Dwight Eisenhower and His Brothers Honor Their Mother
Yesterday I shared stories about President Dwight Eisenhower’s family, especially about his mother, Ida. Today I want to share how Eisenhower honored his mother in her old age and how he remembered and honored her after she passed away.
Even though Ida Eisenhower enjoyed good health all the way up to her death, after their father died, the Eisenhower sons hired a full-time companion to help their mother. Ida and her companion slept in these twin beds in the bedroom she once shared with her husband David.
Sons who had watched their mother care for their grandfather made sure that they cared for her in her old age.
Stand up in the presence of the aged,
show respect for the elderly
and revere your God. I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:32
Ida Eisenhower passed away in September of 1946, about 15 months after her son Dwight’s triumphant visit to Abilene after VE Day. The family had a private funeral service at the family home.
Beginning in 1945, supporters of Eisenhower wanted to create a memorial in his honor. Eisenhower wanted it to honor the soldiers that he led in World War II. The Eisenhower Foundation was established in 1945 to honor Eisenhower and his soldiers. After their mother passed away, the Eisenhower brothers deeded the family home to the Eisenhower Foundation with instructions that it be preserved as she left it. When the home opened to the public on June 22, 1947, more than 500 came to tour it on that opening day.
In 1948, so many people wanted World War II hero General Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for president that leaders in both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party tried to talk him into it. President Harry Truman wanted him to run so much that he told Eisenhower that if Ike would run for president, he (Truman) offered to run as Eisenhower’s vice presidential running mate.
As Democrats and Republicans prepared for the 1952 election, they again tried to convince him to run. By that time, Eisenhower was in Europe serving as the commander of NATO. On February 8, 1952, Ike supporters held an “Eisenhower for President” rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. A crowd of 40,000 came. They showed wild enthusiasm for the general. Republicans filmed the rally and took the film to Eisenhower at his home near Paris.
Eisenhower, his wife Mamie, and friends watched the film together. Eisenhower began to cry and cry. He was overwhelmed by the sight of all of this support from Americans. Then he started talking about his dad and mom, but mostly his mom.
Her children rise up and bless her . . .
Proverbs 31:28
When Eisenhower took the oath of office in January of 1953, he placed his hand on two Bibles. One was the Bible George Washington used when he was inaugurated in 1789. The other Bible was the one his parents gave him when he graduated from West Point Military Academy. That Bible was opened to this verse:
If my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
After completing the oath of office, Eisenhower began his inaugural address with a request for his listeners:
My friends, before I begin the expression of those thoughts that I deem appropriate to this moment, would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own? And I ask that you bow your heads.
Then the new President prayed:
Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment, my future associates in the Executive branch of Government join me in beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere. Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race or calling. May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy glory. Amen.
Eisenhower showed his commitment to God in his Cabinet meetings. Each meeting began with a moment of silent prayer. A few months after becoming president, Eisenhower spoke these words at a prayer breakfast:
Today I think that prayer is just simply a necessity, because by prayer I believe we mean an effort to get in touch with the Infinite. We know that even our prayers are imperfect. Even our supplications are imperfect. Of course they are. We are imperfect human beings. But if we can back off from those problems and make the effort, then there is something that ties us all together. We have begun in our grasp of that basis of understanding, which is that all free government is firmly founded in a deeply-felt religious faith.
In 1954, when President Eisenhower signed the bill inserting the words “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance, he made this statement:
From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning.
Especially is this meaningful as we regard today’s world. Over the globe, mankind has been cruelly torn by violence and brutality and, by the millions, deadened in mind and soul by a materialistic philosophy of life. Man everywhere is appalled by the prospect of atomic war. In this somber setting, this law and its effects today have profound meaning. In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or in war.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God
as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
accurately handling the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15
On May 5, 1955, President Dwight David Eisenhower signed a Mother’s Day proclamation for that year’s observance. Here is an excerpt:
Whereas since the earliest days of our history American mothers have inspired our most exalted national ideals through their teachings and by example in their daily lives; and
Whereas it has become our felicitous custom to set aside one day each year for commemorating motherhood and for showing our reverence and love for all the mothers of the land . . .
. . . I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag on all Government buildings on that day.
I also call upon the people of the Nation to give public and private expression to the esteem in which our country holds its mothers, through the display of the flag at their homes and other suitable places, through prayers at their places of worship, and through appropriate manifestations of respect and devotion.
Eisenhower passed on his faith to his son and grandchildren. He once told his granddaughter Mary Jean Eisenhower:
There was only one perfect man. Then the rest of us crucified Him.
Members of the Eisenhower family on Easter Sunday, 1953. Left to right: granddaughter Barbara Ann, daughter-in-law Barbara, grandson David, President Eisenhower, mother-in-law Elivera Doud, and wife Mamie. Courtesy Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.
As homeschooling parents, you have the opportunity to teach faith in God in your front yard, in your “back parlor,” and on every “school morning.” You can be like Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.
For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you,
which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois
and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
2 Timothy 1:5