John Eisenhower was born on August 3, 1922 in Denver, Denver County, Colorado to future U.S. President and World War II-era United States Army General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie. John Eisenhower was the second child of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. Their first son, Doud Dwight, known affectionately as "Icky," died in 1921, at age 3, after contracting scarlet fever. John Eisenhower, like his father, attended the United States Military Academy, graduating on June 6, 1944, the very day of the epic Normandy landings his father was commanding.

John Eisenhower served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War, remaining on active duty until 1963; then serving in the U.S. Army Reserve until retirement in 1975 — attaining the rank of brigadier general. A decorated soldier, Eisenhower found his World War II military career thwarted by fears for his safety and concern from the top brass that his death or capture would be a distraction to his father, the Supreme Allied Commander. This issue arose again in 1952 when Major Eisenhower was assigned to fight in a combat unit in Korea while his father ran for President. After a short stint in combat with an infantry battalion, he was reassigned to the safety of division headquarters. In 2008, he wrote about this experience in an opinion piece in the New York Times entitled "Presidential Children Don’t Belong in Battle".

During his father's presidency, John Eisenhower served as Assistant Staff Secretary in the White House, on the Army's General Staff, and in the White House as assistant to General Andrew Goodpaster.

In the administration of President Richard Nixon, who had been his father's Vice President, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. In 1972, President Nixon appointed Eisenhower Chairman of the Interagency Classification Review Committee. In 1975, he served President Ford as chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees.

Eisenhower's greatest achievements have come as a military historian. Several of his books have proven popular with readers and reviewers alike. His best-known history, The Bitter Woods, is perhaps the definitive study of the Battle of the Bulge. So Far from God is a highly regarded history of the U.S.-Mexican War.

He married Barbara Jean Thompson on June 10, 1947. They divorced in 1986. The Eisenhowers had four children: a son, Dwight David, II (b. March 31, 1948, West Point, NY), who married Julie Nixon, herself a presidential daughter; and three daughters Barbara Anne Eisenhower (b. May 30, 1949, West Point, NY), Susan Eisenhower (b. December 31, 1951, Fort Knox, KY) and Mary Jean Eisenhower (b. December 21, 1955, Washington, DC). In 1988, Eisenhower married Joanne Thompson. He lives in Trappe, Maryland, after moving there from Kimberton, Pennsylvania.

A life-long Republican, Eisenhower became independent and voted for Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, citing Republican incumbent George W. Bush's mismanagement of U.S. foreign policy.

, the -year-old Eisenhower is the oldest living presidential child.

The city of Marshfield, Missouri chose him as a 2008 honoree of the Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative. His grandson, Merrill Eisenhower Atwater spoke on his behalf.

John Eisenhower wrote the foreword to Borrowed Soldiers written by Mitchell Yockelson of the National Archives.