- NAME – David Dwight Eisenhower
Library of Congress - NICKNAME(S) – Ike / called Swede by friends when growing up
- BIRTH / DEATH – Oct. 14, 1890 Denison, Texas / Washington (heart disease – age 78)
- FATHER – mechanic, manager of a gas station
- MOTHER – housewife
- COLLEGE – West Point
- WIFE – Mamie Dowd
- KIDS – 2 sons
- PETS – parakeet (Gabby); Weimaraner (Heidi)
- RELIGION – Presbyterian
- ANCESTRY –
- AGE – 62
FIRSTS:
– first to serve in WWII
– first to serve in both world wars
– first to be promoted to 5-Star General
– first to have an aircraft carrier named after him
– first to fly in a jet plane
– first to fly in a helicopter
– first to have a pilot’s licence
– Pakistan, Afghanistan, Chile, Portugal
– first to hold a press conference
– first to win an Emmy Award
MA AND PA: His father grew up on a farm and was expected to be a farmer, but he rebelled and wanted to be an engineer. Plans changed when he fell in love at college and had to drop out to raise his family. He was not good at it. A general store failed and he went to Texas to work on the railroad. Ike was born in a rented one room shack. The family returned to Kansas where he eventually rose to plant manager for a gas company, but he left his sons no inheritance. Ike loved him, but did not think much of him. He was strict and distant. He got the boys up at 5 to do chores and discipline consisted of harsh corporal punishment. He died in 1942 before his son became a celebrity. Ike’s mother Ida was the opposite of his father. She had a sunny disposition in spite of a rough upbringing. She was raised by strict grandparents who forced her to cook for them and beat her if she failed. She was only allowed to read the Bible, but made it a challenge as she memorized 1,356 verses. She was a pacifist and opposed Ike’s going to West Point, but she supported him in everything. She raised five successful sons. She died in 1946 at age 84 after seeing her son defeat Nazi Germany. Parents
BACKGROUND:
– after high school, worked with father at a creamery
– went to West Point
– served in the Army rising to commanding general in Europe in WWII
Library of Congress
– after WWII, was Army Chief of Staff
– President of Columbia University
– commander of NATO
FIRST LADY: Mamie met young Lt. Eisenhower at Fort Sam Houston in Texas where her family would spend their winters. He gave her his West Point class ring on Valentine’s Day, 1916 to start their engagement. They were married that summer. She was not prepared for the life of a soldier’s wife. One month after their wedding, he was packing his bags for an assignment. She asked him how he could leave her so soon, he responded: “My country comes first and always will. You come second.” She adjusted to this arrangement and once said that her career was Ike. They moved 27 times in the next 37 years. It was not the moving, but the time spent apart that hurt. She suffered from depression and ill-health and during WWII she was bedridden a good amount of the time her husband was away. She also had to deal emotionally with the rumors and gossip surrounding Ike’s relationship with his chauffeur Kay Summersby. She claimed she trusted Ike, but it was still hard. Whatever happened between Ike and Kay, he returned to Mamie after the war. In the White House, she insisted in sleeping together and told reporters she liked sleeping close enough to her husband to be able to pat his bald head. She kept a low profile as First Lady (she was not interested in politics), but women copied her good fashion sense and her hair styles (she made bangs popular). Her hobbies included autograph collecting, playing the electric organ, canasta, and Scrabble. She like to read mystery novels. Kelly 338-339
Library of Congress
RETIREMENT:
– retired to a farm at Gettysburg, Pa.
TRIVIA:
– he and his brothers liked the name Ike – Big Ike, Little Ike, Ugly Ike
– never owned a home until after he was President – he and Mamie moved 28 times when he was in the Army
– 59 members of his West Point graduating class became generals
– loved military history as a child
– had to repeat his freshman year in high school because of an injury
– wanted to go to the Naval Academy but he was too old
– between the world wars, he supervised a transcontinental convoy of tanks and trucks and saw that the U.S. needed an interstate highway system
– said the happiest moment in his life was shooting a hole-in-one in golf
– changed the name of the President’s retreat from FDR’s “Shangri-la” to “Camp David” in honor of his grandson
– loved to golf as President; had a putting green on the White House lawn; Golf Writers of America voted him Golfer of the Year in 1954
– loved to paint, but could not draw so artists would draw the picture and he would paint it which led to the “paint by numbers” fad
– during WWII, he smoked four packs of cigarettes a day
– although he became a 5 star general, Ike never served in combat
– loved to read western novels
– hurt his knee tacking Jim Thorpe while playing football at West Point
– favorite dessert – prune whip
– When President, he suffered a heart attack after playing 27 rounds of golf, later he was hospitalized for an intestinal blockage and also had a slight stroke while President. He is the reason for the 25th Amendment.
ANECDOTES:
THOSE DARNED SQUIRRELS – Ike loved to golf and was thrilled when the American Public Golf Association donated a putting green for the White House lawn. Ike had the gardeners scrape the dew off it with fishing rods. He got upset when the White House squirrels started messing with it. They would bury acorns, creating bumps. One day he made a putt that bounced out of the hole because it was filled with acorns. He threatened to have them shot, but the gardeners used traps to relocate them. President Reagan liked the squirrels and would bring acorns back from Camp David to feed them. He would watch them eat through the windows of the Oval Office. The squirrels had a problem when George H.W. Bush’s dog Millie arrived on the scene. Millie accounted for four dead squirrels, plus one pigeon and three rats. Whitcomb and Whitcomb 58