BLOG 6 -- EISENHOWER NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE + LINCOLN TRAIN MUSEUM

As Supreme Allied Commander, 5 Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower planned and executed Operation Overlord (D-Day) leading to the eventual surrender of Nazi Germany and lasting peace in Europe. After World War II, he became President of Columbia University in 1948 for 2 years. The General assumed command of NATO forces in Europe in 1950. 1952, the very popular General was elected President of the United States and successfully guided the country through 8 years of the Cold War without further conflict. In 1950, Ike, as he was called, and his wife Mamie, bought an large old farm near Gettysburg as their retirement home and began renovations. The farm was used as their weekend retreat and Ike's temporary White House as he recovered from a heart attack in 1955.  Retirement finally came in January 1961 as Ike finished his second Presidential term and JFK was inaugurated as President.  Ike and Mamie had 2 sons with the first dying at 3 from scarlet fever.  Son  John Eisenhower went on to West Point graduating on D-Day 1944 and rose to Brigadier General and later U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.  He had 4 children giving Ike and Mamie 4 grandchildren!

Oil paintings of both Mamie and Ike hanging in the living room.

The 5-star General flag waves on the flagpole

Dwight Eisenhower was born in Dennison, Texas in 1890 as the 3^rd of 7 sons. The family moved to Abilene, Kansas in 1891 and Ike graduated from high school there. In 1911 he was appointed to West Point and graduated in 1915. He met Mamie while serving at Fort Sam Houston and they married in 1916. Ike truly had an illustrious Army career and quickly moved up in rank and served in a number of high posts, including the American Battle Monuments Commission under General Pershing. 1933-39 he served as General MacArthur's chief military aide including travel to the Philippine Islands.  In 1939 he served as Chief of Staff, 3^rd Army. He was promoted to Brigadier General in October 1941 then after Pearl Harbor, moved to Washington, D.C. working on high level war planning at the War Department.  Ike was appointed Commander of European Theater of Operations in 1942 and commanded the Allied invasion of North Africa.  Continuing to move up, Ike commanded the invasion of Italy and was Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces, Europe.  After the very successful Normandy invasion, Ike was promoted to 5 star General of the Army in December 1944.  He accepted Germany's unconditional surrender and became Commander of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany.  Later in 1945 he became the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, the top Army post.  Ike retired from active Army service in 1948 and became President of Columbia University.

Mamie's guestbook showing signatures of their son and granddaughters

In Fall 1952 General Eisenhower was elected 34^th President of the United States on the Republican ticket and re-elected again in 1956, both won by a landslide vote!  During his 8 years as President, Ike's biggest accomplishment was preserving the peace!  He also established the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), helped to engineer the 1953 Korean War armistice, approved the spy satellite program, raised the Federal minimum wage to $1 per hour, championed the construction of the Interstate Highway System, signed the Civil Rights Act, established NASA starting the “Space Race” with Russia, welcomed in Alaska and Hawaii as the 49^th and 50th states, launched DARPA which led to the Internet, encouraged the peaceful use of atomic energy and met with Soviet Premier Khrushchev at Camp David and Ike's Gettysburg farm. Shortly after that visit in 1960, the U2 crisis occurred when a U2 spy plane was shot down by the Russians and the pilot captured.   The Gettysburg farm was not only Ike's retreat from the pressures of Washington but also his personal venue for diplomacy and informal talks with world leaders.  His 1961 Farewell Address to the Nation in part warned to guard against the unwarranted influence of the “military-industrial complex” and the increased spending of huge amounts on defense at the cost of other national priorities.

The Grand piano, Ike's library, the 50's TV set and the formal living room

After retirement, Ike kept busy with a successful Black Angus cattle raising and breeding operation for 15 years on 189 acres of his farm and an adjoining 306 acre farm owned by partners.  His cattle won Grand Champion ribbons at many major competitions.  He maintained an office at Gettysburg College and wrote his memoirs, including his famous book, Crusade in Europe.  He enjoyed painting, having painted over 260 oils in his last 20 years, and a number of his paintings hang on the walls of the home.  Ike was also fond of cooking both indoors and on the outside barbeque.  And, maybe it comes with the Abilene, Kansas heritage, he loved to read Western novels, especially Zane Grey, and had a large collection of them, which are still in the house!  Ike also was fond of reading, fly fishing, golf and playing bridge.  Eisenhower is considered one of greatest ten U.S. Presidents!

 A visit to the Eisenhower Farm is by shuttle bus from the main Gettysburg NMP Visitor Center ($7.50 each) unloading near the barn closest to the house.  An interpreter tells about Ike's life on the farm and leads you to the house tour.  Another interpreter meets you at the front door, shows Mamie's guest book in the entrance hall and guides you to the large formal living room.  The home still has almost all of its original furnishings, offering a very special view into the later life of this famous couple!  There are many things to see in the living room—the grand piano topped with family photographs at one end and the marble fireplace at the other end that was removed from the White House by President U.S. Grant in 1873 and found and gifted to Eisenhower by his White House staff as an anniversary gift. Over the fireplace mantel, an oil painting of Prague was given to General Eisenhower by its citizens at the end of World War II, in appreciation for the Allies not bombing Prague into oblivion. 

One of Ike's paintings, the "modern" kitchen, the study and the master bedroom

A beautiful coffee table was a gift from the Republic of Korea and a silk rug came from the Shah of Iran.  A large knickknack cabinet contains many other gifts from heads of state given to the President.  On the top shelf, a triptych painting represents the appreciation of Belgium for the return by the Monuments Men after WWII of the priceless Ghent altarpiece painted by Jan Van Eyck.  There are oil paintings of both Mamie and Ike hanging in the living room.  We were told that Ike did not like the living room as it was “too stuffy!”  

The cabinet full of knickknacks and gifts. A copy of the Ghent Altar piece in miniature is on the top shelf

The Eisenhower's favorite room was the large covered porch.  They entertained here, watched television, played cards, played with their grandkids and Ike painted here.   Their large 1950s kitchen was reportedly featured in a home magazine as the “kitchen of the future.”  Ike liked to cook and his repertoire included soups, stews and Pennsylvania Dutch breakfasts.  The Eisenhowers had a cook that prepared most meals as Mamie wasn't at her best in the kitchen.  She joked that she could make fudge and mayonnaise! Both Ike and Mamie preferred basic American food.

The house has 8 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, formal dining room, kitchen and butler's pantry and the glassed-in porch.   Upstairs, we saw the various bedrooms including the master bedroom and the guest rooms.  The den and Ike's office are interesting because of so many personal items still visible, just as they were left.

Magnolia trees in full bloom

Outside, the trees were in bloom and the tall flagpole was impressive with the 5 star General's flag flying proudly beneath the Stars and Stripes!  There are 2 greenhouses that were used for both flowers and vegetables.  Ike's putting green, given to him by the Professional Golfers Assn.in the 50s, complete with sand trap, is again impressive for the 5 star flag marking the hole!  There is a small gift shop along with exhibits of Ike's Army career and a short film.  Time flew and we didn't get to walk out to the cattle barns and other outbuildings.  We felt privileged to get this view into Ike and Mamie's private life.

The Eisenhowers gifted their farm to the Federal Government in 1967, with a proviso that Ike and Mamie could live there for the rest of their lives.  The farm acreage is adjacent to and part of the historic Gettysburg battlefield and by Act of Congress, it became the Eisenhower National Historic Site in 1967.  Ike died March 28, 1969 at 78 years of age and was buried in his hometown of Abilene, Kansas with full military honors.  Mamie lived at the Gettysburg farm for another 10 years before passing away on November 1, 1979 at age 82.  She was buried next to Ike at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene.  

While we were in Gettysburg, we visited the Lincoln Train Museum downtown.  The major focus is Lincoln's funeral train but using a clever technique Lincoln comes to life as character actor Jim Getty  takes you through some of the important events in U.S. history. Later you sit in a replica of the funeral train and learn of the stops in major cities and the great public sadness on Lincoln's death by the assassin John Wilkes Booth.  There is also a museum here and several very large and detailed model train layouts.  We enjoyed our visit and Gettysburg very much!  

Walking through a gallery with several TV screens a Lincoln impersonator gave a history lesson starting at the Revolutionary War and ending with 9/11.