John Eisenhower

John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013) was a United States Army officer, diplomat, and military historian. He was the second son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. His military career spanned from before, during, and after his father's presidency, and he left active duty in 1963 and then retired in 1974. From 1969 to 1971, Eisenhower served as United States Ambassador to Belgium during the Presidency of Richard Nixon, who was previously his father's vice president. Richard Nixon was also father-in-law to Eisenhower's son David.

Early life and education

John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower was born on August 3, 1922, at Denver General Hospital in Denver, Colorado, to future U.S. President and United States Army General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower and future First Lady Mamie Doud; he was their second child. Their elder son, Doud, known affectionately as "Icky", died in 1921, at age three, after contracting scarlet fever. Eisenhower, like his father, attended the United States Military Academy, graduating on June 6, 1944, the day of the Normandy landings, which his father was commanding.'John Eisenhower, Military Historian and Son of the President, Dies at 91,' The New York Times, Richard Goldstein, December 22. 2013 He later earned an M.A. degree in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 1950, and taught in the English Department at West Point from 1948 to 1951. Eisenhower graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College in 1955.

Military career

Eisenhower served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War, remaining on active duty until 1963; then serving in the U.S. Army Reserve until retirement in 1975 – attaining the rank of brigadier general. A decorated soldier, Eisenhower found his World War II military career thwarted by fears for his safety and concern from the top brass that his death or capture would be a distraction to his father, the Supreme Allied Commander. During World War II, he was assigned to intelligence and administrative duties. This issue arose again in 1952 when Major Eisenhower was assigned to fight in a combat unit in Korea while his father ran for president. But unlike World War II, John was able to see combat in Korea. After seeing combat with an infantry battalion, he was reassigned to the 3rd Division headquarters.

Government career During his father's presidency, Eisenhower served as assistant staff secretary in the White House, on the Army's general staff, and in the White House as assistant to General Andrew Goodpaster.

In the administration of President Richard Nixon, who had been his father's vice president, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971. In 1972, President Nixon appointed Eisenhower chairman of the Interagency Classification Review Committee. In 1975, he served President Gerald Ford as chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees.

Later life and writing

As a military historian, Eisenhower wrote several books, including The Bitter Woods, a study of the Battle of the Bulge, and So Far from God, a history of the Mexican–American War. In a New York Times review of the latter, historian Stephen W. Sears remarked that Eisenhower "writes briskly and authoritatively, and his judgments are worth reading." Eisenhower wrote Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series: The 12th President, 1849–1850 (2008). He also wrote the forewords to Borrowed Soldiers, by Mitchell Yockelson of the U.S. National Archives, and to Kenneth W. Rendell's Politics, War and Personality: 50 Iconic Documents of World War II.

In later years, he had been an opponent of Frank Gehry's proposed design for the National Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, which he said was "too extravagant" and "attempts to do too much."

Presidential elections A lifelong Republican, Eisenhower voted for Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, citing dissatisfaction with Republican incumbent George W. Bush's management of U.S. foreign policy.

During the 2008 presidential election, in which presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden all had children serving in the armed forces, Eisenhower wrote about his wartime experience as the son of a sitting president in a cautionary opinion piece in The New York Times titled "Presidential Children Don't Belong in Battle".

Death Eisenhower died in Trappe, Maryland, on December 21, 2013. From the death of Elizabeth Ann Blaesing in 2005 until his own death, Eisenhower was the oldest living presidential child; If Elizabeth Ann Harding Blaesing was actually Warren Harding's daughter, she would have been the oldest surviving presidential child from 1995 to her death in 2005, at which point John Eisenhower would have become the oldest. on his death that distinction passed to Lynda Bird Johnson, who still holds it as of 2026. His burial was at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy.

Marriage and children Eisenhower married Barbara Jean Thompson on June 10, 1947. The couple had four children: Dwight David Eisenhower II (b. 1948, West Point, New York), who married Julie Nixon, herself a presidential daughter; Barbara Anne Eisenhower (1949–2022, born in West Point, New York); Susan Elaine Eisenhower (b. 1951, Fort Knox, Kentucky); Mary Jean Eisenhower (b. 1955, Washington, D.C.).

All of his daughters were presented as debutantes to high society at the prestigious International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

John and Barbara divorced in 1986 after thirty-nine years of marriage. In 1988, Barbara married widower Edwin J. Foltz, a former vice president at the Campbell's. She died on September 19, 2014, in Gladwyne, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

In 1988, Eisenhower married Joanne Thompson. He lived in Trappe, Maryland, after moving there from Kimberton, Pennsylvania.

Military awards and decorations U.S. military decorationsBronze Star MedalArmy Commendation MedalU.S. service medalsAmerican Defense Service MedalAmerican Campaign MedalEuropean-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ 2 bronze service starsWorld War II Victory MedalArmy of Occupation Medal w/ "Germany" ClaspNational Defense Service Medal second awardKorean Service Medal w/ 3 bronze service starsForeign unit awardsRepublic of Korea Presidential Unit CitationNon-U.S. service awardsUnited Nations Service MedalRepublic of Korea War Service MedalU.S. Army badgesCombat Infantryman BadgeGlider Badge

Other honors The city of Marshfield, Missouri, chose Eisenhower as a 2008 honoree of the Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative."Hubble Medal of Initiative." Marshfield Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. Retrieved March 4, 2011. His grandson, Merrill Eisenhower Atwater, spoke on his behalf at Marshfield's annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The medal recognizes individuals who demonstrate great initiative in their chosen field.

Dates of rank Insignia Rank Component DateSecond lieutenant Regular Army June 6, 1944 First lieutenant Army of the United States January 23, 1945 Captain Army of the United States March 16, 1946 First lieutenant Regular Army June 6, 1947 Captain Regular Army May 14, 1951 Major Army of the United States August 16, 1951 Major Regular Army September 4, 1957 Lieutenant colonel Army of the United States May 31, 1960 Lieutenant colonel Army Reserve July 1, 1963 Colonel Army Reserve July 1, 1967 Brigadier general Army Reserve July 29, 1970 Brigadier general Retired August 31, 1975Official Register of Commissioned Officers of the United States Army, 1948. Vol. I. p. 528.

Family tree

Bibliography

TitleYearISBNPublisherSubject matterInterviews, presentations, and reviewsCommentsThe Bitter Woods1969Battery ClassicsBattle of the Bulge The original subtitle was The Bitter Woods: The Dramatic Story, Told At All Echelons – From Supreme Command to Squad Leader – of the Crisis That Shock the Western Coalition: Hilter's Surprise Ardennes Offensive; In a 1995 edition, the subtitle was simplified to The Battle of the Bulge.Strictly Personal: A Memoir1974Doubleday Allies, Pearl Harbor to D–Day1982DoubledayUnited Kingdom–United States relations in World War II So Far from God: The U.S. War with Mexico, 1846–18481989Random HouseMexican–American War Intervention!: The United States Involvement in the Mexican Revolution, 1913–19171993W. W. Norton & CompanyUnited States involvement in the Mexican Revolution Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott1997Free PressWinfield ScottBooknotes interview with Eisenhower on Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott, April 19, 1998.Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I2001Simon and SchusterUnited States in World War I, American Expeditionary Forces General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence2003Simon and SchusterDwight D. Eisenhower Zachary Taylor2008MacmillanZachary Taylor Soldiers and Statesmen: Reflections on Leadership2012University of Missouri PressWinston Churchill, John Foster Dulles, Harry S. Truman, Mark Wayne Clark, George S. Patton Jr., Terry Allen and Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Douglas MacArthur, Omar Nelson Bradley, and Matthew B. Ridgeway

John Eisenhower

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