Eisenhower And Gettysburg In Images Of America
In 1980, the National Park Service opened the Eisenhower National Historic Site just outside the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The Historic Site consists of the home and farm that General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie had owned beginning in 1950. With all the traveling Eisenhower had done in his military career, the Gettysburg home was the first and most permanent home the Eisenhowers had. In this short pictorial history, "Eisenhower's Gettysburg Farm" (2017) authors Michael Birkner and Carol Hegeman tell the story of the Eisenhowers and their relationship to Gettysburg. Birkner teaches history at Gettysburg College while Hegeman is the retired supervisory historyian at the Eisenhower Historic Site and the Executive Directror of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society which commemorates the life and work of the Supreme Allied Commander during WW II and the 34th President. Birkner and Hegeman were assisted in preparing this book by Kevin Lavery, a 2016 graduate of Gettysburg College.
The book begins with a brief overview of Eisenhower's early life in Abilene, Kansas and at West Point. Eisenhower had seen Gettysburg while a cadet at West Point and was posted at Camp Colt on the Gettysburg Battlefield in 1919 where he trained soldiers in the use of tanks. The book then briefly follows Ike through WW II and through his eventual candidacy for the presidency which dovetailed with the purchase and extensive renovation of the farm he and Mamie purchased in 1950 as their dream home.
The book shows the building of the residence and the attendant farm, cattle ranch, and putting green and ties the home and the grounds in with Eisenhower's life. The home and farm were important both in providing a place of rest for Eisenhower and as a site for performance of presidential functions. Eisenhower recuperated at Gettysburg in 1955 after his first heart attack, conducted presidential business, and met with many world leaders at his Gettysburg home. He and Mamie also were active in the civic, religious, and educational life of the town of Gettysburg and became beloved residents of the community. Eisenhower continued to live and work actively at Gettysburg after leaving the presidency in 1961 until shortly before his death in 1969. Mamie continued to live on the Gettysburg farm until shortly before her death in 1979. The Eisenhowers had deeded the property to the National Park Service, and the Historic Site opened to the public in 1980, the year after Mamie's death.
This book offers a good brief portrayal of the Eisenhowers at Gettysburg during and after Eisenhower's presidency and in Mamie's years as a widow. I was interested in Eisenhower's role as a lifelong student of the Battle of Gettysburg and of his tour of the battlefield with British Field Marshall Montgomery when both these revered WW II military leaders commented on Pickett's Charge and other aspects of the great Civil War Battle. I also enjoyed thinking again about Eisenhower's presidency which has been gradually gaining in stature among historians. It is appropriate for the National Park Service to commemorate Eisenhower through his Gettysburg home together with a Battefield and town he came to know well and love.
This book is part of the Images of America Series of local American histories of Arcadia Publishing. The series offers an outstanding way to get to know the many unique local places in the United States both unfamiliar and, as with the Eisenhower National Historic Site, familiar and of national importance. Readers will have a welcome opportunity to visit with and to think about Gettysburg and the Eisenhowers through this book.
