History

History information is some background and history about the location. This is meant to be a basic summary. Below the history records you will find sources in which you can click on to find out more information. There may be multiple history records per location.

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Dwight D. ("Ike") Eisenhower had a long history with the Gettysburg area. His graduating class from West Point had visited the battlefield in 1915. In 1918, he was assigned to nearby Camp Colt in his first independent command as an army officer, commanding a tank training unit; he and Mamie Eisenhower were newly married.

Throughout his long army career, Dwight Eisenhower and his wife never had a house to call their own, with the couple moving from army post to army post. After he became Columbia University's president in 1948, Mamie requested that they finally have a place to call their own. A married couple that were friends with the Eisenhowers, George and Mary Allen, had recently purchased a small farm around Gettysburg, and recommended the area. In 1950, they found a "run-down farm" on the outskirts of Gettysburg, and purchased the farm and its 189 acres (76 ha) for $40,000 (equal to $425,062 today) from one Allen Redding, who had owned the farm since 1921. Eisenhower stated that he could feel the "forgotten heroisms" that occurred on the grounds as the Battle of Gettysburg.

When purchased, the 189 acres (76 ha) included 600 chickens, 25 cows, and many dilapidated buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Renovation of the property was delayed when Eisenhower became supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1951. After he had attained the presidency of the United States in 1953, Mamie had him rebuild the old house. Much of the original building had to be torn down, due to its deterioration. The total cost of renovation was $250,000 (equal to $2,388,993 today). This large expense was due partly to Mamie's whims, but also to Eisenhower's employment of union labor; he spent $65,000 (equal to $621,138 today) for union workmen who came each day from Washington, D.C. (75 miles (121 km) away) to work on the farmhouse. On their 1955 wedding anniversary, the Eisenhowers held a party to celebrate completion of the work. The entire staff of the White House were invited, attending in two shifts, so that the White House would not be unstaffed. The staff were forever grateful to the Eisenhowers for including them in the festivities.

From its completion in 1955 to the end of Eisenhower's second term on January 20, 1961, the President spent 365 days total on the Gettysburg farm. The longest of these stays was 38 days in late 1955, while recovering from a heart attack he had suffered that September. After 1955, the Eisenhowers spent most weekends and summer vacations at the Gettysburg farm. They sometimes went to both the Gettysburg farm and Camp David, prompting one person to call Camp David "an annex to Gettysburg".

The Gettysburg farm provided a few headaches. Democrats chose the amount of time the Eisenhowers spent at the Gettysburg farm as another way to attack him. Paul M. Butler, head of the Democratic National Committee, called him a part-time president due to his many stays in Gettysburg. When his World War II colleague Bernard Montgomery visited the farm, Eisenhower commented to Montgomery (speaking as military commander to military commander) that he would have fired a subordinate that would initiate Pickett's Charge. Many Southerners saw this as disrespect toward Robert E. Lee, and protested. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev visited the farm in September 1959, and was "grandfathery" to the Eisenhower grandchildren. David Eisenhower said that Khrushchev was such a nice guy, he (David) could become a Communist if he did not know better, causing much embarrassment to the Eisenhowers.

The Eisenhowers donated their home and farm (230 acres (93 ha) total at the time) to the National Park Service in 1967, with lifetime living rights for the former president. Two years later, Eisenhower died at the age of 78. Mamie Eisenhower rejected the idea of moving to Washington to be closer to family and friends and, with Federal permission, lived on the farm until her death in 1979, although the living area for Mamie was reduced to 14 acres (5.7 ha). The National Park Service opened the site in 1980.

Added by: sdonley on 02/04/2020 DB#:557
Source(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_National_...

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