Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Eisenhower Institute honors the legacy of one of the most important figures of the 20^th century - Dwight D. Eisenhower.  He and his wife, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, lived remarkable lives of public service.

Born in Texas, raised in Kansas, and a graduate from West Point, his military career culminated in his being supreme commander of the allied forces in Europe and a five-star general. His generalship is legendary. He served as president of Columbia University. In 1952, he secured the Republican nomination and was elected 34th president of the United States. He was elected again in 1956 and, following his retirement in 1963, he moved to his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was a best-selling author, an amateur painter, and a lover of agriculture.

Dwight and Mamie first came to Gettysburg in 1918. As a young officer he argued for the offensive use of a new "defensive" weapon - the tank - and became commander of Camp Colt, America's first tank training camp arrayed on land that overlapped the battlefield at Gettysburg. The Eisenhowers bought a farm near the battlefield, which he used as a retreat White House during his presidency and from which he recovered from a heart attack. He became a trustee of Gettysburg College and wrote his memoirs on the campus. The College's Admissions Office is today named "Eisenhower House," and The Eisenhower Institute has its Gettysburg offices in the home occupied by Dwight and Mamie in 1918.

There is a vast and still-growing library of scholarship on Dwight D. Eisenhower and on Mamie as well. First-person memoirs, including reminiscences by the general and the president; memoirs by military leaders and members of the Eisenhower administration; biographies; historical and analytical scholarship on all aspects of the Eisenhower career, the Eisenhower administration, and the Cold War era; there is a vast library of films, news reels and video footage.  In 1999, Congress authorized a special commission to memorialize Eisenhower. The Eisenhower Memorial Commission has produced a study of the legacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower and made his presidential papers available online as part of their effort to define and create a national memorial to him.