 PRESIDENT Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 Credit: U.S. Navy | President Eisenhower’s Library, His Museum, and His Home By Linda Lotridge Levin Rhode Island Library Report Dwight David Eisenhower was the fourth U.S. president to have a library to house his papers. Built on the flat Kansas prairie across from his childhood home in Abilene, it was dedicated on May 1, 1962 a little over a year after Eisenhower left the presidency. According to one of his biographers, Eisenhower told Richard Nixon, his vice president, that the library was “one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.” |
A long, low modern building, it was built of Kansas limestone, with marble throughout the interior. Constructed at a cost of $3 million in private contributions, the library is in a 13-acre park, known as the Eisenhower Presidential Center, on the west side of Abilene. In addition to the library, the center includes the president’s boyhood home, a modest, wood frame house, and the Eisenhower museum, which was opened in 1954.
Unlike the presidential libraries of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, which are combined with a museum, the Eisenhower library was built to house his papers and to be used by scholars. The museum was built for his war artifacts, and later the memorabilia from his presidency. For example, the chairs and table around which he and other Allied commanders planned D Day, are in the museum.The library’s contents are varied, from the papers of John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state during most of Eisenhower’s presidency, to Ike’s 50,000 books, which include those of one of his favorite novelists, Zane Grey. All of his Zane Grey books are stamped with DDE. It is quite likely that these books, which somewhat idealized the settlement of the frontier, entertained the general during his long stretches in the Army.
According to the website for the library, its audiovisual collection holds 334,500 still photographs; 767,700 feet of motion picture film; and 1,130 hours of audio tapes and disks. They came from private individuals, private organizations, and government agencies. The library’s online documents include those relating to the D Day Invasion of the Normandy, his presidential appointments books, and materials on everything from statehood for Alaska and Hawaii to civil rights to McCarthyism (which Eisenhower privately opposed) to the Interstate Highway System, one of his administration’s major achievements. Scholars will have a field day trolling through all this material.
If Dwight Eisenhower had never been president, there might still have been a General Eisenhower Museum and perhaps a library, too. After all, he was the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, and he oversaw the D Day and other campaigns that helped bring victory to the Allies in Europe.
Unlike the presidential libraries of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, which are combined with a museum, the Eisenhower library was built to house his papers and to be used by scholars. The museum was built for his war artifacts, and later the memorabilia from his presidency. For example, the chairs and table around which he and other Allied commanders planned D Day, are in the museum.The library’s contents are varied, from the papers of John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state during most of Eisenhower’s presidency, to Ike’s 50,000 books, which include those of one of his favorite novelists, Zane Grey. All of his Zane Grey books are stamped with DDE. It is quite likely that these books, which somewhat idealized the settlement of the frontier, entertained the general during his long stretches in the Army.
According to the website for the library, its audiovisual collection holds 334,500 still photographs; 767,700 feet of motion picture film; and 1,130 hours of audio tapes and disks. They came from private individuals, private organizations, and government agencies. The library’s online documents include those relating to the D Day Invasion of the Normandy, his presidential appointments books, and materials on everything from statehood for Alaska and Hawaii to civil rights to McCarthyism (which Eisenhower privately opposed) to the Interstate Highway System, one of his administration’s major achievements. Scholars will have a field day trolling through all this material.
If Dwight Eisenhower had never been president, there might still have been a General Eisenhower Museum and perhaps a library, too. After all, he was the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, and he oversaw the D Day and other campaigns that helped bring victory to the Allies in Europe.
THE EISENHOWER library. Credit: Government archives
Ike’s Childhood and Early Military Career
MAMIE and Dwight with their son, "Icky." The 34th president was born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, Oct. 14, 1890, the third of seven boys and the last president to be born in the 19th Century. His parents were David Jacob and Ida Elizabeth (Stover) Eisenhower. They had owned a general store in Hope, Kansas, but left for Texas when the store failed in a poor economy.
Apparently David Dwight’s mother realized that it would be confusing to have two Davids in the family, her husband and her son, so she reversed her son’s names. It didn’t matter, because, according to his Wikipedia biography, he and his brothers all were called some form of Ike, each beginning with “Little Ike.” The nickname Ike stuck to Dwight for his whole life
When Dwight was 2, the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, a frontier town on the Chisholm Trail, where about 20 years before he was born, Wild Bill Hickok was the marshal, keeping law and order in this town of hard-drinking cowboys. Young Ike always considered Abilene his home town. The Eisenhower library’s website says that young Eisenhower grew up there too late to have experienced the city’s Wild West past; nonetheless he retained a life-long fascination with its history, which may explain his attraction to Zane Grey’s novels. In fact, his high school yearbook predicted he would become a history professor.
While his father supported the family as a railroad mechanic and later as a creamery worker, Ike in his youth played football and baseball, boxed and enjoyed hunting and fishing, sports that along with golf, he pursued while he was president.
Unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, Ike spent a couple of years after he graduated from high school working in Abilene to help his older brother, Edgar, with college expenses at the University of Michigan. Then Ike heard that he could take an entrance exam for one of the military service academies, and if he passed, he could attend at no cost. He was too old for the Naval Academy, which was his first choice, so once he passed the exam, he chose West Point, the prestigious Army academy in New York.
Mostly an average student at the academy, Eisenhower graduated 61st in his class of 164 in 1915. Later that year, while serving as a second lieutenant at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, he met Mamie Geneva Doud through a mutual friend. They were married on July 1, 1916 at the home of Mamie’s parents in Denver. She was 19, he was 25.
Their son, Doud Dwight, was born a year later. Ike, who never did get overseas to fight in World War I, was transferred to Fort Meade in Maryland, and eventually Mamie and their son, who was called Icky, joined him there. According to Ike’s memoirs, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, Icky found the base exciting. “Deafening noises of the tanks enthralled him. A football scrimmage was pure delight. And a parade with martial music set him aglow,” he recalled.
When Icky was 4, he contracted scarlet fever (which, without antibiotics, was almost always a fatal disease) from a maid his parents had hired. Although the maid appeared to have recovered, she apparently brought the disease with her. Icky died within a week of becoming ill, an event that Ike called “the greatest disappointment and disaster in my life, the one I have never been able to forget completely.”
A year and a half later, the couple became parents to John Sheldon Doud, who went on to attend West Point, become a soldier and a diplomat and a military historian. He died in 2013.
Apparently David Dwight’s mother realized that it would be confusing to have two Davids in the family, her husband and her son, so she reversed her son’s names. It didn’t matter, because, according to his Wikipedia biography, he and his brothers all were called some form of Ike, each beginning with “Little Ike.” The nickname Ike stuck to Dwight for his whole life
When Dwight was 2, the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, a frontier town on the Chisholm Trail, where about 20 years before he was born, Wild Bill Hickok was the marshal, keeping law and order in this town of hard-drinking cowboys. Young Ike always considered Abilene his home town. The Eisenhower library’s website says that young Eisenhower grew up there too late to have experienced the city’s Wild West past; nonetheless he retained a life-long fascination with its history, which may explain his attraction to Zane Grey’s novels. In fact, his high school yearbook predicted he would become a history professor.
While his father supported the family as a railroad mechanic and later as a creamery worker, Ike in his youth played football and baseball, boxed and enjoyed hunting and fishing, sports that along with golf, he pursued while he was president.
Unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, Ike spent a couple of years after he graduated from high school working in Abilene to help his older brother, Edgar, with college expenses at the University of Michigan. Then Ike heard that he could take an entrance exam for one of the military service academies, and if he passed, he could attend at no cost. He was too old for the Naval Academy, which was his first choice, so once he passed the exam, he chose West Point, the prestigious Army academy in New York.
Mostly an average student at the academy, Eisenhower graduated 61st in his class of 164 in 1915. Later that year, while serving as a second lieutenant at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, he met Mamie Geneva Doud through a mutual friend. They were married on July 1, 1916 at the home of Mamie’s parents in Denver. She was 19, he was 25.
Their son, Doud Dwight, was born a year later. Ike, who never did get overseas to fight in World War I, was transferred to Fort Meade in Maryland, and eventually Mamie and their son, who was called Icky, joined him there. According to Ike’s memoirs, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, Icky found the base exciting. “Deafening noises of the tanks enthralled him. A football scrimmage was pure delight. And a parade with martial music set him aglow,” he recalled.
When Icky was 4, he contracted scarlet fever (which, without antibiotics, was almost always a fatal disease) from a maid his parents had hired. Although the maid appeared to have recovered, she apparently brought the disease with her. Icky died within a week of becoming ill, an event that Ike called “the greatest disappointment and disaster in my life, the one I have never been able to forget completely.”
A year and a half later, the couple became parents to John Sheldon Doud, who went on to attend West Point, become a soldier and a diplomat and a military historian. He died in 2013.
General Eisenhower and World War II
IKE in World War II. Credit: Government archives Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Ike served briefly in the Panama Canal Zone before heading to Washington to work in various Army-related offices.
Here he came to the attention of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Army’s chief of staff. In 1935, he sailed to Manila to become an assistant to MacArthur, by then the military adviser to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines.
Rather than take their son, John, out of school, Mamie had stayed behind in Washington. By 1941, Ike was back in the States with his family and serving with the Third Army in San Antonio, Texas. In September, he was given the temporary rank of brigadier general.
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, he recalled that as he ate lunch, he was hoping for a long afternoon nap. But the Army had other plans for him. He said that his nap did not last long.
He was summoned to Washington “for emergency duty.” Pearl Harbor, a naval base in Hawaii, had been bombed by the Japanese. The next day Congress declared war on Japan. (The declaration of war against Germany came on the 11th.)
According to his obituary in The New York Times, Eisenhower had never commanded troops in battle, but he was recognized as a specialist in operations planning and organization.
In 1942, he was appointed Chief of Operations for the Army and promoted to the temporary rank of major general.
It was Ike’s role in the last half of the war that cemented his military career and propelled him into the presidency.
Here he came to the attention of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Army’s chief of staff. In 1935, he sailed to Manila to become an assistant to MacArthur, by then the military adviser to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines.
Rather than take their son, John, out of school, Mamie had stayed behind in Washington. By 1941, Ike was back in the States with his family and serving with the Third Army in San Antonio, Texas. In September, he was given the temporary rank of brigadier general.
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, he recalled that as he ate lunch, he was hoping for a long afternoon nap. But the Army had other plans for him. He said that his nap did not last long.
He was summoned to Washington “for emergency duty.” Pearl Harbor, a naval base in Hawaii, had been bombed by the Japanese. The next day Congress declared war on Japan. (The declaration of war against Germany came on the 11th.)
According to his obituary in The New York Times, Eisenhower had never commanded troops in battle, but he was recognized as a specialist in operations planning and organization.
In 1942, he was appointed Chief of Operations for the Army and promoted to the temporary rank of major general.
It was Ike’s role in the last half of the war that cemented his military career and propelled him into the presidency.
GENERAL EISENHOWER talks on June 5, 1944 with troops of the 101st Airborne Division, who were about to embark on the D Day invasion the next day. Credit: U.S. Army In 1943, President Roosevelt named Eisenhower the Supreme Allied Commander of Forces in Europe. But when the Allies hit some reversals in the war in North Africa, Ike wrote in his book, Crusade in Europe, he believed he might be relieved of his command. He was not, and he went on to lead the invasions of Sicily and Italy, actions that forced the Italians out of the war.
His next assignment was to head the planning for the invasion of Europe, which was given the code name Operation Overlord, and on June 6, 1944 – D Day – the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy. Ike called the intense planning that went into the invasion “a soul-racking problem.”
Two months later, he planned and directed the successful invasion of southern France. He then was elevated to the rank of General of the Army.
On May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted Germany’s surrender. He was a hero. The Allied countries heaped honors on him. When he returned to the United States more than a million grateful citizens turned out to welcome him in Washington, and at a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan, he was greeted by four-million people, who lined the streets to get a glimpse of the war hero.
His next assignment was to head the planning for the invasion of Europe, which was given the code name Operation Overlord, and on June 6, 1944 – D Day – the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy. Ike called the intense planning that went into the invasion “a soul-racking problem.”
Two months later, he planned and directed the successful invasion of southern France. He then was elevated to the rank of General of the Army.
On May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted Germany’s surrender. He was a hero. The Allied countries heaped honors on him. When he returned to the United States more than a million grateful citizens turned out to welcome him in Washington, and at a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan, he was greeted by four-million people, who lined the streets to get a glimpse of the war hero.
President Eisenhower
RICHARD NIXON, who would become Eisenhower's vice president. Credit: Eisenhower library After the cheering stopped, General Eisenhower went to work in the Pentagon. In 1948, thinking that a war hero would make a fine president of the United States, some high-level Republicans sought out Ike for the job
He nixed the idea immediately, and instead accepted the presidency of Columbia University. That year, his first book, Crusade in Europe, was published. Critics called it one of the finest war memoirs.
In 1951, it was a Democrat who looked to Ike as a potential presidential candidate.
President Harry Truman had admired the general, and thought he could lead the Democrats to victory in the 1952 elections. Ike had other plans.
He nixed the idea immediately, and instead accepted the presidency of Columbia University. That year, his first book, Crusade in Europe, was published. Critics called it one of the finest war memoirs.
In 1951, it was a Democrat who looked to Ike as a potential presidential candidate.
President Harry Truman had admired the general, and thought he could lead the Democrats to victory in the 1952 elections. Ike had other plans.
PRESIDENT Dwight D. Eisenhower in the inaugural parade, Jan. 20, 1953. Credit: Eisenhower library He publicly announced that he and his family were Republicans, so when the more liberal wing of the party came to him hoping he would accept the nomination to counter the candidacy of the conservative Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, Ike eventually agreed.
His running mate would be Senator Richard Nixon of California, a youthful counterpart to the 61-year-old Eisenhower and an outspoken anti-Communist.
They won in a landslide that ended 20 years of Democratic presidents. Four years later, he and Nixon were re-elected with 35.5 million votes, which then, according to The New York Times, was one of the largest votes ever for a candidate up to that time. Eisenhower was the first president under the 22nd Amendment, which limited a president to two elected terms.
Ike’s clean-cut appearance, his engaging grin, his homespun values, and, of course, being a war hero, all contributed to his popularity as a candidate.
Ike told Merriman Smith, a White House correspondent, that he did not really consider himself a politician. He was an Army officer. He told Smith he often thought he made better decisions than the professional politicians because he took a longer, broader view of a situation.
That is not to say Eisenhower did not face his share of problems. When he went to the White House, the country was still recovering from the war. On the international front, countries ravaged both politically and economically by the war were just starting to get back on their feet.
The Atomic Age was looming large over both the United States and the Soviet Union. The Korean War, waged over the Soviet’s support of North Korea’s attempt to take over South Korea, came to a close soon after Ike became president, in part the result of a goodwill journey there. But problems with Vietnam and nearby countries were just emerging and would engage the next two presidents.
At home, McCarthyism, named for the Communist-hunting senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, was capturing the interest of the public. Eisenhower left most political issues like this to his vice president to handle.
Among Eisenhower’s major achievements as president were the launching of the Interstate Highway System, implemented not for the convenience of motorists but because Ike recognized that if the Cold War escalated, better roads were necessary to move troops and tanks.
He made improvements in Social Security and continued many of the New Deal programs. He oversaw the development of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which led to the Internet, and the establishment of strong science education through the National Defense Education Act. The space race was begun under his administration. Ike insisted that the armed forces be desegregated, a process begun by President Truman.
And faced with the rumblings of major race issues in the South, he sent troops to maintain order during the Little Rock school integration crisis, resulting in Congress passing the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, both of which President Eisenhower signed into law.
The list of Eisenhower’s accomplishments as president goes on: He made five appointments to the US Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Earl Warren, a California governor; William J. Brennan, one of the most liberal justices of the 20th century, and Potter Stewart, John Marshall Harlan II, and Charles Evans Whittaker. The Warren court went on to hand down a series of liberal decisions, many of them giving the media a wider berth in reporting and editing news.
It should be noted that during his presidency, the last two of the fifty states were admitted to the Union: Alaska and Hawaii, both in 1959.
Eisenhower, a heavy smoker during most of his adult life (he quit just before he was elected the first time), was felled by a heart attack in the fall of 1955 while he was vacationing in Colorado. After weeks of recuperation, his doctor recommended that he run for a second term “as essential to his recovery.” Ike continued to have lesser health problems during his second term, and after he left the White House, he suffered two very serious heart attacks in 1965 and 1966. In December of 1966, he had his gallbladder removed.
The 34th president died of a heart attack March 28, 1969 at the age of 78. Today historians consider Eisenhower one of the great presidents of the 20th century, and although he may appear under appreciated by the public, the fruits of his administration remain with us.
His running mate would be Senator Richard Nixon of California, a youthful counterpart to the 61-year-old Eisenhower and an outspoken anti-Communist.
They won in a landslide that ended 20 years of Democratic presidents. Four years later, he and Nixon were re-elected with 35.5 million votes, which then, according to The New York Times, was one of the largest votes ever for a candidate up to that time. Eisenhower was the first president under the 22nd Amendment, which limited a president to two elected terms.
Ike’s clean-cut appearance, his engaging grin, his homespun values, and, of course, being a war hero, all contributed to his popularity as a candidate.
Ike told Merriman Smith, a White House correspondent, that he did not really consider himself a politician. He was an Army officer. He told Smith he often thought he made better decisions than the professional politicians because he took a longer, broader view of a situation.
That is not to say Eisenhower did not face his share of problems. When he went to the White House, the country was still recovering from the war. On the international front, countries ravaged both politically and economically by the war were just starting to get back on their feet.
The Atomic Age was looming large over both the United States and the Soviet Union. The Korean War, waged over the Soviet’s support of North Korea’s attempt to take over South Korea, came to a close soon after Ike became president, in part the result of a goodwill journey there. But problems with Vietnam and nearby countries were just emerging and would engage the next two presidents.
At home, McCarthyism, named for the Communist-hunting senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, was capturing the interest of the public. Eisenhower left most political issues like this to his vice president to handle.
Among Eisenhower’s major achievements as president were the launching of the Interstate Highway System, implemented not for the convenience of motorists but because Ike recognized that if the Cold War escalated, better roads were necessary to move troops and tanks.
He made improvements in Social Security and continued many of the New Deal programs. He oversaw the development of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which led to the Internet, and the establishment of strong science education through the National Defense Education Act. The space race was begun under his administration. Ike insisted that the armed forces be desegregated, a process begun by President Truman.
And faced with the rumblings of major race issues in the South, he sent troops to maintain order during the Little Rock school integration crisis, resulting in Congress passing the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, both of which President Eisenhower signed into law.
The list of Eisenhower’s accomplishments as president goes on: He made five appointments to the US Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Earl Warren, a California governor; William J. Brennan, one of the most liberal justices of the 20th century, and Potter Stewart, John Marshall Harlan II, and Charles Evans Whittaker. The Warren court went on to hand down a series of liberal decisions, many of them giving the media a wider berth in reporting and editing news.
It should be noted that during his presidency, the last two of the fifty states were admitted to the Union: Alaska and Hawaii, both in 1959.
Eisenhower, a heavy smoker during most of his adult life (he quit just before he was elected the first time), was felled by a heart attack in the fall of 1955 while he was vacationing in Colorado. After weeks of recuperation, his doctor recommended that he run for a second term “as essential to his recovery.” Ike continued to have lesser health problems during his second term, and after he left the White House, he suffered two very serious heart attacks in 1965 and 1966. In December of 1966, he had his gallbladder removed.
The 34th president died of a heart attack March 28, 1969 at the age of 78. Today historians consider Eisenhower one of the great presidents of the 20th century, and although he may appear under appreciated by the public, the fruits of his administration remain with us.
The Post-Presidential Years
One of Ike’s early postings after he graduated from West Point was at Camp Colt near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. So when he became president of Columbia, he and Mamie decided to buy their first home together after decades of living on military bases or in rented quarters.
It seemed natural to select Gettysburg. They purchased a small farm on 230 acres on the outskirts of the city. The couple moved there permanently after they left the White House. After their deaths, it went to the National Park Service which opened it to the public in 1980. For visitor information to the Eisenhower home, see http://www.nps.gov/eise/index.htm
It seemed natural to select Gettysburg. They purchased a small farm on 230 acres on the outskirts of the city. The couple moved there permanently after they left the White House. After their deaths, it went to the National Park Service which opened it to the public in 1980. For visitor information to the Eisenhower home, see http://www.nps.gov/eise/index.htm
Eisenhower Presidential Park
The park in Abilene contains not only the library but also a museum divided into five major galleries consisting of an introductory gallery, a changing exhibits gallery, a First Lady's gallery, a military gallery, and a presidential gallery as well as changing exhibits. Check the website for more information: http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov
Across from the library is Ike’s boyhood home. A typical nineteenth century home, it was occupied by the Eisenhowers from 1898 until Ike’s mother died in 1946. (His father had died in 1942.)
Her sons gave the house, on its original site, to the Eisenhower Foundation, which maintained it until it was given to the Federal Government in 1966. The home is open to the public.
Also a part of the park is The Place of Meditation, where Mamie and Ike are buried. In 1966, their first-born son, Icky, was moved from his burial place in Denver to the Place of Meditation.
Across from the library is Ike’s boyhood home. A typical nineteenth century home, it was occupied by the Eisenhowers from 1898 until Ike’s mother died in 1946. (His father had died in 1942.)
Her sons gave the house, on its original site, to the Eisenhower Foundation, which maintained it until it was given to the Federal Government in 1966. The home is open to the public.
Also a part of the park is The Place of Meditation, where Mamie and Ike are buried. In 1966, their first-born son, Icky, was moved from his burial place in Denver to the Place of Meditation.
Bibliography
Books:
Ambrose, Stephen E., Eisenhower: The President, Vol. II, Simon and Schuster, NY, 1984. This is a well-researched biography of the 34th president. (Ambrose also wrote Eisenhower: Soldier, General, President Elect, Vol. I, as well as several other books on Eisenhower.)
Eisenhower, Dwight David, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY, 1967. (This is a chatty, easy-to-read book about some of Ike’s adventures, large and small.)
Eisenhower, Dwight David, Crusade in Europe, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY, 1948.
Nelson, W. Dale, Who Speaks for the President?, Syracuse University Press, 1998. (Brief biographies of presidential press secretaries.)
Editor, Tim Smith, Merriman Smith’s Book of Presidents: A White House Memoir, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1972. (A fascinating look at the foibles of presidents from FDR through Nixon by the premier White House correspondent of his time.)
Web Sources:
New York Times, “Dwight David Eisenhower: A Leader in War and Peace,” March 29, 1969. http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/03/29/90079610.html?pageNumber=1
New York Times, “Abilene Addition,” April 29, 1962. http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/04/29/93833722.html?pageNumber=420
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower
Eisenhower Presidential Park, http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov
© Copyright 2015 Linda Lotridge Levin
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