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History of the Institute
The Eisenhower Institute is a distinguished center for leadership and public policy based in Washington, DC and in Gettysburg, PA. It is a non-partisan, non-profit, presidential legacy organization whose mission is focused on preparing the successor generations to perfect the promise of the nation. Now a program of Gettysburg College, the Institute was originally established as the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute back in 1983. With nearly two and a half decades of distinctive and dedicated policy and research experience, the Institute strives to embody President Dwight David Eisenhower's model of public policy formation and leadership, and our programs help to bridge the perspectives of scholars, policy-makers, students, and citizens.
The Eisenhower World Affairs Institute
The Eisenhower World Affairs Institute was founded in 1983 by colleagues and confidants of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of the late President, was a founding director and later the first president of the Institute. She designed its US-Soviet program and remained with the Institute for several years to implement it. She helped build one of the nation's most renowned public policy programs on US-Soviet relations. The successes of the program and its emphasis on international cooperation and dialogue would go on to define the Institute's work for the next twenty years. Susan Eisenhower left the Institute in 1989 to found the Center for Political and Strategic Studies in 1991. It was at this time that the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute affiliated with Gettysburg College of Gettysburg, PA.
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College was originally founded in 1832 by anti-slavery theologian, Samuel Simon Schmucker, to educate new immigrants to Pennsylvania. It now ranks among the best liberal arts colleges in the United States. The College has long been associated with the life and legacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower. When Lieutenant Eisenhower came to Gettysburg in 1918 to command a training base, the College provided housing for the young officer and his new bride. After World War II, Eisenhower returned to accept an honorary doctorate. Following his presidency, Eisenhower retired to his farm in Gettysburg and took an active part in the life of the College, serving on the board of trustees and maintaining a campus officer, where he wrote his memoirs. It was in 1991 that Gettysburg College first became intertwined with the objectives and mission of the Eisenhower Institute, a relationship that is now cemented in a symbiotic and mutually beneficial way.
During the 1990's, the Institute worked hard to promote a stronger educational focus on public affairs by sponsoring numerous programs that have linked education, scholarship and public policy. Its goal was to instill a stronger sense of public service. The Institute's most prestigious program, the Eisenhower Leadership Prize, was first instituted at this time in 1991. The Leadership Prize is an annual award given to honor an individual whose lifetime accomplishments reflect Dwight Eisenhower's legacy of integrity and leadership.
Center for Political and Strategic Studies
Nearly a decade later, in 2000, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute merged with the programs of the Center for Political and Strategic Studies (CPSS) to create the Eisenhower Institute. Throughout the 1990s, CPSS had built a reputation as a leading organization for promoting informed debate on U.S. relations with the former Soviet Union, and on international security issues. Addressing topics such as nuclear non-proliferation, NATO expansion, and National Missile Defense, the organization also conducted regional studies on such subjects as health and environmental degradation in Russia and the impact of emerging Islam in Central Asia. The Center published a number of landmark books on these topics.
With the merge of these two organizations, the Eisenhower Institute was officially created. Susan Eisenhower was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute. Its goals to this day remain the encouragement, development and sponsorship of civic discourse on significant issues of public policy, both domestic and international, through the rigorous pursuit of facts, respectful dialogue among stakeholders, and a focus on the future.
The Institute & Gettysburg College Today
Gettysburg College cemented its strong affiliation with the Eisenhower Institute in 2006 when the two entities announced a new relationship by combining the programs of the Institute under the umbrella of the College's own efforts. The Institute is now operated as a program of Gettysburg College with two complementary sites. With offices in the heart of the nation's capital and in an historic home in Gettysburg once occupied by Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, the Institute will remain a premier organization for research, discussion and outreach in issues of leadership and public policy. With this new relationship, the Institute will also be recognized as sponsoring one of the nation's strongest undergraduate programs in public policy. Today, the Institute provides top-level dialogue among policy-makers and a premier learning experience for undergraduates - by carefully blending the two.
