John Eisenhower

John S. D. Eisenhower
45th United States Ambassador to Belgium
In office May 14, 1969 – September 28, 1971
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Ridgway B. Knight
Succeeded by	Robert Strausz-Hupe
Personal details
Born	John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (1922-08-03)August 3, 1922 Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Died	December 21, 2013(2013-12-21) (aged 91) Trappe, Maryland, U.S.
Resting place	West Point Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Barbara Thompson ​ ​ (m. 1947; div. 1986)​ Joanne Thompson ​ ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	Dwight David Eisenhower II Barbara Anne Eisenhower Susan Elaine Eisenhower Mary Jean Eisenhower
Parents	Dwight D. Eisenhower I Mary Mamie Geneva Doud
Alma mater	United States Military Academy Columbia University United States Army Command and General Staff College
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1944–1963 (active) 1963–1974 (reserve)
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands	Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment Company D, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War
Awards	Bronze Star Medal Army Commendation Medal See more

John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013) was a United States Army officer, diplomat, and military historian. He was a 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 administration of President Richard Nixon, who was previously his father's vice president and also his daughter-in-law's father.

Early life and education[]

John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower was born on August 3, 1922, in Denver, Colorado, to future U.S. President and United States Army General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie; 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.^[1] He later earned a master's degree from Columbia University in English and comparative literature and taught at West Point.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[3] After serving combat with an infantry battalion, he was reassigned to the 3rd Division headquarters.

Government career[]

During his father's presidency, John 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.^[4] In 1975, he served President Gerald Ford as chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees.^[5]

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."^[6] Eisenhower wrote Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series: The 12th President, 1849–1850 (2008).^[7][8] John Eisenhower 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."^[9]

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.^[10]

During the 2008 presidential election, in which presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden all had children enlisted in the armed forces, he wrote about his wartime experience as the son of a sitting president in a cautionary opinion piece in The New York Times entitled "Presidential Children Don't Belong in Battle".^[11]

Death[]

He died at Trappe, Maryland, on December 21, 2013.^[12] From the death of Elizabeth Ann Blaesing in 2005 until his own death, Eisenhower was the oldest living presidential child;^[13] on his death that distinction passed to Lynda Bird Johnson, who still holds it as of 2021.^[14] 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, only a few days before her twenty-first birthday. Barbara was born on June 15, 1926, in Fort Knox, Kentucky, into an Army family. She was the daughter of Col. Percy Walter Thompson (1898–1974) by his wife Beatrice (née Birchfield). Col. Thompson was commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. The Eisenhowers had four children:

• Dwight David Eisenhower II (b. 1948, West Point, New York), who married Julie Nixon, herself a presidential daughter;
• (Barbara) Anne Eisenhower (b. 1949, 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.^[15]

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 Soup Company. 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.^[16]

Military awards and decorations[]

U.S. military decorations
	Bronze Star Medal
	Army Commendation Medal
U.S. service medals
	American Defense Service Medal
	American Campaign Medal
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ 2 bronze service stars
	World War II Victory Medal
	Army of Occupation Medal w/ "Germany" Clasp
	National Defense Service Medal
	Korean Service Medal w/ 3 bronze service stars
Foreign unit awards
	Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Non-U.S. service awards
	United Nations Service Medal
	Republic of Korea War Service Medal
U.S. Army badges
	Combat Infantryman Badge
	Glider Badge

Other honors[]

The city of Marshfield, Missouri chose Eisenhower as a 2008 honoree of the Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative.^[17] 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	Date
	Second 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, 1975

^[18]

Family tree[]

Bibliography[]

• The Bitter Woods. Battery Classics. 1969. ISBN 9780898391060.; Da Capo Press, 1995, ISBN 9780306806520
• Strictly Personal Doubleday, 1974, ISBN 9780385070713
• Allies, Pearl Harbor to D–Day. Doubleday. 1982. ISBN 9780385114790. John Eisenhower.; Da Capo Press, 2000, ISBN 9780306809415
• So Far from God: The U.S. War with Mexico, 1846–1848. Random House. 1989. ISBN 9780394560519.; University of Oklahoma Press, 2000, ISBN 9780806132792
• Intervention!: The United States Involvement in the Mexican Revolution, 1913–1917. W. W. Norton & Company. 1993. ISBN 9780393313185.
• Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott. Free Press. 1997. ISBN 9780684844510.
• Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I. Simon and Schuster. 2001. ISBN 9780743216371.
• General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence. Simon and Schuster. 2003. ISBN 9780743255721.
• Zachary Taylor. Macmillan. 2008. ISBN 9780805082371.
• A Morning in June: Defending Outpost Harry (wrote the foreword only). University of Alabama Press. 2010. ISBN 9780817316693.
• Soldiers and Statesmen: Reflections on Leadership. University of Missouri Press. 2012. ISBN 9780826219701. John Eisenhower soldiers.

Notes[]

References[]

• Eisenhower, John S. D. (1974). Strictly Personal (1st ed.). Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-07071-3.
• McCaffree, Mary Jane; Innis, Pauline (1997). Protocol: The Complete Handbook of Diplomatic, Official and Social Usage (4th ed.). Washington: Devon. ISBN 0-941402-04-5.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Eisenhower.

• John Eisenhower at Find a Grave
• John Eisenhower at IMDb
• John Eisenhower – Internet Accuracy Project
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Eisenhower on Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott, April 19, 1998.