" policy.

The belt and buckle they wear today is the General Officer belt and buckle prescribed by regulation, or at least it was 18 years ago when I left the Army. It is a standard uniform item for that rank.

Besides the privilege of rank, there is a difference between "GI issue" and what is authorized by regulations.

Our "GI issue" boots and dress shoes were far different than what most of us would buy for ourselves as soon as we could.

Unless you worked on the flight line where steel toe boots were mandatory, most of us wore either jump boots or jungle boots from any number of various manufacturers and styles. They had to meet regulations, but that wasn't hard to do.

Same with dress shoes. Hell, I bought patent leather shoes as soon as I could, as I rarely wore my blues and sure as hell wasn't going to shine anymore after Basic.

I would imagine that Eisenhower's entire uniform was purchased at Brooks Brothers in New York, Abercrombie in London, or somewhere similar. Officers have always been required to buy their own uniforms. And general officers, to this day, are really not bound by any military regulations regarding their uniforms.

Nowadays, most seem to be pretty much regulation in their dress, but in the old days generals were very individualistic in their attire.

FDR wasn't telling anyone anything at this point.

Harry Truman was in office.

Agreed! This is where The "IKE JACKET" came into play and was a issued item for Air Force personell. It's also where/what started the term "Bus Drivers" for Air Force personell.

I personally loved the summer uniform of 1505's with bermuda Shorts. WUUUUUSY!

Best wishes, Bill