Basic Facts:
Birth: October 14, 1890 at Denison, Texas
Death: March 28, 1969 at Washington, D. C.
Married: Mary “Mamie” Geneva Doud (1896-1979) on July 1, 1916
Children: 2- Doud Dwight called “Ikky” (born 1917, died of Scarlet Fever 1921), and John
President: Two terms beginning January 20, 1953 and January 21, 1957
Family
Mamie married Dwight Eisenhower at age 19 on July 1, 1916.
The Eisenhowers had two children (only one lived to adulthood):
Doud Dwight “Ikky” (September 24, 1917 – January 2, 1921) died of scarlet fever.
John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013) – soldier, diplomat, author – was born in Denver, Colorado; he graduated from West Point in 1944 and earned a master’s degree in English literature from Columbia University in 1950. After retiring from a military career (1944–1963), he was appointed ambassador to Belgium (1969–1971) by Richard Nixon. He authored ten books, among them an account of the Battle of the Bulge: The Bitter Woods (1969); Strictly Personal (1974); and Allies: Pearl Harbor to D-Day (1982). He and his wife, Barbara Jean Thompson, had four children including Dwight David Eisenhower II who married Julie Nixon, daughter of Richard Nixon.
Other:
Eisenhower’s parents originally gave him the same first name as his father—David. However, the future president’s mother, Ida, soon had second thoughts. She didn’t want her boy mistakenly called David Eisenhower Jr. (his father, David Jacob Eisenhower, had a different middle name) or deal with the confusion of having two Davids in the house, so she transposed his name to Dwight David Eisenhower. His original birth name, however, remained inked in the family Bible and was printed in his high school yearbook.
Dwight Eisenhower was born the third of seven sons to a poor family raised as devout Mennonites.
At West Point, while tackling a player during a football game, Eisenhower broke his leg, ending his athletic career. The player he was tackling was future football Hall of Fame inductee and Olympic Gold Medalist Jim Thorpe.
Eisenhower never saw active combat. Although he spent 35 years in the military and served during both world wars, Eisenhower never saw a single day of active combat. After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1915, he served at various camps across the United States. Eisenhower requested an overseas assignment when America entered World War I, but he remained in training roles at home. By the time the United States entered World War II more than two decades later, Eisenhower had risen to become one of America’s top generals. He eventually was appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.
Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman originally called the Maryland presidential retreat, which opened in 1938, “Shangri-La” after the fictional Himalayan paradise. Eisenhower, however, wanted a less formal moniker so he renamed it in 1953 in honor of his 5-year-old grandson, Camp David.
President Eisenhower’s Administration saw the addition of Alaska and Hawaii as states, a massive build-out of the nation’s highway system, and the creation of NASA.
The Eisenhower Doctrine stated that the United States had the right to aid a country threatened by communism. Eisenhower believed in halting the advance of communism and took steps to this effect. He expanded the nuclear arsenal as a deterrent and was responsible for the embargo of Cuba because they were friendly with the Soviet Union. Eisenhower believed in the Domino Theory and sent military advisors to Vietnam to halt the advance of communism.
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Sources:
Internet Public Library
History.com
Thought Co.com
President Eisenhower.net
Greenman, Barbara. The Timeline History of U. S. Presidents and First Ladies. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2009.