The Ike Blog
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THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF EISENHOWER NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE IT'S LIKE A HITCHCOCK MOVIE Remember that Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds? Hordes of birds begin to ominously congregate in this small town, roosting everywhere, and then begin to attack the town's inhabitants. This spring the Eisenhower Farm has been a little like that movie. The farm is always bird infested in the spring, particularly with barn swallows building nests in every available building cranny and nook. This year is no exception. The corridor between the reception center and barn is a virtual barn swallow metropolis. The sky is busy with a chaos of avian traffic, the sidewalks and gravel walkways awash in a generous splattering of deposits. Swallows are cute, agile, colorful little birds, but are aggressive in defending their nests. They aren't adverse to dive bombing innocent passersby regardless of their comparatively imposing size and peaceful motives. But this spring the birds are much more numerous and varied than usual. Open the barn in the morning and you need to duck your head as a variety of species flutter madly out the door. The barn floor and benches are layered with bird droppings, portions of the walls are streaked with their indiscriminate evacuations. It's a chore cleaning off the benches on those rainy days when visitors are relegated to the barn to listen to your orientation. Due to the efforts of the rangers, the visitor derrieres are relatively safe, but the presenting park ranger, who typically stands beneath the birds' favorite roosting rafter, sometimes falls victim to unspeakable avian perpetrated indecencies. There are certain favorite bird nesting areas that have turned into spring-long battlegrounds, prime pieces of farm real estate over which the park staff and the birds fight for control. The headquarters porch, for instance. Swallows insist on building nests on the overhead porch light motion sensor. They begin construction in the late afternoon, rangers tear down the nest foundations the next morning, they begin rebuilding in the same spot that afternoon. Once their nest is established, staff and visitors are attacked every time they attempt to enter or leave headquarters. And while warding off the attackers, you typically forget to circumnavigate the thick soup of deposits directly in front of the door. The same battles are fought over other key strategic areas of the site, even over the ledge that supports the kids' Junior Secret Service radio in the Eisenhower grandkids' playhouse and on the post that serves as the station for the Junior Secret Service binoculars activity. It's the starlings that typically find their way into buildings that would normally require a door opening hand to acquire access. Opening up in the morning, a ranger will discover a bird roosting defiantly on the reception center counter or making a deposit on a secret service office desk top. Despite well intentioned efforts to direct them out the open door, they are never cooperative, preferring to flap anxiously into the window or the exhibit plexiglass. One has the sense that they aren't so much stupid, as they are purposely and impudently annoying you. The most determined and eccentric of the birds this season is a crow who frantically attacks the glass door of the reception center every morning. It repeatedly collides into the door, madly clawing and pecking at the glass. It pecks so determinedly at the lower left hand corner that we've covered it with paper, hoping that would quell his persistence. He's back every morning. There's a moment at which he suddenly decides he's made his point and flies away. Then the housekeepers come by and clean up his mess. Now if the President were still here, he would have no patience for such antics. He'd have no qualms about pulling out his shotgun and thinning out some of the offending avian population. Of course, such a recourse isn't available to us today. All we can do is frustrate their nest building and clean up their droppings. That was one horror never documented by Hitchcock in his movie - the terrible, all pervasive, blood chilling mess. I suppose he chose to leave that to the viewers' imagination. Apparently, the key to being a great director is not only in what you film, but in what you choose not to.
I DON'T BELIEVE YOU CAN CHANGE THE HEARTS OF MEN WITH LAWS AND DECISIONS The above title of today's entry is President Eisenhower's reaction to one of the most important decisions ever to be handed down by the Supreme Court. The landmark decision was reached during Eisenhower's first term in office on May 17, 1954. It was a decision he wasn't overly excited about despite having made a significant contribution to its outcome. Historians today still debate Eisenhower's role in civil rights. Some criticize him for not offering enough support to the civil rights of black Americans. Others, taking into consideration the context of the time, applaud him for the support he did provide. It is, in part, due to his tempered reaction to Brown vs. Board of Education that posterity has judged him to be largely unsupportive of civil rights. On that May 17th, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Oliver Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that segregation of blacks and whites in public schools was unconstitutional and that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." And then in 1955, the court further ruled that integration of schools must proceed with all deliberate speed. The ruling overturned the 1896 decision, Plessy vs. Ferguson, which legalized segregation of schools as long as those segregated schools were equal. Traditionally all education in the south was segregated, blacks and whites attending their own respective schools. But black schools were certainly in no way equal to white, not equal in facilities, funding, extracurricular activities, in number of teachers… At one end of a block would be a white school equipped with a gymnasium, cafeteria, , playground, auditorium, and where each student was funded $140 a year by the county. At the other end would be a black school. No playground, gymnasium, cafeteria, only a couple teachers for the entire student body, and where the county dished out a mere $40 per student. There was no effort to achieve even a semblance of equality. It was in 1954 that the Supreme Court would begin to change all that. And it was partly Eisenhower's doing. Shortly after Ike began his first term in office, Chief Supreme Court Justice Vinson died. Ike appointed California Governor Earl Warren, to whom he owed a political favor for his support during the election, as the new chief justice. Shortly afterwards another justice died and Ike appointed Chief Justice Harlan to fill the second vacancy. Chief Justice Warren would be instrumental in seeing to it that the supreme Court not only voted in favor of ending school segregation but to do so unanimously, 9 - 0. And of course, Ike's most recent appointee contributed to that unanimous decision. Ike's response to the decision was tempered, to say the least. Ike said he believed in gradualization when it came to desegregating. Slowly, incrementally begin integrating, first at the graduate school level, then college, then high schools… That was the only rational manner in which the process could be successfully implemented. To ram desegregation down the throats of white southerners before they were ready was the height of folly, as Ike saw it. He urged Americans to remember that segregation had been the law of the land for 60 years. You can't expect southerners to suddenly have a change of heart simply by arbitrarily changing the law. What Ike feared was that the decision and its forced implementation would so alienate the south, that southern states would just dissolve the entire public school system. Whites would then all go to private schools while blacks, the majority of which could not afford a private education, would be school-less. And that is precisely what happened in some counties in Virginia. Eisenhower never publically stated that he supported the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. What he did say though was that it was his duty as president to uphold and enforce the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and the rulings of the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, it was clear the President wasn't crazy about the prospect of immediate school desegregation. And his tepid feelings about it were evident to many white southerners, including Governor Faubus of Arkansas. This would come back to haunt the President several years later when racial tension at a Little Rock high school erupted into one of the major crises of Eisenhower's presidency.
It's the second week of May 2012, six months before the presidential election, and we already know who are Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are. In May of 1952, six months before the presidential election, America had no idea. In May of 52, the eventual Democratic candidate was still claiming he had no interest in running and the eventual Republican candidate had not yet officially made up his mind. That Republican candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had his reasons for not wanting to run: 1. In the spring of 1952, he was still Supreme Commander of NATO. As its first commander, he didn't want to abandon it before he felt confident that it would be a success. His goal as NATO commander was to establish a viable European defense force. As he saw it, failing to do so would leave his 1945 victory in Europe incomplete and bankrupt his presidential candidacy 2. He couldn't run while he was still NATO's supreme commander. Seeking political office while in the military was a violation of regulations. He would have to resign before declaring his candidacy. 3. He was not comfortable with the idea of becoming a politician. To a modest man such as Eisenhower, the pandering and self-promotion necessary to win an election were totally out of character. Once elected, to remain successful at playing politics required, as Ike saw it, a willingness to be unforthcoming, underhanded, and Machiavellian. Seemingly, in contrast to being a soldier, honesty and directness didn't cut it. There was just something undeniably sordid about politics. 4. He wasn't convinced that the country actually desired his services or required his leadership. He was looking for a public mandate, an outcry from the American people that he was wanted. 5. He was afraid a presidential campaign would be tough on Mamie, resurrecting, as it would, old rumors about his supposed affair with his wartime Army driver, Kay Summersby as well as accusations, brought on by her Meniere's disease, that Mamie had a drinking problem. 6. He had a farmhouse in Gettysburg waiting for him. It was here to which he hoped to escape from the pressures he had faced over the past ten years. He longed to finally relax with his wife and grandkids, maybe raise some cattle, certainly play a lot of golf and bridge with his cronies, do some hunting and fishing… However, there were equally compelling reasons he did want to run as well. And by May, they had outweighed the reasons not to. In fact, it was back in April that Ike had turned in his resignation from NATO to President Truman. But the resignation would not become effective until June 1. It was then, just a month before the Republican National Convention, that he planned to finally officially declare himself a candidate for the presidency of the United States.
Last week the park maintenance staff began the long awaited prepping of the Eisenhower home exterior for its much needed paint job. The stripping and priming is going to be a major undertaking, more major than one would normally anticipate. That's because it entails lead abatement. The paint analysis of the home revealed what you would expect of a 1950s home, particularly around the doors and windows - high lead content. In removing it, the park is abiding by EPA and OSHA standards. The stripping crew has been certified in lead abatement. They are decked out in white Ty-vek suits and respirators. A 20 foot barrier is established around the work area and hepa-vacs are used to contain the dust. The prep work and painting is expected to go on for months. All this legitimate concern about lead abatement got me thinking… For those of us who were young when Ike and JFK and LBJ were presidents, how is it we ever survived childhood? By all rights, we should have all been dead by high school. If not dead, at least psychologically maimed. OUR HOUSE Then there was the focal point of the home, what all family members gravitated toward like George Romero zombies to a mall full of meaty suburbanites - the TV. You watched it at least 5 hours a day. Ten hours on Saturday. Sitting just a foot and a half from the screen, mesmerized in its silver glow, a glazed expression, minds turning to mush. And we loved it. OUR DIET Breakfast was a bowl of Trix, a glass of Tang (a mysterious powdered orange drink supposed to be healthy because astronauts drank it in space), a slice of toasted doughy white Wonder Bread with jelly, or a pop tart with fruit filling. It had fruit so it was healthy. Plenty of hot dogs, bologna sandwiches, Twinkies, Fizzies, and ketchup. Fiber? There was no fiber in our diets. The only fiber was from the left over beer nuts we'd swipe from the coffee table snack bowls at our parents cocktail parties. OUR HEALTH You didn't get shots for measles, mumps, and chicken pox. Every kid suffered through all three. It was a rite of passage. No one flossed. You walked a mile to school even in a blizzard with five foot snow drifts because school never closed. You pedaled your bicycle without a helmet with a friend on the handle bars and you got driven around in a car without seatbelts. You'd go to the dentist to get cavities filled and he never gave you novocaine or nitrous oxide for pain. After you suffered through five cavities filled in one sitting, the dentist gave you a gift card for a double dip ice cream cone at the soda fountain to assure you'd be back in six months with five more cavities. What about the psychological devastation you were subjected to? You were bullied and brutalized by everybody: Everybody beat you up while in turn you spent your days playing war and cowboys and Indians, blasting each other with toy guns. When you reached 9 or 10 though, you were old enough to have your own gun that shot B-Bs or pellets and you could pass the time shooting small birds and squirrels. And if you didn't have a gun, you could at least fry insects with a magnifying glass. And if you didn't have a magnifying glass, by late summer there were always crabapples. You threw crabapples at everything. Even each other. Crabapple wars were the height of fun. In those days, there were no hugs. Nothing like positive reinforcement. If you didn't know, you didn't have the answer, you couldn't perform up to expectations - you were humiliated. That's how you learned. There was no sex education. You didn't learn about sex at school or from your parents. You learned it from authorities like your friend Micky Lomastro who would hold forth in whispers in the 4th grade classroom before the bell rang on how girls became pregnant. And consequently, you remained wildly misinformed for years. And who can forget those duck and cover drills, and your neighbor's nifty fallout shelter, and the constant reminders that your world was at the brink of nuclear armageddon. OUR SUMMERS You inaugurated the summer by going to the 5 & 10 and buying the season's first pea shooter, slingshot, or bow and arrow set that you'd spend the rest of the summer shooting each other with. You played baseball in the middle of the street and defiantly flipped the bird at any car that dared disrupt your game by driving through it. And you didn't wear a helmet. If you got beaned in the head, you were all the better for it. Every summer when you built your go-cart, you never made a brake for it. If you were going to stop, it'd be when you crashed into something. Sunburn? Everybody got sunburn. It was a rite of summer. You got so much sunburn on your nose and back that after a week you were peeling all that dead skin off like dried Elmer's glue. And then you sunburned again and went through the peeling process all over a second time. You didn't sleep at night with air conditioning or even a fan. There was one fan in the house and at night that was sequestered in your parent's bedroom. You suffered your way through those steamy 90 degree August nights, so much so that your sheets were soggy with your sweat. But you never thought twice about it because that's the way it was. The highlight of summer was the mosquito truck. You could hear it approaching from miles away coughing up its thick, lovely clouds of DDT. That distant rumble was a clarion call for every kid from blocks around to hop on their bicycles and follow the truck through the entire neighborhood weaving in and out of that cool thick fog of pesticide mile after mile. OUR SINS OUR CONCLUSION And hopefully that will compensate for their never experiencing the pure joy of pedaling a bicycle for miles and miles in and out of a thick cool cloud of pesticide on a beautiful summer evening.
THE PHONE CALL THAT NEARLY LED TO THE RESIGNATION OF OUR 34th PRESIDENT On May 7, 1960, President Eisenhower received the devastating phone call that would nearly lead to his resignation. It was the call informing him that the Soviets had not only shot down an American U-2 spy plane, but had also captured its pilot. And the pilot had confessed. The U.S. had been flying U-2 reconnaissance planes over the Soviet Union photographing Russian missile development and troop movements since 1956. But after Soviet Premiere Khrushchev came to visit Ike in the fall of 1959 and the two began to seriously pursue détente, Ike became increasingly reluctant to approve the overflights. In their discussions, the topic of the U-2s was never breached by Khrushchev. He knew of the U-2 over flights and was also very aware that the planes flew so high that the Soviets were incapable of shooting them down. To bring up the U-2s would simply acknowledge his nation's vulnerability. Less than a month before the May 16th Paris peace summit that Ike and Khrushchev had agreed to, the CIA (the agency in charge of the U-2 flights) approached the President and requested authorization for one last fly over. They reassured the President that the Soviets were not capable of shooting down a U-2. And even if they were, the pilot would die in the crash. If the crash didn't kill him, he would commit suicide with a poisoned needle. There would be no proof it was a spy plane. Thus, there was little to worry about. The President hesitatingly agreed to that one last, fateful overflight to be made no later than May 1. And so it was on May 1, 1960, that Eisenhower received word that, indeed, the last U-2 had been shot down. What the President didn't know was that aside from the plane being downed, its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, had not died in the crash and had not even committed suicide. He was in the hands of the Soviets. It was decided and Ike agreed that the State Department would issue a statement insisting it was merely a weather plane, not a spy plane at all. Sadly for Ike, several days later the Soviets gleefully produced the proof. Eisenhower was informed via that May 7th phone call in the office of his Gettysburg farm house that the Soviets had captured the U-2 pilot and he had confessed to it having been a spy plane. Ike was devastated. Not only was this a catastrophe jeopardizing his summit with Khrushchev, but he had been caught in a lie. He always prided himself in his honesty and now, in agreeing to the cover up, he had lied to the American people. He wanted to resign. Instead, he conducted a press conference and acknowledged that yes, it was a spy plane. He offered no apologies though. He justified the overflights, reasoning that a Soviet Union so secret and impenetrable, necessitated spy plane overflights if America was going to prevent another sneak attack like Pearl Harbor. Despite all the agitated rhetoric by the Soviets, the peace conference went on as scheduled. But when a ranting Khrushchev demanded of the president an apology for the U-2 overflights and was refused, he and his entire delegation stomped out of the conference. All of Ike's hopes for defusing the Cold War were shattered. Eisenhower was furious that Khrushchev had made such an issue of the U-2 and thought he was just exploiting it as a poor excuse to scuttle the peace conference. Unbeknownst to Ike though, Khrushchev had little choice. He would have preferred to continue pursuing détente, but the U-2 overflight had given the Soviet hardliners just too much ammunition. He was having a difficult time with the hardliners even prior to the U-2 shoot down. He wasn't as singularly powerful as Americans assumed. To ignore the U-2 and continue his peace overtures with the West at this point would be politically suicidal. And Khrushchev was upset with Eisenhower. He hoped Eisenhower would judicially claim he knew nothing about the U-2, that the Pentagon or CIA ordered the overflight without his knowledge. Khrushchev even posed the possibility publicly. If Eisenhower would only admit to initially knowing nothing about the overflight, their mutual efforts at détente could continue. Foolishly, in Khrushchev's opinion, Eisenhower chose not to pursue that strategy. Not that Ike and his staff didn't consider it. In the end, Ike opted for the truth. Claiming spy planes were being launched without his knowledge would make him appear weak, superfluous, and downright inept. And so Ike returned from Paris both frustrated and despondent. All he had strived to achieve during his second term came to nothing. Seven months later his presidency came to an end. It ended not only with his having failed to reduce Cold War tensions, but having escalated them as well. Tensions would continue to escalate to a point two years later when the US and USSR would totter precariously on the brink of World War III. Ironically, and one could say redemptively, it was reconnaissance photos from a U-2 that verified the Russians were building those missile bases in Cuba.
IKE AND HIS TV REMOTE According to their grandchildren, there was one bad habit of Ike's that would drive Mamie crazy… He would monopolize the television remote control and constantly change the channels. Over and over and over and over. And in those days there were only three channels. The same three channels over and over. And over. The President's mindless channel surfing and the First Lady's heroic tolerance - that's something that every American couple that visits the Eisenhower farm can seemingly relate to. Mention it on your house tour, you immediately notice the wife wearily nodding in acknowledgement and the guilty husband smiling sheepishly. Visitors, however, are surprised to see a television remote in the Eisenhower home. "I didn't know they actually had TV remotes back then," they often exclaim. Well, they did. TV remotes have been around since 1950, although very few homes had them at first. The Eisenhower TV, strategically located on their sun porch, is a late 1960s RCA Victor color television. Its RCA remote is among the third generation of remote controls that came out in the late 1950s. Press the buttons and it ultrasonically turned the TV on and changed the channels. The remote's high pitched sound waves caused dogs to bark, but otherwise it worked remarkably well. The very first television remote was invented by Zenith in 1950 and was called the Lazy Bone. It was actually connected to the TV by a wire. So not only was it not exceptionally remote, but it was a lethal trip hazard as well. The second generation remote was the first to be wireless. It came out in 1955 and was christened the Flash-matic. It was a space age looking flashlight that controlled the TV via a ray of light aimed at each corner of the set. You had to remember which corner of the set was on and which off, which changed the channels clockwise, and which counterclockwise. Its biggest drawback was that sunlight could end up indiscriminatingly changing the channels and turning the TV on and off for you. By the time Ike was channel surfing in retirement, he no longer had to worry about circumnavigating a dangerous trip hazard or even aiming. He could just randomly, unthinkingly press away, over and over and over again. So it turns out, much to the delight of visitors, that the Eisenhowers were your quintessential American couple - both entrenched in front of the television set on a weekday or weekend evening, the husband, king of his castle, manfully in command of the remote, changing channels at the slightest whim… The wife sitting beside him exasperated yet nevertheless secure in the knowledge that while allowing her husband to be in command of the remote gave him the impression that he was the king, she all along was the one truly in charge.
JOIN US IN CELEBRATING NATIONAL JUNIOR RANGER DAY Eisenhower National Historic Site is somewhat unique among National Park sites and that becomes particularly evident on National Junior Ranger Day. Every April, the National Park Service celebrates National Junior Ranger Day, encouraging children to visit their National Parks and participate in junior ranger programs. Upon completion of a park's Junior Ranger manual, children earn a Junior Ranger certificate and badge or patch. Activities in the manual typically focus on learning and appreciating the park's history, wildlife, geology, and/or plant life as well as becoming familiar with a park ranger's duties and how one can help preserve a park's cultural and natural resources. Junior Ranger programs are available to enjoy any day, but on National Junior Ranger Day, participants also earn the specially designed National Junior Ranger Day patch. Eisenhower NHS happens to be one of the very few National Park sites not to have a Junior Ranger program. So you'd think the ENHS staff should feel somewhat self conscious and maybe even mortified during all the National Junior Ranger Day hoopla. But no, not at all. Eisenhower NHS may not offer a Junior RANGER program, but it does offer a Junior SECRET SEVICE program. Close enough, we say, for us to join in on the celebration! We invite children to visit President Eisenhower's farm with their families and participate in the Junior SECRET SERVICE program. Complete the activities in the Junior Secret Service training manual and you earn not only the Junior Secret Service badge and certificate, but also the coveted National Junior Ranger patch. In your effort to complete the Secret Service training assignments, you'll learn about code names, how to use the Secret Service radio, how to locate suspicious persons and objects with binoculars, and properly interrogate individuals. Also scheduled for National Junior Ranger Day at 11:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. are Park Ranger talks about the Secret Service and the agents who were assigned to protect President Eisenhower and his family. You'll hear about the equipment agents used (some which can still be found throughout the grounds of the President's home and farm), the duties they performed, and the problems they faced. The rangers will share stories about the agents and their years with the Eisenhowers taken from interviews conducted with agents by the National Park Service. Needless to say, agents experienced some precarious moments while guarding the President. When visiting India, the President was driven by car with Indian Prime Minister Nehru from the airport to the capital, New Delhi. The route was lined with hundreds of thousands exuberant Indians all chanting, Hail Eisenhower" and showering the President with bouquets of flowers. Unfortunately, many of the bouquets were weighed down with rocks to allow for greater distance when thrown. The leaden weighted bouquets were whistling past the President's head and striking him in the back. Then the mobs began to uncontrollably surge around and climb aboard the vehicle attempting to touch the President. The Secret Service agents, clinging to the rear bumper and trunk of the car, had become desperately concerned for the President's safety. As policemen on either side wildly swung their batons at the crowd, the agents were getting hit on the backswings and were soon covered in blood. Finally to the rescue came Prime Minister Nehru. He jumped out in front of the car and began to clobber his fellow countrymen over their heads with his walking stick. He then stood atop the car and admonished the crowd for their poor behavior. The President's vehicle was stalled in the melee for thirty minutes before managing to break free and deliver the President to the capital not too much worse for wear. Come join us on National Junior Ranger Day, Saturday, April 28, and hear about more Secret Service moments. And, most importantly, become a Junior SECRET SERVICE agent! (See the news release for more details.)
GET TO KNOW THE PRESIDENT AND HIS FARM BY PHONE Do you know what artist visited the President and became so enamored of the old sycamore that he made it the subject of a painting? Do you know what was in the Eisenhowers' teahouse kitchen that guests feared might expose them to high doses of deadly radiation? Hear about it on the phone. One of the best ways to enjoy an intimate glimpse into the life of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his family in Gettysburg is via the Eisenhower NHS Cell Phone Tour. Located throughout the historic site, from one end to the other, are 17 stops marked by Five Star cell phone tour signs. You can take your time, walk the entire farm, and armed with naught but your cell phone, listen to an array of stories about the Eisenhower farm and family. Topics include golf and skeet, the cattle operation, barbecuing, the rose and vegetable gardens, the dogs and horses, even the President's terrible driving… You can visit the apple orchard and hear of the President's frustration with the paltry size of his apples and peaches, admire the significance of the 200 year old sycamore in the nine acre pasture, check out the putting green and listen as a family member recalls the day it was trampled by stampeding farm animals, learn why such a large segment of the vegetable garden was devoted to okra, inspect the railroad bells along the terrace and find out why the First Lady removed the clappers, examine the backyard barbecue and sympathize with the trauma of the grandchildren when they discovered they were eating their favorite cow…. It's as simple as calling 717-253-9256 and inputting the number of the stop. Aside from the admission cost to the site, there is no charge. You simply use your cell phone minutes. One of my personal favorites of all the cell phone stops is #16, the Dog Pens: The concrete pads between the fence and the coop are the only evidence remaining of the pens that were constructed to accommodate the Eisenhowers' dogs. The President owned several different dogs while here at the farm. The first were two English Setters, George and Art. There was a red spaniel, two different border collies, and three- legged Duke and Robbie. The best remembered though were Heidi and Hogan,two Weimaraners given to the Eisenhowers as gifts. Heidi originally spent several days with the Eisenhowers in Washington until she made a mess on the White House carpet and forever after was relegated to the Farm. Hogan upon first arriving at the Farm was called Rommel, a name that Eisenhower wasn't overly fond of. The President summarily proclaimed that he would be renamed Hogan after one of his favorite professional golfers. Hogan was trained to hunt. Before the opening of pheasant hunting season, the President liked to take Hogan out for a dry run to get him in shape. Unbeknownst to Hogan, the President would just be shooting blanks. Thus, Hogan would point, rush in to flush the bird, the President would shoot, and of course the bird wouldn't fall. According to groundskeeper Chief West, old Hogan would look over his shoulder at the President with his big old gray eyes as if to say, "You dummy, how could you possibly miss that?" After watching the President "miss" twice in a row, Hogan would lose his patience and the next time simply forego pointing. He would rushinto the brush, grabthe pheasant,and personally deliverit to the President. The President never ceased to be amazed. "That's the most brilliant dog I've ever seen!" he'd exclaim. On a beautiful spring day, the cell phone tour is an enjoyable option for touring the Eisenhower farm and grounds. While you're at it keep your eyes peeled for the litter of fox kits romping about and around the cattle barns and take in the pastures crowded with Angus and new born calves. But if you can't visit the site, you can listen to the tour at home as well. Just call 717-253-9256 and input the numbers 1- 17 to hear the stories. Visit the Cell Phone Tour page of our web site at http://www.nps.gov/eise/planyourvisit/cell-phone-tour.htm for the list of the different numbered stops along the tour. Do you know who called the Eisenhower farm's head herdsman to discuss the cattle operation just a mere ten minutes after the President delivered the State of the Union address? Hear about it on the phone.
APRIL 12, 1945: April 12, 1945 may very well have been the most eye-opening day of Eisenhower's entire three years as commander during the long war in Europe. On that day he became fully aware of the extent of Nazi plundering when he toured the salt mines in Merkers, Germany. It was here and in other mines like it that the Nazis horded the gold and art works they had looted throughout the continent of Europe. It was on this same day he came face to face with the almost unbelievable extent of Nazi barbarity. For after visiting the Kaiseroda salt mines, he inspected Ohrdruf. Ohrdruf was the first Nazi concentration camp to be liberated by the U. S. military. Located near the town of Gothe, it provided slave labor for construction of railroads. In March of 1945, the prisoner population was over 11,000. But with the approach of Allied forces, the SS evacuated most of the prisoners to nearby Buchenwald, murdering many who were too ill to walk. When soldiers of the 89th U. S. Infantry and 4th Armored Division liberated the camp on April 4, they discovered piles of dead bodies, over a thousand, many of them smoldering from attempts by the SS guards to incinerate them in huge pyres.. Eisenhower inspected "every nook and cranny" of the camp along with Generals Patton and Bradley. He later cabled Chief of Staff, General George Marshall: The things I saw beggar description. While I was touring the camp I encountered three men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where there were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda. For that very reason, and so that they could see first hand what it was they were fighting against, Eisenhower ordered every soldier in the area to visit Ohrdruf and Buchenwald. He ordered the news media to visit and record their observations. He ordered every citizen of Gotha to tour the camp and after doing so the mayor and his wife hanged themselves. He again cabled Marshall and requested that members of Congress visit the camps. Eisenhower wanted to accumulate as much documentation and as many witnesses as possible to guarantee that in the future such acts of Nazi brutality could never, ever be denied. As we now know, his concern was justified. He wrote to his wife, Mamie: He would never forget all that he saw on that day in the spring of 1945. THE DAY IKE INSPECTED NAZI PLUNDER IN THE KAISERODA SALT MINE One of the most interesting gifts in the Eisenhower home is a small triptych on the top shelf of the curio cabinet in the living room. It's a replica of a painting by Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck, the Ghent Altarpiece. King Leopold of Belgium presented it to Eisenhower in appreciation for the General having expedited the return of the original painting after the war. It was among the great works of art stolen by the Nazis and the very first to be returned to its parent country. General Eisenhower knew how important it was to the morale of countries recently liberated from the Nazis, like Belgium, to have their cherished art works of national prominence promptly returned. The extent to which the Nazis had stolen art treasures from across Europe became very evident to Eisenhower on April 12, 1945. A week earlier American troops had discovered an underground salt mine at Merkers, Germany in which the Germans had stored a huge cache of art and gold. Generals Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley together inspected the mine and its treasures on April 12. One tunnel contained a horde of gold bars and minted gold from countries all over Europe. Gold and silver looted from homes was crammed into suitcases and trunks. In another was an "enormous number of paintings and other pieces of art. Some of these were wrapped in paper and burlap, others were merely stacked together like cordwood." Not only were these works of art looted from countries overrun by the German army, but many were from the Berlin museum, hidden in the mine to safekeep them from the bombing and the impending advance of the Russian army. Even before America entered the war, art professionals in the US were concerned about art throughout Europe that might be subjected to Nazi plundering. They pressured President Roosevelt to establish the Roberts Commission whose mission was to preserve great works of cultural significance in war areas. In 1943, a branch of the Commission called the MFAA -Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program -was formed. The 345 members of the MFAA became known as the Monuments Men and would for years find, restore, and return over 5 million treasured works of art to their rightful owners. Eisenhower sympathized with the mission of the MFAA and ordered his troops to assist the Monuments Men as much as possible. In Italy and France he ordered soldiers to protect and preserve the pieces of art they encountered. In Germany after the surrender, he directed repositories be established to process works of art that were recovered. This concern for art expressed by a military commander and conveyed through orders to his troops in the midst of the ravages of a war was a bit unusual. For the first time in history an army, while fighting a war, was simultaneously attempting to protect and preserve objects of art. According to one officer of the MFAA: For his effort to preserve European art and cultural monuments during WWII, Eisenhower was awarded with an Honorary Life Fellowship from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A recording of the speech Ike gave upon receiving the Fellowship on April 2, 1946 was discovered just last year in the Museum's archive vault. In his message to his Met audience, Ike stressed how American soldiers went out of their way to protect works of art and how these works for them had such special meaning: These same soldiers have seen the destruction of priceless artistic treasures, but-and perhaps understandably-this fact has served only to increase their respect and veneration for civilizations of the past. They tried within-sometimes beyond-the limits of military prudence to protect and preserve these products of man's creative instinct… In no walk of life can man fail to find richer experience as he falls under the influence of beauty immortalized by inspired genius. Even for the roughest of soldiers there is more of ancient history to be felt and understood in a lonely, graceful column rising against the sky in a naked field than there is in all the descriptive matter that has ever been written on the subject. .. He concluded with an assurance that, They who have dwelt with death will be among the most ardent worshipers of life and beauty and of the peace in which these can thrive. After the ceremony the director of the Met stated to the New York Times that the award of the Fellow ship to Eisenhower was, "more than a gesture by the entire academic world to the man, who, more responsible than any other, has made it possible for the world of great civilization in the past to continue for future generations." Not long after the end of the war, Ike took up painting himself. He was urged to do so by Churchill. But perhaps too, he was inspired by the great works of art that he and his soldiers strived to protect. Nothing he painted came close to rivaling the Ghent Altarpiece. But his portrait of Field Marshal Montgomery wasn't bad at all.
In 1954 when an advisor suggested to President Eisenhower that he might consider supporting a women's equal rights amendment, the President responded, "Where are they unequal?!" Such a response suggests that Ike wasn't exactly an avowed feminist. In fact, his biographer, Stephen Ambrose, wrote that, "His idea of an appropriate activity for women was volunteer work, preferably for a Republican women's organization." I bring this up in the context of March having been Women's History Month. This celebration of women's history began in California in 1978 as a women's history week. It went national in 1981 with a joint congressional resolution and was expanded to an entire month by Congress in 1987. In 1954 when Ike made his remarkably unprogressive comment about women and equality, women were a relative anomaly in politics and the work force. Less than 30% of women worked and there was only one woman in the entire Senate - Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. Despite a remark that suggested otherwise, Ike was very aware of the potential, the power, and the productivity of women and he ultimately contributed positively to their history. His presidential campaign in 1952 was the first to make a concerted effort to secure the female vote. The campaign staged TV sessions, political get-togethers, and phone calling parties that strictly targeted women voters. It was also the first campaign in which the wives of the presidential and vice presidential candidates played major roles. Scotty Reston of the New York Times wrote that Mamie Eisenhower would secure for Ike at least an additional 50 electoral votes. The effort proved successful. Nearly as many women voted in the election as men and a far greater percentage voted for Eisenhower. 58% of women voted for Ike as opposed to 52% of men. Ike was asked during the campaign whether he would appoint a woman to his cabinet. He replied that he intended to "utilize the contributions of outstanding women to the greatest extent possible." And indeed he became just the second president to appoint a woman as a cabinet secretary. (FDR who appointed Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor was the first.) He established the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, appointing as its cabinet secretary a Texan who was the first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps and chairman of the board of the Houston Post, Oveta Culp Hobby. He also appointed Bertha Adkins as its Under-Secretary. The Public Health Service became part of the new Department of HEW. Thus, when the newly developed polio vaccine was approved in 1955, the licensing of the vaccine fell under Oveta Hobby's jurisdiction. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough vaccine to go around and the Eisenhower administration had made no plans for its distribution. Panic and anger raged throughout the country. Children were dying of polio and there was now a vaccine available to save them, but the government appeared to be too incompetent to assure that every child would receive the vaccine. When a Senate Committee questioned Hobby about the shortage, she made a reply interpreted by many as cold and cavalier, "I would assume that this is an incident unique in medical history. I think no one could have foreseen the public demand." Her response incensed Americans. Letters poured in demanding her resignation and referring to her as hopelessly incompetent, heartless, and callous. Later when a bad batch of vaccine produced by a company in California caused paralysis in some children, it was Hobby and her department that were blamed for inadequate inspection of vaccine production. Hobby, who wasn't keen on the whole idea of "socialized medicine" anyway, gave in to the public pressure and resigned from her cabinet post in July of 1955. She returned to Texas and attended to her ailing husband. Ike's HEW cabinet secretary appointment was short lived. And there wouldn't be another female cabinet secretary appointed until 1975. Today, however, there are four female cabinet secretaries along with three female supreme court justices, 16 female senators, and 78 female U. S. representatives. Women now make up over half of the American work force and more women than men vote in presidential elections, over 8 million more in 2008. Thus, women and their history have certainly come a long way since the Eisenhower era when but one lone female joined fellow senators on the Senate chamber floor, when only one female ever attended a presidential cabinet meeting, and when presidential campaigning for the female vote was considered a novelty. Perhaps Eisenhower's rhetorical inquiry, "Where are they unequal?" would sound somewhat more sensible today. But sadly, one could still respond with a fairly substantial list.
35 DOWN AND 22 TO GO In 52, there were only 13 Republican primaries and 16 Democratic. Back then voters didn't have much say in who the presidential candidates would be. In most states, delegates for the national conventions were chosen at state conventions whose delegates were selected at district conventions. It was the party bosses who appointed the delegates and dictated who they would vote for. Even in those states in which voter ballot in a primary determined the delegates, the delegates weren't typically bound to vote for the candidate they were supposed to be supporting at the national convention. Tennessee Senator, Estes Kefauver, known for his crusading against corruption and crime, won all but three of the Democratic primaries in 1952. But the Party disliked and distrusted him because his investigations into organized crime had linked the Mafia to big city Democrats. Consequently, Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois won the nomination despite his name not appearing on the ballot of any Democratic primary. Meanwhile, Eisenhower won four of the Republican primaries including even the New Hampshire despite not yet having announced his candidacy. Ike's toughest opponent was Mr. Republican, Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, who was the odds on favorite to take the nomination. Taft won six primaries. The reality that the state party bosses would ultimately appoint the convention delegates was a major problem for Ike. Although most voters probably preferred Ike, most state Republican parties were controlled by Taft supporters. This would lead to a big ruckus at the Texas state convention. The precinct and state conventions in Texas were usually friendly affairs with a foregone conclusion. But in 1952, a lot of new Republicans registered to vote for Ike. The Texas Republican Committee claimed these were actually Democratic voters trying to take over the GOP. Even though Eisenhower received most of the delegate votes at the state convention, the committee ignored the vote and selected 30 delegates for Taft and left only two for Ike. Ike supporters then set up their own rival convention and voted for their delegates. Fireworks erupted at the National Convention in Chicago when both sets of delegates showed up. With most delegates uncommitted and unbound and candidates' fortunes waxing and waning in accordance to the whims of political bosses, national presidential conventions in the 50s could be rollicking, melodramatic spectacles. Nothing was preordained and anything could happen! The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago would prove to be the impetus to change all that. Vice President Hubert Humphrey was selected by party bosses at that convention to be the nominee despite not having entered any of the primaries. This led to an intensification of the Chicago riots because the peace candidate, Eugene McCarthy, was passed over despite his primary victories and delegates. It wasn't long after that debacle that Senator George McGovern led a movement to remove power from the party bosses and put it in the hands of the voters. The Democratic party in the 70s enacted legislation in many states that called for the direct primaries of today where delegates are chosen by voter ballot and are committed to vote for a particular candidate. Thus, chances are that this year's national conventions will be nowhere near as exciting and entertaining as those in 1952. We'll take a look back at those wild conventions of '52 in future blog postings.
A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT REPEATEDLY DISPARAGES A FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT AS RECORDED BY A NOTORIOUS LIBERAL IN HIS JOURNAL THAT I HAPPENED TO HAVE READ WHILE RECUPERATING FROM SURGERY "It's just like Eisenhower. The worse I do, the more popular I get." That's a quote from Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s Journals published back in 2007. I had a chance to read the Journals while recovering from my surgery over the past few weeks. Schlesinger was a professor of history at Harvard and later a professor of humanities at the City University of New York. He is the author of a slew of works, two for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize: The Age of Jackson (1946) and A Thousand Days (1966), a memoir of the Kennedy administration. Schlesinger served as a speech writer for Adlai Stevenson during his presidential campaigns in 1952 and 56, as special assistant and speech writer for President Kennedy, and went on to campaign for Robert Kennedy in 1968 and Edward Kennedy in 1980. He was a proudly notorious liberal and an outspoken critic of Richard Nixon and the Iraq War. He passed away in 2007. Journals is a 800 page collection of Schlesinger's selected journal entries from the Stevenson presidential campaigns to the 2000 presidential election. It makes for a fast and fascinating read because Schlesinger seems to be smack in the middle of or at least in close proximity to many of the significant political developments that occurred during that time and offers up snatches of intimate conversation and revealing profiles of the characters involved. The quotation beginning this entry is a remark made by JFK in the course of conversation, one of many referring to Eisenhower and dutifully recorded by Schlesinger. The Journals leave you with the impression that Kennedy spent an awful lot of time talking about Eisenhower and that the editors of the Journals specifically included all the Eisenhower related entries because presidents dissing presidents makes for good reading. It's clear from all his comments that Kennedy didn't like Ike: "It's just like Eisenhower. The worse I do, the more popular I get," is a comment JFK made shortly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco when the results of the latest Gallup poll had just come out. The poll showed Kennedy with an 82% approval rating. When Schlesinger's father (a former Harvard professor as well) published an article on historians ranking of the presidents, Kennedy expressed great delight that Ike was ranked a lowly 22nd: "At first I thought it was too bad that Ike was in Europe and would miss the article, but then I decided that some conscientious friend in the United States would send him a copy." Discussing with Schlesinger the first volume of Eisenhower's presidential memoirs, JFK commented on how "self righteous" they were: "Apparently he (Ike) never did anything wrong." On another day he shared his assessment of a recent Eisenhower press conference: "The thing I liked best was the picture of Eisenhower attacking medical care for the old under Social Security as 'socialized medicine' - and then getting into his government limousine and heading out to Walter Reed." The closest any reference about Ike came to being complementary was a remark Kennedy shared with Schlesinger after returning from a visit with Ike in California: "I have never found him pleasanter. He was relaxed and seemed really glad to see me. Usually he's such a cold bastard." To be fair, Kennedy's dislike for Ike may have, in part, been a natural reaction to Ike's obvious dislike and resentment of him - the rich, young, whippersnapping, Ivy League, big spending Democratic. To enumerate all the reasons why Ike felt the way he did about Kennedy would take another entire blog entry. Maybe even two.
It's those blown-out left knees of ours that, at the moment, are our most glaring common characteristic. I injured mine playing football senior year in high school. Ike did the same to his while playing football his sophomore year in West Point. Ike was a talented running back described by the New York Times as "one of the most promising backs in Eastern football." Sadly, while playing against Tufts a week after having lost to Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School, Ike severely twisted his knee and had to be carried off the field. Despite the serious swelling, Ike was unaware of how badly injured his knee was. Several days later while repeatedly dismounting and remounting a horse in a riding drill, the knee blew out. Cartilage and tendons were badly torn. He spent four days in the infirmary, his leg immobilized in a cast, the doctors pronouncing that his football days were over. Ike was devastated by the doctors' verdict. He tailspinned into depression and self pity. His grades plummeted and he talked about resigning from the Academy. He attempted to rehabilitate his knee with long distance running to no avail. He injured it again. And reinjured it while boxing and again while playing handball. It never properly healed. I was a receiver on our Carmel High School football team. Coach said I'd make a decent receiver if "you ever decided to play like you didn't have a load of lead in your ***." The first practice of senior season I tore up my knee going out for a pass. In those years, if you dared get injured the coach expected you to play through it. I hobbled through the rest of the season, my knee heavily taped and managing to run at only three quarters speed. The knee continued to bother me through college. I underwent surgery in my twenties to remove shattered cartilage. Ike's knee injury would shape his life. When on the verge of graduating in 1915, he was informed that due to his injury the army considered him physically unfit and planned to deny him a commission. The academy surgeon intervened and recommended Ike be approved for a sedentary and unexciting commission in the coastal artillery. Ike refused the offer and threatened to forsake the army entirely and move to Argentina and be a gaucho. A compromise was reached. If Ike would agree to apply for service in the infantry instead of the cavalry, he would be recommended for a commission. And thus Lt. Dwight D. Eisenhower began his military career in the United States Army Infantry. Ike's knee would bother him the rest of his life, but most particularly during the war. At various times the army doctors would put his knee in a cast and order him to use a cane or crutches which he did only in the privacy of his room. I've continued to run and play basketball and bicycle over the past 40 years. But now suddenly I've come to the end of the line. Sooner than I ever expected, I am forced to get a knee replacement. My joints are bleeding and I go under the knife tomorrow. The Ike Blog will be on hiatus for the next several weeks while I adjust physically to my artificial knee and emotionally to the prospect of not being able to run again. Ike eventually adjusted to his problem knee just fine. He took up a pursuit that turned into a passion - one that subjected his knee to far less pounding than his beloved football - golf. Whether I would have the patience and forbearance to endure the "game of kings" remains to be seen. The way Ike would curse and carry on while on the golf course seems to suggest he hardly had the aptitude for the game either. (The Ike Blog should return in a couple weeks with new postings. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of the earlier posts via the links at the bottom of this page.)
Stalin was responsible for the murder of millions upon millions of innocent Soviet and Eastern European suspected dissidents, relatives of dissidents, farmers, artists, poets, intellectuals, military officers, factory workers, scientists, engineers, kulaks, Ukrainians, Jews, Russian Orthodox, Catholics, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, and bourgeoisie. He even had many of his loyal followers and personal friends summarily executed. After the end of the war, he began to harbor such a seething mistrust of his "allies," Truman and Churchill, that he surely would have liked to have them dispatched as well, if only they were within reach. But Stalin liked Ike. Towards the end of the war in Europe, on March 28, 1945, General Eisenhower bypassed the Combined Chiefs of Staff and sent Stalin a telegram. Unsure of where the western Allied troops would eventually meet up with Soviet forces advancing into Germany from the east, Eisenhower informed Stalin that the Allied advance would be toward the Dresden area instead of Berlin. Eisenhower, in disagreement with the British, felt that Berlin would be too costly an objective and one whose value was far more political than military. Besides, the Yalta Agreement had designated Berlin to be within the Soviet zone of occupation. Stalin promptly replied, agreeing that Dresden would be a preferable target and dismissing Berlin as strategically insignificant. In reality though, the ever conniving "Uncle Joe" was deploying the Red Army so that Berlin was the primary objective. So Eisenhower left Berlin to the Soviets, despite British objections. And thus Uncle Joe had good reason to like Ike. Stalin wanted to meet Eisenhower after the war. In August of 1945, Eisenhower flew to Moscow accompanied by his good friend Soviet WWII hero, Marshal Zhukov. Stalin warmly welcomed Ike and invited him to stand beside him atop Lenin's tomb to watch a parade of 10,000 athletes march across Red Square. Stalin even apologized to Eisenhower for advancing to Berlin instead of Dresden as he had said he would. Ike and Stalin talked for hours and parted even more impressed with each other. "General Eisenhower is a very great man, not only because of his military accomplishments, but because of his human, friendly, kind, and frank nature," Stalin would later tell US ambassador Averell Harriman. With the conclusion of the war in Europe, Ike had been very optimistic about the likelihood of a Stalin-led Soviet Union and the United States being able to work together cooperatively to maintain peace in the post war world. His hopes began to dissolve when America dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. Then, after years serving as Military Governor of occupied Germany, Army Chief of Staff, Supreme Commander of NATO and witnessing the growing Cold War rhetoric and saber rattling and burgeoning nuclear arms race, his hopes vanished. When Eisenhower won the presidential election in 1952, Stalin, in a rare interview, hinted that he'd like to meet with the new president. A reporter asked Eisenhower if there was a chance the two would actually meet some day in the Soviet Union. Eisenhower replied that he "would meet with anybody anywhere where I thought there was the slightest chance of doing any good, as long as it was in keeping with what the American people expect of their Chief Executive." Whether the American people could expect and tolerate their president meeting with a notorious communist dictator in 1953 was never tested. Only six weeks after Eisenhower assumed the presidency, Stalin was dead. The death of Stalin opened up an opportunity for America to aggressively pursue détente with the new Soviet leadership. But Eisenhower and his State Department just didn't take advantage of the moment, in part perhaps because it wasn't clear who was now in power in the Kremlin. But Stalin's death did prove to be a contributing factor to the progress made in the armistice negotiations that eventually led to an end to the war in Korea in June of 1953. There is no doubt though that Stalin liked Ike. When Nikita Khrushchev paid his visit to America in 1959 he commented that Stalin frequently spoke of Eisenhower's noble character and his decency, generosity, and chivalry in his dealings with allies. Noble, decent, chivalrous - an impressive testament to Eisenhower's character. But coming from the likes of Joseph Stalin, a compliment that might easily be construed as entirely left handed.
Ike liked Westerns. None were nominated this year. The last to be was the remake of True Grit in 2010. Ike probably would have enjoyed that. However, I'm sure he would have preferred the original with John Wayne. John Wayne was his kind of actor. But Ike had died just a couple months before the original True Grit premiered in June of 1969. The White House projectionist log indicates that President Eisenhower watched over 200 westerns during his two terms. Two of his favorites won Oscars back to back - High Noon in 1952 and Shane in 1953. Both could easily be interpreted as allegories of the Cold War. Ike, in fact, watched Shane at Camp David with Soviet Premier Khrushchev during his 1959 visit. Eisenhower even tried to explain to Khrushchev why he loved westerns: "I know they don't have any substance to them and don't require any thought to appreciate, but they always have a lot of fancy tricks. Also, I like horses." Khrushchev in turn commented on how much Stalin loved American westerns. Eisenhower had clear cinematic standards that he rigorously applied to all western films. He didn't like his westerns marred by any unnecessary romantic mush. He wanted action, and also a clear delineation between good and evil. I suspect he didn't care so much for the spaghetti westerns that became popular in the mid sixties in which violence was gratuitous and conflict wasn't always clearly between absolute good and absolute evil, but more so between blatantly evil and ambiguously evil. He refused to watch westerns starring Robert Mitchum. The actor aroused the President's displeasure after being charged with marijuana possession. Ike was also fond of heartwarming and inspirational sports flicks as evidenced by his absolute favorite movie, Angels in the Outfield. Sergeant Moaney, Ike's valet, would often haul out the movie projector to show films at the President's Gettysburg home. He claimed to have shown Angels in the Outfield 38 times. It would be fair to assume then that Ike would've enjoyed Moneyball - a good hearted movie about underdogs without any romantic subplot to slow it down. Not too unlike Angels - with statistics taking over the role of invisible heavenly saviors. Interestingly, Ike had little tolerance for war movies. He couldn't abide Hollywood's tendency to take liberties with the realities of war. He had no patience for the movie, The Longest Day, based on Cornelius Ryan's best seller about the D-Day invasion. It was a highly acclaimed, award winning film, but Ike walked out on it after only several minutes. There was a war movie nominated this year - War Horse. And this Ike may have liked. It's about World War I which Ike didn't experience directly, frustratingly sequestered on the home front training troops as he was at the time. And as he confessed to Khrushchev, he did like horses. He was an adept horseman in his early military years and had several quarter horses and Arabians at his Gettysburg farm. I've read that War Horse was supposedly filmed in a style intended as an homage to 1950s filmmaking. If so, that would possibly add to its Eisenhowerian appeal, if only on a subconscious level. For the most part, Hollywood no longer makes the sort of movies Ike liked. Apparently, the movie going public just doesn't thirst for a good cowboy film like they once did. If Ike were still watching movies today, I'm sure he'd long for those days when even a communist dictator couldn't resist a classic American western.
American ground forces were scattered and ineptly deployed throughout the mountain passes. And then there was General Fredendall, commander of the II Corps. He inspired little confidence, sequestered as he was in a collection of massive bunkers an entire 65 miles behind the front lines, prompting an even lower British opinion of American leadership. On Feb. 14, General Arnim's German Panzer Division surrounded, attacked, and overran American positions at Sidi-bou- Zid Five days later, Rommel's Africa Korps which had been fighting Montgomery's 8th Army in the east surprised American troops defending Kasserine Pass, blowing right through them and setting themselves up for an opportunity to drive even further west. Several days later, the Germans withdrew. But the damage was done. The American army had been humiliated. American losses were more than 6,000 killed and wounded, over 3,000 missing. The American press questioned whether the American soldier was up to the task of defeating the German Army. And the British more that ever derided the Americans ability to fight. It would be some time yet before the Americans would earn the respect of their British allies. On the positive side, there certainly was much that was learned by Eisenhower and his troops at the debacle of Kasserine Pass. Many were the lessons that would quickly prove beneficial: First, American officers acknowledged that they could actually learn from their seasoned British counterparts. Secondly, Eisenhower realized and resolved that training for his troops could and would never stop, even while they were on the front lines. They would need to become more disciplined, less dependent on roads and their vehicles, keep their divisions together to fight as single units, and rely more on enveloping actions rather than frontal assaults. Thirdly, it became obvious to Eisenhower that he would need to work much harder to improve the coordination between British and American units and between ground and air forces. Kasserine Pass also awakened Eisenhower to the realization he could not afford to be patient when it came to the incompetent performance of his commanders. He would need to steel himself and be ruthless when the necessity arose to sack the inept. He did relieve General Fredendall of command and replaced him with General George Patton and then installed General Omar Bradley as deputy corps commander. These would be the two commanders Ike would always count on for the rest of the war. One could argue that there was not another American Army setback in the European Theater until the latter half of 1944 with the ill-conceived Operation Market Garden and the costly Battle of the Bulge. But Market Garden was a joint operation with the British. And Ike would always contend that the Bulge wasn't so much a setback as it was an opportunity for the Allies to deliver the German Army its final death blow. In fact, perhaps Kasserine and the Bulge could both be viewed as setbacks transformed into opportunities.
The American army began their World War II operations in the European Theater with the invasion of North Africa on November, 8, 1942. 117,000 American and British forces landed simultaneously at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. Eisenhower was in command of the invasion, code named Torch, and it was his first battlefield command. Ironically, the obstacle to a successful fulfillment of the operation wasn't, initially, the enemy. It was America's present and future Allies, the French and the British. First, there was the French. North Africa was French colonial territory controlled by the Nazi collaborating French Vichy government. French troops offered moderate resistance to the landings at Oran and engaged the Allies in bitter fighting around Casablanca. Eisenhower found himself devoting most of his time wheeling and dealing with the French, trying to reach an accommodation with a variety of bickering French leaders in order to stop needless bloodshed between countries that he felt should be naturally allied in the fight against Germany. Frustratingly for Eisenhower, most of the tactics and strategy he found himself employing at the outset of his first combat operation were far more political than military. Ultimately, Ike was successful in convincing the Vichy French to agree to a cease fire and transfer their allegiance back to the Allied camp. However, his efforts to reach an agreement with the Nazi collaborating Vichy leaders were highly criticized by the press and politicians back home and in Britain. So much so that when Churchill, Roosevelt and the Combined Chiefs of Staff met in Casablanca for a conference in January, Ike thought chances were likely he might be removed from command. And then there were the British. They harbored little confidence in the green, undertrained American troops and openly expressed their disdain which in turn bred resentment among the American troops. The animosity between the two would only grow as the advance wavered. Eisenhower struggled to achieve cooperation and a sense of mutual respect between the two. Meanwhile, the Allied forces were making slow headway advancing through Algeria and pushing the Germans eastward. German forces would engage in counterattacks, but for the most part were orderly falling back and concentrating on toughening their defenses in Tunisia. By December the Allies had continued their offensive into western Tunisia and hoped to trap the Germans in a vice grip with Montgomery's 8th Army advancing from the east. But then things bogged down. The Allies lacked sufficient armor and air support to sustain the offensive. The Luftwaffe was bombing and strafing with impunity. Allied ground forces were spread too thin and suffered from inexperienced field commanders. The supply line had stretched to over 500 miles and troop morale was low. And then an incessant rain turned the countryside into an impassable quagmire. With that, all hope of continuing the offensive for the moment was lost. Shortly before Christmas, Eisenhower cancelled offensive operations. TO BE CONTINUED...
Ike had a modest repertoire of Lincoln stories he liked to tell. His favorites were those that recounted the sort of predicaments Abe faced that paralleled his own: PATRONAGE AND SMALLPOX Undoubtedly that's why Ike liked to recall how Lincoln was assailed by office seekers after his presidential election victory. These too were Republicans demanding positions in government as payment for party loyalty. During a particularly tiring day dealing with them, Lincoln began to feel unwell and was forced to retire for the afternoon. When the doctor examining him diagnosed his illness as a mild case of smallpox, the President responded only half in jest, "Good, now I have something that I can give to everyone!" GOLF AND THEATER In a similar vein, Ike was always criticized for spending too much time playing golf in the midst of a world on the brink of nuclear annihilation. And he would defend himself much as he did Abe, reminding reporters that he was nearly 70 and needed some outlet where he could relax, contemplate, and momentarily escape the stress of the job. It's how he stayed healthy. He owed it to the American people to stay healthy. As Ike saw it, golf was his theater. HOLDING HORSES Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery was Eisenhower's McClellan during the Second World War. Monty was arrogant, self infatuated, persnickety, boastful, disdainful, unwilling to advance on the enemy unless absolutely assured of an overwhelming superiority of troops and firepower, but well liked by his men - a carbon copy of "Little Mac." For Ike, Lincoln's response to McClellan's disrespect illustrated the President's great humility as well as single minded dedication to winning the war. Ike too had to hold more than one horse during his war. Leeches, critics, and tragedy… Lincoln endured it all with humility, humor, and unwavering fortitude. How could Ike or anyone else not admire the man?
What size shoe did Ike wear? Did Ike have many cavities? Would Ike ever watch the Miss America pageant on TV? Did he root for Miss Kansas or Miss Pennsylvania? Did Eisenhower believe in UFOs? What did he think of Stanley Kubrick's film, Dr. Strangelove? Did he have any tolerance for Abstract Expressionism? Did he ever feel self-conscious about his bald head? It's hard to tell - what color was his hair? Do you think he ever fell asleep during the sermon at church service? When Ike drank martinis, how much vermouth did he prefer? What was his favorite brand of scotch? Do you think he would have liked Tom Selleck's portrayal of him in that TV movie? What did he think of the Beatles? What do you think he'd be most surprised by, a black president or black Masters champion? Do you think he would still be a Republican today? I've read that he was secretly Jewish? Was he? I heard he cursed when he played golf. Did he have a favorite curse word? Was he upset that Nixon lost the election because Mayor Daley resurrected all those dead Democrats in Chicago to vote for Kennedy? Why'd they call Eisenhower Ike instead of Ize or Howie? Do you know what his favorite joke was? Did he like knock-knock jokes? Do you think he ever worried about gays in the military? Who did he think was the bigger pain in the rear - Monty or De Gaulle What would he think about his granddaughter marrying a Russian space scientist and Khrushchev's son becoming an American citizen? Boxers or briefs?
ELVIS, IKE, AND NIXON This was January, 6, 1957 and actually his third appearance on Ed Sullivan. Elvis fans typically don't recall that on his first two appearances, despite also singing Hound Dog (and cleverly introducing it the first time with, "Friends, as a philosopher once said…" and then launching into the lyrics - "You ain't nuthin' but a hound dog…"), his pelvis wasn't censored. In the Eisenhower White House, the First Lady was very tolerant of Elvis, his pelvis, and rock n' roll. The President, however, approved of neither. In fact, he refused to let his grandkids play Elvis records within range of his hearing. According to his grandson David, the President was shocked to discover that his two favorite songs, O Sol Mio and Army Blue, had been redone by Elvis and renamed It's Now or Never and Love Me Tender. But the following year, Ike's disapproval of the King would, to some extent, soften. Elvis received his draft notice in December of 1957. After being granted a 60 day deferment to film the movie King Creole, he dutifully reported to his local draft board on March 24, 1958 to begin serving in the Army. He did so not only without complaint, but even cheerfully. And Ike was very impressed. In fact, Elvis could have easily requested to serve in the Special Service branch and sing his way through his enlistment and perhaps appear in commercials to promote the Army. Instead, he preferred not to receive any special treatment and was assigned to a tank battalion and suffered through boot camp, KP, and guard duty just like any typical soldier. Many Elvis fans weren't very happy about his enlistment and some sent letters of concern to the White House. One that is in the National Archives today was sent to the President from three young female fans from Montana. It read: Dear President Eisenhower, Elvis Presley Lovers, Elvis had become eligible to vote on his 21st birthday on June 8, 1956. He could have voted for either Ike or Adlai Stevenson in November of that year but chose not to vote at all even though he was home in Memphis on Election Day. Despite no sign of party affiliation, the Democrats dreamed of utilizing Elvis in the Stevenson campaign. With Eisenhower and the Republican Party sucking up so much TV time with hokey stunts like a 66th birthday party for the President hosted by Jimmy Stewart, a coffee klatch with Ike and several women voters, and a "People's" press conference, the Democrats were itching to retaliate by corralling Elvis for a TV ad in which he would counsel voters: I'm young and I admit to knowing very little about politics - some say I know very little about singing… But from what I've learned in a short time about advertising and promotion, I certainly would hate to see us make the mistake of choosing a president on the basis of a popularity contest. But it never came to pass. Years later, in 1970, Elvis would pay a visit to President Richard Nixon, Ike's former vice president, at the White House. The visit was initiated by Elvis in a letter requesting a meeting with the President and an opportunity to be given a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The meeting was arranged and Elvis received his badge. However, the Colt .45 pistol that Elvis had brought as a gift for the President was confiscated by the Secret Service. The meeting of The King and the President was forever preserved in a now famous photograph taken by the White House photographer. Today, of all the inquiries made to the National Archives for copies of photos and documents including even the Constitution and Bill of Rights, it's the Elvis - Nixon photo that is by far the most requested.
But, indeed, there was one Republican president who introduced a national health care bill back on this date, January 31st, in 1955 - Dwight D. Eisenhower. And this was a shade ironic considering Ike campaigned on a platform that opposed "socialized medicine." Nevertheless, in 1955 Ike asked Congress for $25 million to begin funding what he referred to as health reinsurance. Under his plan, private insurance companies who extended benefits to uninsured Americans would be reimbursed by the federal government if they incurred heavy losses. The bill also authorized the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (established by Eisenhower in 1953) to insure loans made by private lenders for construction of health facilities, proposed both federal grants to vocational education institutions for training nurses and increased funding for air pollution research, and offered greater assistance to states for water pollution control programs. Republicans and the American Medical Association denounced the proposed bill as socialism and the House soundly rejected it. Ike called a special White House conference to salvage his plan, but was told by Republican Senate Leader, William Knowland, that the Senate couldn't fit the plan into its agenda. When the Senator reminded the President that the AMA opposed the bill for reeking of socialized medicine, Ike responded, "As far as I'm concerned, the American Medical Association is just plain stupid. This plan of ours would have shown the people how we could improve their health and stay out of socialized medicine." So here we had a Republican who fought for a national health care plan, for federally funded public works projects, for federal aid for housing (1954), for an extension of social security, and for an increase in the minimum wage. There were times Ike didn't act very much like a 1950s Republican at all.
Look at the criticism directed at the Martin Luther King Memorial. Why a Chinese architect? Why not an African American? Why import and pay Chinese workers to assemble the memorial? Martin Luther King looks too Asian and confrontational. Even the mountains look Chinese. And then there's the flap over the paraphrased "I was a drum major" quote that the NPS is now going to change. Before that it was the World War II Memorial. Even veterans complained. It shouldn't be erected on the Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument - the design is too sprawling and intrusive. Many argued too that the design style was reminiscent of the overly grandiose architecture favored by the totalitarian regimes of the 30s and 40s. Prior to the WWII Memorial, it was the FDR Memorial. Disability activists were enraged that FDR wasn't portrayed in a wheel chair. After all, he spent much of his life in a wheelchair. The sculptor and others argued that FDR always made a point of not being photographed or even seen in public while in a wheel chair for fear his disability might negatively affect his public image. The sculptor compromised and added casters to the arm chair in which FDR sits in a long cape. Then anti-smoking advocates lobbied to eliminate any references to Roosevelt's smoking habit. Animal rights groups wanted assurances that Eleanor wouldn't be depicted wearing a fox stole. And historians complained that the entire memorial ignored FDR's preferences. He wanted nothing but a block of stone without any ornamentation. The Korean Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 1995, was originally designed by a team of architects and artists from Penn State. But when their plans were modified by review committees, the team dropped out and sued. Critics complained that the final product lacked "grandeur and unity." And then there was the first that I can remember of the long string of controversial memorials , the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, now one of the most beloved in the capital. When Maya Lin's design was first chosen - the simple black wall emerging from the ground with the names of the American dead etched into it - it met with howls of protest from all quarters, but particularly from the veterans themselves. They referred to it as a "black gash of shame." This is it? You call this a memorial? This is more a token of all the ridicule we've consistently endured for serving in this war. There's not even a statue, not even an American flag. No depiction what so ever of the American soldier who fought and died there. James Watt, the Secretary of the Interior, initially refused to issue a building permit because of all the virulent criticism. A compromise was finally reached. After much arguing about where precisely it would be placed, a bronze statue of three American soldiers and an American flag were erected off to one side of the Wall. Now there's the design for the Eisenhower Memorial by world renowned architect, Frank Gehry. And once again a battle rages. The criticism isn't so much over the design itself which is conceptually innovative - a long steel woven tapestry with large steel columns in the foreground - but over the design motif: Eisenhower's Kansas boyhood. The tapestry, the focal point of the memorial, will be woven with scenes not of Ike's great military career or eight year presidency, but of his boyhood home of Abilene. The memorial's one lone statue won't portray Ike the Supreme Commander nor Ike the Commander in Chief, but Ike the barefoot boy. The response of many, including two of the Eisenhower granddaughters has been, "What the …!?" The concern is that the memorial doesn't reflect Ike the man, his impact on America and the world, his accomplishments as general and president. The fear is that someone unfamiliar with Eisenhower (and in another 50 years there certainly will be far more Americans who don't remember him) will visit the memorial and leave without garnering any idea of who the man was, the contributions he made to American history, and why he deserved a memorial. The tapestry or the solitary statue - something needs to express Ike's accomplishments. Gehry and others have defended the design: The greatness of Eisenhower and the fondness Americans have for the man comes in part from his modest Kansas upbringing and how he retained his down to earth nature despite his rise to fame and power as one of most important world leaders of the 20th century. That in turn serves as a reflection of all that is great and good about America. Fine and good the critics say, but you can't devote the entire memorial to that one idea. For those who don't know Eisenhower in the first place, that idea won't resonate and would render the entire memorial meaningless. At the moment, the controversy continues to simmer. It will be interesting to see if the memorial design will remain as is or the concerns of Eisenhower family members will be taken into account.
JANUARY 20th - THE BEGINNING AND THE END January 20, 1953 was the date Ike's presidency officially began - the day of his first inauguration. January 20, 1961 was the date of President Kennedy's inauguration - Ike's very last day as president. January 20, 1953 was a fairly balmy day for a presidential inauguration - cloudy but with a noontime temperature of 49. Truman and Ike arrived together at the Capitol in the White House Lincoln, both wearing homburgs instead of the traditional top hats. Ike was sworn in on the East Portico by Chief Justice Frederick Vinson on two bibles: one used by George Washington when he took the oath to become the first president in 1789 and the other Ike's personal West Point Bible. Ike then broke from tradition and prefaced his inaugural address by reciting a prayer that he had written that morning. His address was 2446 words. It returned again and again to the notions of peace and freedom, strength and security. The inaugural parade went on for 4 hours and 39 minutes. 750,000 spectators lined the parade route. Ike and Mamie led the parade riding together in a white Cadillac with the top down, the first time a new President and First Lady had ever ridden together in the parade. Ike and Mamie watched the remainder of the parade from the reviewing stand in front of the White House accompanied by former President Herbert Hoover, Ike's WWII boss, General George Marshall, and Mrs. Clare Booth Luce. Perhaps the highlight of the day was when a palomino-riding California cowboy in the parade, Marty Montana, paused in front of the reviewing stand and lassoed the President. The moment was captured by a Life photographer. The January 20th eight years later in 1961 was a fairly depressing day for Ike. Ike didn't mind leaving the presidency so much as having to turn it over to that young, whippersnapping, big spending Democrat, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy irked him. Ike considered him too young and inexperienced to deserve the presidency. He felt the election was bought by JFK's father Joseph Kennedy and that once a Kennedy got into the White House the family would establish a political machine far greater than even Tammany Hall. He became particularly upset when Kennedy claimed during the campaign that Ike was responsible for a missile gap with the Soviets. Ike knew that was an outright lie. The U-2 over-flights had proven that if there was a missile gap, it was one that was by far in favor of the US. A couple days prior to the inauguration, Ike bemoaned to a friend that he could hear the carpenters building the scaffolding for the inaugural parade reviewing stand outside the White House. He then added that he now knew how the condemned man feels when listening to the gallows being constructed right outside his cell. January 20th, 1961 was a very cold, snow packed day. Ike met with the incoming president for coffee at the White House and they drove together to the Capitol, not in homburgs this time, but in the traditional top hats. Cardinal Cushing delivered a very long invocation (While sitting on the inaugural platform, California Governor Pat Brown leaned over to LBJ's 12 year old nephew and said of the Cardinal, "If he doesn't stop now, I'm quitting the Church."). Robert Frost recited a poem from memory because he was so blinded by the sun's glare he couldn't read the poem he had written especially for the inauguration. Marion Anderson sang the Star Spangled Banner. JFK then preceded to deliver the most memorable Inauguration speech in American history. Ike and Mamie left the Capitol for a farewell reception at the F Street Club and then made their way to their Gettysburg home in a 1955 Chrysler Imperial driven by chauffeur Leonard Dry and escorted by a lone Secret Service vehicle. As the Eisenhowers drove through the gate at the entrance to their farm, the Secret Service vehicle honked its horn, U-turned, and headed back in the direction of Washington. That was the moment Ike said when it all hit home. After eight years, he was no longer President.
Twinkies, of course, were a staple of American childhood diets during the Eisenhower era, as iconic to 1950s popular culture as Ike, Elvis, Howdy Doody, TV dinners, pink Cadillacs, and coonskin caps. Now, I've never heard it said, nor even seen it documented, that Ike ever ate a Twinkie. He was a fan of TV dinners and there are photos of him swigging a Coca Cola. But no Twinkies. I'm positive his four grandkids were fans of the delectable twin snack cakes though. In contrast to the lack of evidence supporting Ike's love of Twinkies, there were two presidents who we know were very much enamored of the cakes. Bill Clinton considered them so enduring an American symbol that he included them in the White House millennium time capsule. And then there was Jimmy Carter. Legend has it he had a Twinkie vending machine installed in the White House. Twinkies have been around since the 1930s, but they may have achieved their greatest popularity in the 1950s when they served as sponsor for the Howdy Doody Show every Saturday morning from 1956 to 1960. And therein lies the Ike / Twinkie connection - Howdy Doody. Ike and Howdy had several things in common: Howdy touted TV dinners just as the President did. And just like Ike, Howdy was running for president in 1956, at least as suggested by the now very rare Howdy Doody for President buttons that are still around. But most germane to this entry, it was Howdy Doody that taught kids both how to toast President Eisenhower and how to love eating Twinkies. Twinkie the Kid, a Twinkie shaped cowhand attired in cowboy hat, bandana, and boots, was a fixture on the show. In one episode, Buffalo Bob fixes up a big bowl of Twinkies for the Doodyville fans. He pours milk, flour, eggs, and a secret ingredient in to the bowl, stirs, and then with an Alakazam pulls out a pair of packaged Twinkies. He urges kids to get their parents to buy them some of the delicious snack cakes today! A more tenuous Ike-Twinkie connection was more recently brought to light in a column for the Harvard Business Review by Shane Frederick in which he compares how the opportunity costs for war were calculated first vividly by Eisenhower in his 1953 Chance for Peace speech and then more vaguely by an anti Iraq War website: Eisenhower: "The cost of one heavy modern bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities… We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people." Website: "… the cost of the war in Iraq (is) 'the loss of nine Twinkies per American per day for a year.'" And there you go. Most recent coverage of the impending Twinkie disaster suggests that even though Hostess may go bankrupt, the Twinkie will survive. I believe I heard a nationwide collective sigh of relief when that latest news broke around 3 pm on last Wednesday. Twinkie pundits have now assured the public that the demise of the cakes is less than imminent. I for one am now breathing easier. I suppose if Ike were still around he'd be little affected by the news. His grandkids, however, are surely much relieved.
Most unusual Ike blog topic of the year Readers' personal favorite blog posts of the year Best presidential anecdote in a blog post The agent almost choked on his mint trying to keep from laughing. The President was like a little kid trying to get away with doing something when his Mom's back was turned. . (Confessions of a Faux Secret Service Agent, September 1-4) Best list in a blog post Most diplomatic answer given in a blog interview in 2011 Most timely written blog post Most confusing excerpt from a blog post if taken out of context The most surprising Eisenhower related blog topic of the year The best sport related blog post of the year Readers favorite blog character of the year Best blog film reference of the year The seemingly most irrelevant to Eisenhower blog topic of the year Most clairvoyant blog excerpt of 2011 Worst "better to have been left unwritten" blog excerpt of the year Most vivid blog imagery of the year
The most controversial and debated topic of the year at Eisenhower NHS The biggest Ike story of the year Most intriguing donations to the site's museum collection Most interesting group to visit Eisenhower NHS in 2011 Most notable Ike publications of the year The biggest surprise visitor of the year The most exciting wildlife sighting of the year Most notable site restoration project of the year The No. 1 visitor question of the year The best visitor question of the year The most notable performances by volunteers under adverse conditions Best new Eisenhower anecdote of the year The most notable retirement of the year This is all a far cry from presidential campaigning 60 years ago. In 1952, the year of Eisenhower's first election victory, there was one televised debate, a pseudo-debate in May where contenders from both parties were asked two questions in an open forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters. It was the very first debate to be nationally televised. In 1952, only 13 or so states had direct primaries beginning with New Hampshire on March 11. And in 1952, the party nominees were far from predetermined at the outset of the conventions. In January of 1952 there had yet to be any campaigning. In fact, the two candidates who eventually won their respective party nominations - General Dwight Eisenhower and Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, were at that point still insisting they had no interest in running. Stevenson said that he intended to run again for the governorship while Ike dismissed any rumors of harboring political aspirations by asserting he had a job to do as Supreme commander of NATO. On January 1, he wrote a letter to President Truman assuring him that he had no interest in seeking the nomination. In the first couple weeks of January 1952, no one was even quite sure what Eisenhower's party affiliation was. McCalls magazine offered Ike $40,000 to answer the question, "Are you a Republican?" In 1952, reluctance and evasiveness served both the eventual Republican and Democratic nominees quite well. The continually emerging contrasts between the 1952 and 2012 campaigns will surely provide further fodder for fascination as we inch ever closer to the 2012 election.
Unfortunately for the Eisenhowers, the festiveness of the holidays was tempered by an unspoken sadness. For it was during the holidays that they had experienced the greatest tragedy of their lives. During the holiday season of 1920, the Eisenhowers were stationed at Camp Meade, Maryland where Ike, recently promoted to major, continued to serve in the Tanks Corps. He, wife Mamie, and their two year old son, Doud Dwight, lived together on post. Ike would look back on that time as one of the happiest periods of their life together. Ike doted on his little boy whom everyone called Icky. He became the camp's mascot, the junior officers outfitting him in a replica Tank Corps uniform. Ike had been assigned to be the post football coach and he enjoyed taking Icky to watch the scrimmages. He recalled how Icky always delighted in seeing the soldiers march across the parade grounds and the tanks rumble up and down the post roads. We have several photos of Icky in the site's historical photo collection. My favorite is one taken shortly before Ike was transferred to Camp Meade. It's of Ike in uniform with his back to the camera lifting Icky high over his head in front of the Gettysburg College fraternity house where they resided when Ike served as post commander at Camp Colt in Gettysburg in 1918. It was at Camp Meade, during that December in 1920, that Icky suddenly became ill. So ill he was sent to the hospital. It turned out that he had contracted scarlet fever from a young woman that Mamie had hired as a maid. Icky's condition worsened as the days progressed. At first he remained quarantined. Ike and Mamie could only sit and watch him from an adjoining porch. Later, the staff relented and allowed Ike to spend each day in the hospital at his son's bedside. Mamie, however, was suffering with a terrible cold and was forced to stay home. Icky died in his father's arms on Jan. 2, 1921. He was only three years old. More than anything Icky had wanted a tricycle for Christmas that year. Ike and Mamie would always remember how that tricycle sat under the tree, forlorn and forgotten. Icky's death was the one disaster from which neither Ike nor Mamie ever recovered. And although never mentioned, the tragedy of that Christmas would softly temper the joy of all their Christmases to come.
It was years ago one summer that former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, visited the farm with her daughter. This was long after her husband, Lyndon, had died. By this time the LBJ Ranch had already been open to the public by the NPS for years, but Lady Bird still resided in her home in the middle of the ranch and so the home remained closed to the public. When I visited there with my wife and kids several summers later, we saw Lady Bird as we were riding around the ranch on the NPS tram. She was sitting on the porch of her home with her daughters and she waved to us. We all excitedly waved back. Then we could see her jot something down on a note pad and show it to her daughters. This was after she had suffered a stroke and lost her ability to speak. The Eisenhowers' was one of several NPS presidential homes Lady Bird planned to visit on her trip out east. She intended to donate her home to the NPS once she passed and she wanted to get a sense of how the NPS managed such sites. The Park Service, in turn, was happy for the opportunity to stress how important it was for the original furnishings to remain in the home. Apparently, Lady Bird was in the process of giving away items in her home to family and friends. I was conducting tours with other visitors so didn't get a chance to meet the First Lady. But I heard she seemed very impressed with how well preserved the Eisenhower home was. The visit suddenly took a potentially disastrous turn for me personally when I was informed that Lady Bird and her daughter were considering attending my ranger program. While in the Reception Center, they had noted with great delight that the next scheduled program was entitled, "Ike, JFK, LBJ, and the GOP." "Oh, Mom, we should stay for that!" Lucy Baines had evidently exclaimed. Ike, JFK, LBJ, and the GOP was my program. And the prospect of their impending attendance was disconcerting. The theme of the program was Ike's frustration with Kennedy, Johnson, and his own party during his retirement years. Ike did not think highly of LBJ and this was made fairly evident in the program. Here was clearly a tale unfit for the ears of its antagonist's widow and daughter. I had but five minutes in which to edit on the fly those portions of the narrative that might be construed as unflattering. I frantically went over the LBJ segments in my head and tried to recall each uncomplimentary reference, wondering how I could temper them or even cut them out entirely. At the same time, I thought I could overemphasize how thankful Ike should have been for LBJ as Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate, stressing how LBJ sincerely admired Eisenhower and often supported his legislation. I typically alluded to all that, but now perhaps it deserved to be proclaimed with greater fanfare. Then there was the internal debate of whether I should feel compelled to massage the truth. But I imagined the Johnsons' reaction to Ike's assessment of LBJ as opportunistic and superficial, and to Ike's aversion to LBJ's penchant for undue familiarity - the back slapping and shoulder squeezing - an aversion so pronounced that whenever the Senator approached, Ike instructed an aid, "Keep that man away from me." I even more vividly imagined the reaction of the accompanying NPS brass to Lucy and Lady Bird's reaction. And so I came to realize that no way was this the time to champion the unvarnished truth. In the end, my anxiety was unwarranted. The Johnsons decided that they really didn't have the time to enjoy the program. Moments after their departure, I boldly conducted my program as I always had, the narrative totally unexpurgated. And thus I still remain employed as a park ranger today.
A DAY ON THE FARM WITH JAWAHARLAL That made sense, but Ike still couldn't understand how the PM could heartily condemn France and Britain for invading Egypt after President Nasser took over the Suez Canal, but remain silent when the Soviet Union rolled into Hungary to brutally crush the revolution. What happened to Nehru's vaunted neutrality there? Nehru acknowledged that the President had a point. To be neutral, he should be equally critical of both sides. He admitted that although he was privately outraged at the Soviet response, he publically never stated so. He confessed to being more inclined to condemn Western aggression since the West had a long history of colonialism. The Hungarian revolt was a shock to the Communists, Nehru told Ike. That after ten years the Hungarians were still ready to risk their lives than continue to submit to Communist subjugation, was a sure sign that communism would not last. Ike agreed, but expressed dismay that in the meantime, communism would continue to destroy lives across the world. So Nehru departed still very much non-aligned. The two agreed to disagree, but had at least developed a better understanding of their respective views. Nehru left with the impression that US foreign policy wasn't as rigid and intractable as he had thought. In regards to Pakistan, Eisenhower told Nehru that America would pressure Pakistan to discourage state run newspapers from printing inflammatory anti-India articles that contributed to the lust for war in both countries. In 1960, Ike would visit Nehru in India. His motorcade route from the airport to the capital was lined with over a million Indians - all throwing bouquets of flowers and chanting "Hail Eisenhower!" Ironically, after all Nehru's self assured proclamations about neutrality and non-alignment, China invaded India in 1962 and briefly occupied Indian territory. Nehru was shocked and humiliated and felt betrayed. His entire policy of neutrality had been rendered a sham. From that point his health dramatically declined and he seemed to drift through his remaining years as prime minister, disillusioned and listless. He died of a heart attack in 1964.
When the likes of Churchill or Khrushchev came to Washington in the 50s to meet with the President, Ike typically made a point of getting them out to the farm for at least part of a day. He felt the relaxing atmosphere there was even more conducive than Camp David for putting guests at ease and priming them to intimately discuss the issues at hand. Since the farm really didn't have the facilities to accommodate the entourage that accompanied these dignitaries, arrangements were made to have them spend the night at Camp David. One of the few exceptions was the very first to have visited on that Monday in December - Prime Minister Nehru of India. He was the lone world leader who slept overnight at the farm. Jawaharlal Nehru had been one of Gandhi's chief lieutenants during the struggle for independence. He was India's first Prime Minister and the President was very intent on sitting down and having a chat with him. Ike found it difficult to comprehend how Nehru could possibly remain non-aligned in the midst of the bitter Cold War. He wanted an explanation and then to perhaps even convince him how aligning with the west was so obviously a moral and strategic imperative. Nehru in turn was anxious to justify his policy of neutrality and to solicit US support in India's ongoing conflict with neighboring Pakistan. As soon as Nehru arrived, Eisenhower gave him a tour of the farm and cattle operation. It was a tactic designed to get to know and to loosen up his guests prior to discussing the issues. One is inclined to assume, however, that it may not have been overly effective when applied to Nehru. Surely, the Prime Minister must have been a devout Hindu and probably not overly comfortable with the prospect of touring a cattle operation. Lending credence to that assumption is a photo of Nehru tentatively and unenthusiastically petting one of the cattle with Eisenhower beside him sporting a big grin. It so happened though, that the state department did up a profile on the Prime Minister prior to his visit and discovered he wasn't adverse to dining on a steak now and again in private. Ike and Nehru eventually retired to the sun porch of the Eisenhower home to discuss their Cold War differences. In the future, Ike would venture to Camp David with his guest before engaging in serious discussion. The sun porch would be reserved for breaking the ice - an hour or two of small talk as Ike sized up the man in the lounge chair beside him. This first time though, the subject of the Cold War was breached right there between the television and the card table. MY FAVORITE EISENHOWER CHRISTMAS MOMENT There was one year the Eisenhowers spent more time than usual at their Gettysburg farm in the days leading up to the holidays. That was 1955. In December of 1955, Ike was still recuperating from the heart attack he had suffered in Denver back in September. So it was on Dec. 18th that Ike delivered his annual televised Christmas address from Gettysburg College. At the conclusion of the address, he was to flip the switch to remotely light the National Christmas Tree located in the Ellipse in front of the White House: And so it is tonight in that hope, which must never die from the earth, which we must cling to and cherish and nurture and work for, that I light the National Community Christmas Tree… But Ike apparently didn't have much confidence in the remote tree lighting technology. When he noticed on the television screen in front of him that the tree actually burst into light as planned, he exclaimed on air, "Oh, it worked!" You then heard moderator David Brinkley assuring the President off camera, "Yes, Mr. President, it did work." To hear more tales of the Eisenhowers at Christmas and to see their home decorated for the holidays visit the Eisenhower Farm, December 1 - 31.
On that quiet Sunday afternoon seventy years ago, Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in Texas, stationed once again at Fort Sam Houston where he had first been posted upon graduating from West Point. He was awakened by his aide from an afternoon nap to be informed that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The following day the US was officially at war. Five days later Ike was summoned to Washington by Chief of Staff, General George Marshall It was a summons he wasn't overjoyed to receive. Up until that phone message, he was feeling pretty good about himself and his career prospects. In fact, he was still basking in the afterglow of his first flirtation with celebrity. That summer, as chief of staff of the 3rd Army, he had led his 240,000 troops to victory over the 2nd Army (numbering 180,000) in the Louisiana Maneuvers, the biggest war game ever conducted by the US military. His performance garnered the attention of both General Marshall and the press, and earned him his promotion to general. But now he was heading to Washington where he hoped Marshall simply wanted to discuss the defense of the Philippines, a topic on which he was an expert having assisted General MacArthur in his efforts to organize and train the island's military. But what he feared was that he would remain stranded in Washington behind a desk shuffling paperwork throughout the duration of the war. Marshall, indeed, had sought him out for his assessment of the Philippines. But that wasn't all. Marshall placed Ike in charge of the Philippines and Far Eastern section of the War Plans Division. Precisely the desk job Ike had dreaded. It was a stressful six months for him in Washington. He worked each day from dawn to 10:30 p.m. on developing long term war plans while enduring the complaints of MacArthur (Commander of US Army Forces in the Far East), and the US Navy, neither of whom were willing to cooperate with Eisenhower's War Plans Division or with each other. When Ike's father died in March, the intensity of his work allowed him no time to go to Kansas and attend the funeral. His tour in Washington finally ended when Marshall appointed him commander of the European Theater of Operation. He arrived in England on June 24, 1942 to take charge of the Allied war effort on the western front. Today, National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we honor the more than 3500 Americans killed and wounded on that day of infamy 70 years ago as well as pay tribute to those whose courage ensured the nation would emerge proud and victorious from such a terrible and unprovoked attack.
MY FAVORITE EISENHOWER CHRISTMAS ARTIFACT Mamie Eisenhower enjoyed lavishly decorating their Gettysburg home for Christmas with poinsettias, wreaths, greens, and a tree next to the fireplace. Today, the Eisenhower NHS staff continues that holiday tradition and decorates the home just as Mamie did including some of the Eisenhowers' original decorations. What we don't have in the site collection though, are the Russian Christmas ornaments that were gifts from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Among these ornaments was one that is my particular favorite, one that most classically reflects a 1950s Cold War era Christmas. According to Ike and Mamie's daughter-in-law Barbara, Khrushchev presented Eisenhower with an ornament of a moon with a Russian rocket landing on it. Although Ike apparently accepted the gift with good grace, it was certainly meant to be a jolly jab in the ribs - a not so subtle reminder as to who was first in space. We invite you to come out and visit the Eisenhower home while it's decorated for the holidays, December 1 - 31. Buses depart from the Gettysburg NMP Visitor Center at 10, 11:30, 2:00, and 3:30. December 10 is open house - free cookies and cider will be served throughout the day and buses will run every hour from 9 am - 4 pm. WOODY, IKE, AND THE BIG APPLE So what, if anything, does Woody Allen have to do with Eisenhower? Ike and Woody do share two experiences in common. One was the Hollywood blacklist. Woody Allen starred in the movie, The Front, based on the Hollywood blacklist - the "list" of actors and entertainers denied employment because of their alleged sympathies for the Communist Party. Blacklisting reached its height during Eisenhower's administration, but also began to slowly dissipate around 1960, the last year of Ike's presidency. Ike was no fan of McCarthyism and communist witch hunts, but neither was he an overly outspoken critic. The other was New York City. Ike had lived there too. In Manhattan, just like Woody. Unlike Woody though, Ike wasn't thrilled with life there. But then he was originally a small town boy from Kansas, while Woody simply migrated to Manhattan from just the other side of the river. For Ike, life in NYC began in 1948. In late '47 he was Army Chief of Staff and his career was drawing to a close. He wondered what he might do for the rest of his life. He was barraged with offers from big corporations who wanted him as president, but the thought of being confined to a desk and shilling for a company had no appeal to him. The one offer he seriously considered was that of executive director of the Boy Scouts, but he ultimately turned that down as well. What he wanted was a job as president of a small college. The only offer to come close was one for the presidency of Columbia University in NYC, an institution far bigger and more prestigious than he would have preferred. He was reluctant to accept, in part because he was dismayed by the prospect of living in New York. But in the end he accepted under the conditions that he wouldn't be obligated to continuously fund raise, entertain, and deal with administrative matters. In June 1948, Ike moved with Mamie into the president's home on Morningside Drive and Ike embarked on his new life as an academic administrator. It wasn't long before he realized Columbia was a mistake. Neither he nor Mamie liked living in NYC. And the job itself was more demanding than he anticipated. First of all, he was obligated to endure a weekly onslaught of social obligations and dreadfully dull faculty meetings full of endless talk and little constructive accomplishment. Secondly, he was overwhelmed with a bureaucracy and paperwork far more imposing than any he experienced in the army. And lastly, but not least, he was confronted by a faculty not overly excited to have a professional soldier with no academic pretensions running the university. Columbia, however, benefitted greatly from his tenure. He convinced world famous and Nobel Prize winning scientists and economists to join the faculty. He established and raised funds for new and successful programs such as the Institute for War and Peace Studies. Most importantly, he attracted huge contributions to the school while at the same time balancing the budget and erasing a large deficit. Eisenhower left Columbia in January 1951 to return to Europe after having been appointed the first Supreme Commander of NATO by President Truman. He took away from his Columbia experience a realization that, aside from the social functions and faculty meetings and bureaucratic headaches, he actually enjoyed being immersed in an academic environment among students who were inquisitive and eager to learn. That he chose Gettysburg as his retirement home was in part because it was a college town. But unlike Woody, the small town remained much more to his taste than the big bustling city.
A family from Connecticut who shared what it was like to be without power for 11 days after the October snow storm. "Like living in the 18th century." A couple from Russia. They were in their 60s, the wife translating for her husband throughout the tour. The wife spoke English in a thick Russian accent while the husband chimed in with the few words of English he knew accompanied by hand gestures. They were excited to hear about Khrushchev's visit to the President's farm. The husband laughingly kept repeating "corn… corn," while making a throwing motion with his right arm - his impression of K. throwing corn cobs at reporters during a tour of an Iowa farm. Then it was "shoe… shoe," acting out K. banging his shoe at the United Nations. The husband claimed to know Raold Sagdeev, the Russian space scientist that married Eisenhower granddaughter, Susan. He and his wife enjoyed the irony of an Eisenhower marrying a Russian, and of both Khrushchev's son and Stalin's daughter becoming American citizens. We discussed Mikhail Gorbachev. I mentioned how most Americans have a high regard for Gorby. "Russians no. No like Gorbachev," they informed me - I suspect because they hold him responsible for the dissolution of the Soviet Union. "But for me," the husband added, "Gorbachev is good. If no Gorbachev, I not be here." A couple dressed in bright red Cornhusker colors. And, indeed, they were from Nebraska and happened to have attended the Penn State - Nebraska game the day before. It was the first game for PSU since the scandal broke. They suspected the atmosphere would be somewhat strained, but said the PSU students acquitted themselves admirably. Student ambassadors warmly greeted Nebraska fans as they entered the stadium and the entire student body remained wholesomely school spirited throughout the game. The couple was impressed with the joint team prayer in the middle of the field prior to kick-off. It was led by the Nebraska assistant coach whom they knew and thought very highly of. Then there was a gentleman from Ireland who had a chance to tour Russian dachas along the coast in Riga, Latvia. These were the huge and lavish summer homes of the communist leaders. Many, he said, were up to 25,000 square feet on 15 acres. He noted the irony of "Communist" leaders living in the lap of capitalist-like luxury. And contrasted the dachas to Eisenhower's very modest home. And lastly there was the Democratic pianist from Manhattan. He made it very clear while disembarking from the bus that he typically was not inclined to patronize the homes of Republicans. He was in Gettysburg to perform a piano piece at several local venues on Saturday, Dedication Day - the 148th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. It was a piece he discovered that had been composed about a hundred years ago as a musical interpretation of the Battle of Gettysburg. He speculated it was used to teach children about the battle. His copy of the original score had notations indicating what parts of the battle each several bars of music were supposed to represent. He was inspired to perform it on this particular Dedication Day because his father was celebrating his 87th birthday on that very day. His father had been born on November 19 exactly four score and seven years ago. Before leaving, he conceded that by today's standards Eisenhower was probably more a Democrat than a Republican. He meant it as a compliment.
Back in the 1950s, however, Native American heritage wasn't so much celebrated as it was assailed. The government policy of Termination (of special federal services) "benignly" threatened the very existence of tribes across the country. It would prove to be one of the most ill conceived policies of Eisenhower's presidency. The goal of termination was to fully integrate Native Americans into mainstream American society. The government's Termination policy intended to fulfill that goal by reducing services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to Native Americans, encouraging tribes to sell off their lands, and persuade families to leave the reservation. The dissolution of the reservation system would not only force Native Americans to assimilate, but would also provide states and corporations access to the resources and timbers on Indian lands. Thus, the policy was both foolishly well meaning and ruthlessly opportunistic. Termination policy was formalized in 1953 with the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 108 which called for the federal government to terminate services to Native Americans "at the earliest possible time." The resolution also dictated that the Secretary of the Interior submit legislation to "liberate" certain named tribes. The Klamath of Oregon and the Menominee of Wisconsin were considered capable of "independent management of (their) affairs" and were thus among the first chosen for termination. In signing the Menominee Termination Bill, Eisenhower optimistically stated that it would lead to "other Tribes realizing their full potentialities as productive citizens of the United States…" Klamath tribal members were all given cash payments for their share of the land. Menominee land was transferred to a tribal corporation and designated a county. In all, 110 Indian reservations were eventually terminated. Termination everywhere quickly proved to be an abysmal failure. Formal tribal lands became the poorest counties in their respective states. The tax base in those counties couldn't support basic health and education services. Alcoholism increased and unemployment skyrocketed. Of those who left their former tribal lands and migrated to cities, only 10% of Native Americans ever found jobs. Equally devastating was the erosion of tribal customs and solidarity. By 1960, through the efforts of tribal leaders and the National Congress of American Indians, along with Congressional and state support, the policy of termination was abandoned. By the 1970s, the Menominee, the Klamath, and other Oregon tribes all had their reservation status restored. The Termination period of the 1950s was a low point for Native Americans across the country. But from the ashes of Termination arose revitalized tribal governments and communities harboring a greater sense of pride in their native language and culture. In the late 1960s it would be President Richard Nixon who introduced a new official Indian policy - that of self determination. And although it may have sounded suspiciously like a euphemism for Termination, Self Determination was a genuine effort to, as Nixon put it, "strengthen the Indian's sense of autonomy without threatening his sense of community."
NOVEMBER 19 - EISENHOWER AND DEDICATION DAY Over the years, there has been an interesting array of prominent politicians, soldiers, news correspondents, historians, and supreme court justices invited to give the dedication address: Tom Brokaw, General Colin Powell, Ken Burns, Jesse Jackson Jr., Sandra Day O'Connor, William Rehnquist, Shelby Foote, to name a few. Last year it was ABC news correspondent, Sam Donaldson. In 1963, for the centennial of the Gettysburg Address, it was Dwight D. Eisenhower. For Eisenhower, to be chosen to deliver the commemorative address on the 100th anniversary was a great honor. Lincoln had always been his hero, the historical figure he most admired and tried to emulate. Eisenhower wasn't known as a great speaker, though. He was often criticized for his press conferences in which he fielded questions with a painfully jumbled syntax. A journalist, Oliver Jensen, once composed a parody of the Gettysburg Address as it would have been delivered by Eisenhower in his typical press conference Eisenhowerese: I haven't checked these figures but 87 years ago, I think it was, a number of individuals organized a governmental set-up here in this country, I believe it covered certain Eastern areas, with this idea they were following up based on a sort of national independence arrangement and the program that every individual is just as good as every other individual. Well, now, of course, we are dealing with this big difference of opinion, civil disturbance you might say, although I don't like to appear to take sides or name any individuals, and the point is naturally to check up, by actual experience in the field, to see whether any governmental set-up with a basis like the one I was mentioning has any validity and find out whether that dedication by those early individuals will pay off in lasting values and things of that kind… is how he began. On November 19, 1963, when Eisenhower actually delivered his dedication address, he acquitted himself rather well I think: We mark today the centennial of an immortal address. We stand where Abraham Lincoln stood as, a century ago, he gave to the world words as moving in their solemn cadence as they are timeless in their meaning. Little wonder it is that, as here we sense his deep dedication to freedom, our own dedication takes added strength... is how he began. But this to me was the most notable of the sentiments Ike expressed on that day: We read Lincoln's sentiments, we ponder his words - the beauty of the sentiments he expressed enthralls us; the majesty of his words holds us spellbound - but we have not paid to his message its just tribute until we - ourselves - live it. For well he knew that to live for country is a duty, as demanding as is the readiness to die for it. So long as this truth remains our guiding light, self-government in this nation will never die. To live for country is a duty… These days, it seems a notion all but forgotten. Except, of course, to those men and women who serve. Full text of Eisenhower's centennial address
REMEMBERING ON VETERANS DAY For the kids, World War II is the most engaging part of the program. At one point, we reenact the landing at Omaha Beach - the kids as soldiers pouring out of the landing craft, slogging through the choppy waters, and racing across the beach under fire. It's all fun and exhilarating. But then we discuss how it really was for those soldiers - crammed in the landing craft, seasick and apprehensive, listening to the great artillery barrage surrounding them. Jumping into the cold, forbidding water with 80 pound packs and seeing their buddies around them shot to pieces in a hail of machine gun fire. Being pinned down on the beach under continuous heavy fire, scared and hopeless… But then how they didn't give up. Relying on sheer courage, self reliance, and ingenuity, how they managed to dislodge the Germans and win the day. I show them the famous photo of Ike with the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division prior to the invasion and mention how the high command assumed that these men would be slaughtered in their attempt to accomplish their mission. Probably up to 70% killed or wounded. I'll ask our student General Ike if he remembers what he was talking about with his men when the photo was taken. Sometimes he remembers, sometimes not. But it was fishing. It was baseball. It was working on the farm or in the factory. It was home. Then we'll discuss how Ike stood there and watched as the men boarded their planes. And how while he continued to watch as the planes flew off, an aid glanced over and saw tears in the General's eyes: So why was this tough old general crying? I think you're right - he knew that so many of these young men would never return. And what character trait did he demonstrate at that moment? Caring. He cared for his men… Of all the activities we engage in during the two hour program, of all the stories we share and points we discuss, it's the image of General Eisenhower tearing up over the departure of his soldiers that the kids will most remember. Let us never forget and never stop caring for all the men and women who served.
The White House posted the following on their web site: Rumors of UFOs and ETs… Now there's something the Obama and the Eisenhower administrations have in common. They both had to deal with them. Ike, of course, was president during the height of the UFO sighting and the beginnings of the alien abduction crazes. In fact, one of the most persistent UFO - space alien encounter rumors involved Eisenhower himself. Eisenhower is alleged to have paid a secret, late night visit to Edwards Air Force Base in February of 1954 to meet with aliens. President Eisenhower was vacationing in Palm Desert, California at the Smoking Tree Ranch, Feb. 17 - 24, 1954. On the evening of the 20th, he disappeared. The press discovered he was no longer where they assumed he should be and word spread that he was dead or dying. The Associated Press supposedly even sent out a bulletin stating that, "Eisenhower died tonight of a heart attack in Palm Springs." A couple minutes later though, they retracted it. James Hagerty, Ike's press secretary, called a press conference to quell the rumors. Hagerty claimed that the President had been taken to a local dentist to replace a porcelain cap he had chipped while eating a chicken wing. Ike showed up on schedule for church service the following morning and the matter was forgotten. But… in the spring of 54, a gentleman, who was a self proclaimed mystic, claimed to have been at Edwards Air Force Base the night of Ike's disappearance and saw the President there with flying saucers and aliens. The National Enquirer later confirmed the story and published the gentleman's claims. Ike's visit with the aliens has since been described in detail in a couple different books published over the past ten years. To add even further credence to the story - no records of Eisenhower's supposed visit to the dentist on that evening can be found at the Eisenhower Library!! This apparently wasn't Ike's first dealing with UFOs. Declassified British Minister of Defense UFO files reveal a letter from a scientist who wanted to know more about an encounter between a RAF aircraft and a UFO during WWII. The letter writer claims his grandfather, who served with the Royal Air Force, was present when Winston Churchill discussed what to do about the UFO sighting with General Eisenhower. According to the letter, the Prime Minister ultimately decided to cover up the encounter for fear of causing mass panic throughout the country. Could it possibly be true that Eisenhower had personal knowledge of the existence of UFOs and space aliens? There are naysayers: In 1995, a dental historian published the definitive work on Eisenhower's dental work in the Bulletin of the History of Dentistry. In it he cites the US Surgeon General's records on Ike's dental history indicating that Ike, indeed, chipped a porcelain cap on the night of Feb. 20, 1954, and that it was repaired by Dr. Francis Powell. And then there's Ike's son, John. When once asked by a reporter if his father ever mentioned meeting with space aliens, his reply was a simple and unequivocal, "NO."
In 1953, Eisenhower's first year as president, Iran was struggling to establish a democracy. The country had democratically elected its prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossaadegh implemented revolutionary changes and gradually edged the Shah out of power. One of those changes in particular riled up the British - the nationalizing of the British oil fields. Previously, the Shah had a cozy relationship with the oil companies and provided them with a good deal - allowing them to siphon away the nation's resources with relatively little in the way of fair compensation. Mossedegh intended to change all that. He put the entire oil industry under national ownership. The west, in retaliation, began to boycott Iranian oil. The Brits approached Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles with their concern over the impasse with Iran. Britain no longer carried a big enough stick to forcibly dissuade the Iranians from their effort to nationalize - it would have to be the Americans. The Brits knew, however, that their oil may not be a strategically vital enough issue to arouse American involvement. But communism certainly was. Eisenhower was already worried that Mossadegh was far too tolerant of communist groups within the country and that there was a danger that the Soviets would begin to influence the increasingly unstable (in Eisenhower's view) prime minister, secure a foothold in Iran, and begin to slowly incorporate the oil rich Middle East into their sphere of influence. With British urging, Eisenhower became alarmed enough to turn to the CIA and suggest the possibility of an arranged coup. The CIA obliged, and in one of their greatest early successes orchestrated the overthrow of Mossadegh and the restoration of the Shah to power. Mossadegh along with democracy were dispatched, the Brits recovered their oil fields, and the US acquired oil leases in the country as well. The success of the operation would have far reaching consequences. First of all, that early success arguably bred a hubris within the CIA that led to a string of fiascos and failures including the Bay of Pigs. But more to the point of this entry, the overthrow would long fester in the memory of Iranians. Twenty six years later, the Iranians overthrew the Shah again in the Revolution of 1979 and installed a theocracy with the Ayatollah Khomeini at the helm. And this is when the US made what would turn out to be a foolish tactical misstep - President Carter granted the deposed Shah permission to enter the country for medical treatment. History now appeared on the verge of repeating itself, at least in the eyes of many Iranians. On Nov. 4th, Iranian students broke into the embassy to gather hostages. Hostages, they reasoned, could be used as leverage to safeguard the revolution and assure that America would not once again impose itself on the internal affairs of the nation and forcibly reinstate the Shah. So in a way, Ike was responsible. And if you care to project even further into the future, Ike was debatably, somewhat responsible for the Gulf War. It was because of our deteriorating relationship with Iran during the hostage crisis that we began to supply Iraq with economic aid, intelligence, and weapons during the Iran - Iraq War. And, in part, it was this military aid and what he perceived as his relatively chummy relationship with the US that instilled Saddam Hussein with the confidence that he could invade Kuwait with impunity… And thus Desert Storm. Such are the convoluted paths of history.
6. What are those metal things attached all over the roof? 5. Why did they donate the farm to the Park Service, didn't the Eisenhower's son want the place? 4. How much did they pay for the farm? 3. How many five star generals were there? 2. What is that white contraption with the buttons that's next to the bed in the master bedroom? And the No. 1 most asked question: 1. How come the house is so badly in need of a paint job?
11. How many bathrooms in the house? 10. When did the President die? 9. Has anyone told you that you look like John Denver? 8. Is the farm part of the battlefield? 7. Is the house haunted? TO BE CONTINUED... Previous Posts Sept. - Oct. 2011... |
Did You Know?
On the eve of the D-Day invasion, General Eisenhower wrote a short speech he intended to deliver if the operation failed. It was discovered days later by an aide after falling out of the General’s pocket. It read in part, ”If any blame or fault attaches to this attempt, it is mine alone.”