Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thirty-Fourth President 1953-1961
He was born David Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower on
October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas where his father David had found work as a
railroad hand. He was the third of seven sons. The following year, the
Eisenhowers returned to Kansas. Ida and David raised their sons in a simple
clapboard home which Dwight would later remark had less floor space than his
office at the Pentagon.
Dwight grew up in Abilene, where he absorbed the virtues of small town America
that distinguished him for the rest of his life -- scrupulous honesty,
self-reliance, determination, and hard work. Eisenhower saw education as a way
to better himself and became as much of a scholar as he was an athlete. The
balance between the two helped him to obtain an appointment to the United States
Military Academy in 1911.
She was born Mamie Geneva Doud on November 14, 1896, in Boone, Iowa. The second
of four daughters born to Elivera and John Sheldon Doud, Mamie was only nine
months old when her family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the age of six Mamie
moved with her family to Colorado and in 1905 the Doud family settled in Denver
at 750 Lafayette.
During her childhood years, Mamie attended Denver public schools, and like the
daughters of many other prosperous and prominent Denver families, her education
was completed at Miss Wolcott's, a private school.
Mamie was a bright and vivacious young woman in the fall of 1915 when she and
her family were visiting friends at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. It was during this
visit that Mamie met then Second Lieutenant Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dwight would
later write of their first meeting in his book At Ease, that Mamie had a "saucy"
face and attitude. A young officer just out of West Point, Lt. Eisenhower
courted Miss Doud throughout the autumn of 1915 and on February 14, 1916, they
formally announced their engagement. At noon on July 1, 1916, the couple was
married in the Doud family home in Denver.
Mamie learned very early in their married life about his single-minded devotion
to America. Over the years they lived at many Army posts. Sometimes the quarters
were less than ideal. In Panama they lived on the edge of the jungle, and the
wild animals screamed all night. Their quarters at Gettysburg during World War
I, when Ike was training troops at an encampment nearby, were so poorly heated
that Mamie thought she was going to freeze to death.
But the hardest of all times were the long periods when they were separated
because there was no place for a wife where Ike was stationed.
As Ike rose in rank and his responsibilities grew, Mamie made their home a place
of calmness and good cheer, where he could relax in the midst of his strenuous
life. While the Eisenhowers lived at the White House, Mamie was a gracious and
well respected first lady.
He was not the sort of man who brought his problems home and she rarely intruded
in such matters as she knew he already had the best counsel available to make
his decisions. Mamie later commented that she knew at times he went through a
great deal of inner turmoil when some momentous decision was pending, "...he was
not a worrier. Sometimes, after a day when he had to make some fateful decision,
I have heard him say almost inaudibly as he lay in bed: 'God, I did the best I
could today.' Then he would turn over and go to sleep. He was a man of great
inner strength."
One of the most enjoyable periods came during the first five years after they
left the White House. Although he still worked hard during his years of
so-called retirement, at his writing and in meeting the great public demands
placed upon him, it was relatively speaking, a time of relaxation. Mamie and Ike
had more time to enjoy the pleasant business of just being together.
Selections found on left menu include a Dwight D. Eisenhower Timeline Biography
and additional biographical information on Mamie Eisenhower.
Click on the Photo of the President Below to go to his page.
