DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

34th U.S. President 1953-1961
LIFETIME: 1890-1969, of Swiss-German ancestry


Dwight Eisenhower homes

BIRTHPLACE (top left): 208 East Day Street, Denison TX - a two-story frame house with a Gothic roofline, built in the 1880s
PHOTO CREDIT: Historic Homes of the American Presidents, by Irvin Haas

BOYHOOD HOME (center): 201 S.E. 4th Street , Abilene KS - a two-story Victorian house with an attic, typical in the Midwest
PHOTO CREDIT: 2003 Calendar of Presidential Homes, designed by Presidential Avenue

RETIREMENT HOME (bottom right): "The Farm" with many acres on the southwest boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg PA - a 20-room Georgian structure
PHOTO CREDIT: 2004 Calendar of Presidential Homes, photographer Garren Zuck


"I have found out in later years we were very poor,
but the glory of America is that we didn't know it.."

Born in Denison, Texas, Dwight Eisenhower soon moved with his family to Abilene, Kansas. All seven sons worked after school to aid the struggling family finances.

Ike's military career began in 1911 as a West Point cadet. When America entered World War II, he served with General MacArthur in the Philippines. In 1942 he was appointed Commander of the European Theater of Operations, and achieved the rank of Army Chief of Staff by 1945.

After 30 years of military life, Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie expected to finally settle down. But Ike was so popular that the presidency was his for the taking, and the 1950s became known as "the Eisenhower years." At last, retiring to a Pennsylvania farm outside Gettyburg, Ike built Mamie her dream house - a rambling Georgian home with a sun porch that looked out upon the Civil War battlefield.

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