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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

A Visit to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum in Abilene, Kansas

Eric and I have been visiting Presidential Museums since October, 2012.  So far, we have visited the Presidential Museums of: Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S.Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.  We also visited Gerald Ford's Presidential Library.






Abilene is on Interstate 70
& a "must visit" site.










Eric & I had our photo
taken outside President
Eisenhower's boyhood
home.










The Museum is our
next stop.






















He and Mamie married



Second Lieutenant Eisenhower made his way up the ranks while serving under Generals John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur and General Walter Kreuger.  After Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, General Eisenhower was assigned to work on war plans.  He commanded troops in North Africa. He was tasked with building cooperation among allies fighting in Europe.  As Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, General Eisenhower was in overall command of Allied troops on June 6, 1944, D-Day.





This mural honors General
Eisenhower's efforts as
Supreme Commander of
Allied Forces in World War II.


Following the end of World War II, General Eisenhower served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from November 1945 to February 1948.





He resigned from the Army
to serve as President of 
Columbia University.  











At President Truman's request, Citizen Eisenhower took a leave of absence from Columbia University to command the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Starting in 1948, the Democratic and Republican Parties approached General Eisenhower about running for President.  He did not express interest in either party's efforts to put him forward as a candidate.  By late 1951 pressure was building and a decision had to be made.  After winning the New Hampshire Primary on March 11, 1952, General Eisenhower announced his candidacy, as a Republican.












General Eisenhower defeated Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson and became the 34th President of the United States.




President Eisenhower's
desk in the Oval Office.

He used a recording system
in his office.






Domestic spending rose under President Eisenhower.  During his administration, the President signed legislation to expand Social Security, raise the minimum wage, created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, created the Interstate Highway System and working with Canada, created the Saint Lawrence Seaway.





Having seen war, President
Eisenhower waged peace
during his time in office.







The Korean War was at a stalemate.  President Eisenhower visited Korea in December, 1952, visited the troops and concluded the conflict would continue, unless efforts were made to bring it to an end. A combination of diplomacy and military saber rattling resulted in an armistice on July 27, 1953.

Following Soviet President Josef Stalin's death in March, 1953, President Eisenhower saw an opportunity to soften strained relations between the U.S. an the Soviet Union.  He "The Chance for Peace Speech," in which he stated that preparing for war was diverting resources from the people of U.S. and the USSR.  He stated that the U.S, would work for people and not for armaments.  Instead of direct confrontation and brinksmanship, President Eisenhower authorized a series of bilateral and multilateral treaties to encircle the Soviet Union with allies.




President Eisenhower was
concerned about internal
security & infiltration of
Communists in the
Federal Government.

Executive Order 10450
allowed for investigation
of government employees,
leading to firings &
resignations.



The Red Scare became the cause celebre of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy.  In 1950, he took advantage of fears of Communist spies in the U.S. by stating in speeches that there were Communist Party Members in the U.S. Department of State.  He became the Chairman of Government Operations.  His investigations reached into many aspects of American life.  Accused Communists were pressured to provide the Committee with names of other Communists, to keep the probe going.  Some of the accused were innocent of the charges brought against them and their lives were ruined.  It was an ugly time in American history.

Senator McCarthy and his Anti Communist Crusade started to unravel in 1954 he authorized his Committee to investigate Communist infiltration of the Army.  During televised hearings the public witnessed Senator McCarthy's tactics of accusation without proof and haranguing of witnesses.  The Army fired back  and Attorney Joseph Welch openly confronted him during one of the televised hearings. (Links here to the Youtube recordings of the confrontation.) The press wrote critical articles about Senator McCarthy and the Committee's tactics.  In December 1954, he was censured by the Senate.





busy place during the
Eisenhower years,







The President and Mrs. Eisenhower kept a busy schedule.  They entertained an unprecedented number of heads of state and leaders of foreign governments.  Their son John, his wife, Barbara, and their children were frequent visitors.




President Eisenhower
took time for leisure.

He was fond of golf. 










In 1955 President Eisenhower had a mild heart attack and had surgery for a bowel obstruction in early 1956.  He recovered from the heart attack and surgery, but concerns about his health hung over the 1956 election.  In a rematch with former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, President Eisenhower won re-election handily.

Health problems continued to plague President Eisenhower.  He suffered a small stroke in 1957. After three days of seclusion, the President returned to work.  His speech improved, but staff and the press watched him closely for speech problems.  Concerns about his health faded over time.

President Eisenhower's second term included his signing of the 1957 Voting Rights Protection Act; sending Federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce integration of Little Rock High School; and the establishment of NASA.

The 1960 Presidential election was held and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon.  President Eisenhower said goodbye to the nation on January 17, 1961.




President Eisenhower &





President Eisenhower took
up painting.



He authored books:



 President Eisenhower's health deteriorated after he left Washington, D.C.




He died on March 28,1969.

The President, his wife, Mamie
& their son Doud are interred
in the Place for Meditation.









"Every gun that is made every warship launched every rocket fires signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed....
This is not a way of life at all...  Under the cloud of threatening war, it is its humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

From the "Chance for Peace" Address  
Washington, D.C.  April 16, 1953

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