In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was the most famous man in the country – maybe the world.

Ike: Non-War

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was called Ike from boyhood. Growing up in Abilene, Kansas, he did farm chores, household chores, schoolwork, athletics and learned to play excellent poker from some of the aging gamblers of the Old West. 

In an agreement with his brother, Ike went to work after high school to pay for Edgar’s education. The deal was that once completed, Edgar would pay for Ike’s schooling. Only he didn’t have to. Ike was accepted at West Point, where the tuition was free, slipping in just barely under the age limit.

Ike was nearly 25 when he graduated mid-class in 1915, stationed in San Antonio Texas where he met Miss Mamie Doud, six years his junior. A year later, they married. 

Ike’s career in the US Army was slow and sloggy for the most part. After World War I, the Army returned to its staffing level of the early 20th century. Then came the Depression. A steady position with a steady salary (no matter how small) was not to be sneezed at. Soldiers were not leaving the military for civilian opportunities. Ergo, there were very few promotions available. 

Nevertheless, Ike and Mamie were transferred nearly every year, partly because his higher-ups took a liking to them, with a benevolent interest in his career. If the Army couldn’t pay/promote him according to his value, the least they could do was teach/train him. They were never disappointed. In every school or training program he attended, Ike excelled.

But by the late 1930s, Ike was nearly 50, and expected to retire no higher than Colonel. 

Mrs. Ike: The War Years

The meteoric rise of Colonel Ike to Five-Star General Ike is well known. But poor Mamie was left behind, and in the four years Ike was overseas, she saw him only once. 

She lived in Washington, in an apartment full of Army wives, and spent most her time worrying about her husband, who was always in harm’s way. According to her own description, she played a four-year game of canasta, or was it mah-jongg? Or both. 

She kept a low profile, being warned of the danger that the slightest hint of Ike’s whereabouts could be disastrous. She shopped for his favorite snacks (tomato soup and crackers), favorite color pajamas (blue), favorite magazines (westerns), and whatever he asked her to get. And when a messenger came with a packet of letters included with Ike’s official dispatches, she in turn, gave him her packet. 

It was lonely for her, and worrier that she was, the always-petite Mamie lost about 20 pounds.

More Non-War

WWII ended in 1945, and the wildly popular and victorious Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces grinned his way in parade after parade in all the major cities in the country. More often than not, Mamie was by his side. She insisted that after their long separation, she would never be parted from her husband for any more than a couple of weeks. He gave her no arguments!

But as might be expected, politics came a-courtin’ – both parties. Ike wasn’t politically inclined and had no affiliations. So he said “thanks, but no thanks.” He always took his orders from the Commander-in-Chief, whoever he was. 

President Truman pleaded with Ike to run for President (as a Democrat, of course), practically offering the position on a platter. He put all the political perks of his office at his disposal. Ike still declined. A few times. 

So he became Army Chief of Staff, then President of Columbia University, wrote the best selling Crusade in Europe and then was assigned Supreme Commander of a recently established NATO. Ike and Mamie even began to look for a house of their own – something they never had. 

A Change of Mind

In 1952 the American people wanted a strong, benevolent leader. At 62, Ike was everybody’s grandpa. He finally declared he was probably a Republican. That cinched it. 

The famous Ike grin, the perfect “I Like Ike” slogan, a cute wife-with-high-heels-and-a-waistline, and they were off and running. Actually they were “training.” Train travel was still the way to go meet-and-greet the public. And this time, MRS. Ike was the big surprise. She was a terrific campaigner. According to several aides, she was not politically inclined, never interfered, and was seldom tired or cranky. As long as she was included in the processions, the waving, the flower receiving, the photo-ops, and the traditional wife-stuff, she was in heaven. 

They whistle-stopped cross-country, waving and smiling, with Ike making a few appropriate remarks from the caboose. People came from miles around! Some still drove horses and buggies. 

September 27: Salisbury, NC

The story goes, that at 5 a.m. the Eisenhowers were asleep, but Ike, always a light sleeper, was awakened as the train slowed down to take on fuel or water in Salisbury. When he looked out the window, he noticed a sizable (and growing) crowd calling for him. Not wanting to disappoint, Ike woke Mamie, (in curlers), and the two put on bathrobes and came outside to wave sleepily to the crowd, who were thrilled to see them. But no photos were taken, and no newspapers printed the event. 

Later that morning, when his Press Secretary James Hagerty heard the story, he was panicked! The on-board news reporters hadn’t been alerted – and could be fired by their publications for missing such a hot story! 

So Ike and Mamie (some said it was her idea), put bathrobes over their clothes (look closely), her hair tied with a blue ribbon, and they peeked out of the caboose car so the reporters could get the “staged” photo. It was the only picture of its kind taken.

It made all the headlines. 

Sources:

Ambrose, Stephen – Eisenhower: Soldier and President (rev.) – Simon and Schuster, 1991

Eisenhower, Susan – Mrs. Ike – Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996

Lester, David and Lester, Irene – Ike and Mamie – G.P. Putnam, 1981

https://www.eisenhowerfoundation.net/ikes-life/post-war-1945-1951

https://millercenter.org/president/eisenhower

Salisbury crowd rouses Ike and Mamie