Mamie Eisenhower

First Lady

• Born: November 14, 1896
• Birthplace: Boone, Iowa
• Died: November 1, 1979
• Place of death: Washington, D.C.

President:Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953–1961

Overview

The last First Lady born in the nineteenth century was Mamie Doud Eisenhower, wife of Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth president of the United States. A thoroughly private person who lacked a policy agenda, and thus avoided taking public stands on prominent issues of the day, she supported her husband by performing the considerable range of social duties expected of a First Lady.

Early Life

A native of Boone, Iowa, Mamie was born during the Victorian era, coinciding with the lengthy reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria (1837–1901). The behavior of conventional Western society during the Victorian age has been described as reserved and prim, with many dictates as to what was proper conduct for both men and women. Born in 1896, Mamie was one of four daughters of a wealthy businessman.

She spent her early childhood in small towns in Iowa, later moving to Denver, Colorado, and spending many winters in the family’s winter home in San Antonio, Texas. She lacked extensive formal education, completing her schooling by attending Miss Walcott’s Fashionable School in Colorado. She declined her father’s offer to send her to college. In October, 1915, during a visit to San Antonio, Mamie met an Army lieutenant assigned to nearby Fort Sam Houston, named Dwight D. Eisenhower, called Ike. They became engaged the following Valentine’s Day and were married in Denver on July 1, 1916.

Marriage and Family

Mamie’s long life of public service began upon her marriage to Ike. The Army life provided a striking contrast to the comfortable lifestyle to which she had been accustomed. As the wife of a junior officer in the Army, Mamie had to live on an annual income that was a fraction of what her father had earned. Moreover, she had to adapt to the nomadic life associated with military service. During her husband’s lengthy Army career, the Eisenhowers relocated twenty-five times; seven of those moves came within one year. On a few occasions her husband was assigned to overseas posts, where she either could not or did not want to accompany him. However, she did go with him to Manila, Philippines, from 1936 to 1939. Ike and Mamie’s longest separation was during World War II, when she saw him only once between 1942 and 1945.

Throughout these periods of separation, she sought ways to maintain close ties among her husband, herself, and their children. Their first son, Doud Dwight, lived from 1917 to 1921, when he died of scarlet fever. Their second son, John Sheldon Doud, was born in 1922. Operating on a limited budget and writing her husband lengthy letters every day during extended periods of separation, Mamie steadfastly held together her family and her marriage.

The Eisenhowers bought their first house in 1950—thirty-four years after they were married—in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It is not surprising, then, that Mamie viewed the prospect of living for several years in one place, the White House, as comforting in contrast to her often nomadic life as a dutiful Army spouse. By this time Ike had attained the rank of general, and he commanded Operation Overlord, the 1944 D Day invasion of Europe across the English Channel. The operation’s success made him a national hero; it was he who directed the liberation of Europe during World War II. In 1951 he went to France to assume command of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), returning to the United States the following year to run for president.

Although Mamie apparently enjoyed accompanying her husband on campaign trips, she never wanted to give a speech herself. She enjoyed being introduced and waving to the crowds, viewing her public role in campaigns as that of a supportive wife, appearing at her husband’s side, frequently smiling, and applauding his comments along with the crowd. However, during the 1952 presidential campaign, Republican strategists scheduled extensive appearances for her with her husband to draw a stark contrast with his opponent, the Democratic nominee Adlai E. Stevenson, who had recently been divorced.

Lengthy campaigning did not help Mamie’s persistent health problems, which were exacerbated by extensive travel. Her preferred mode of travel was either train or automobile. Although she did travel by aircraft, her lifelong struggle with Ménière’s disease made flying a difficult task at best. Lightheadedness, caused by a carotid sinus condition when a vein would press against the inner ear, often caused her to stagger in public, which spurred rumors that she had a drinking problem. Although, like many in her generation, she drank alcohol on social occasions, there is no evidence that she had a problem with alcohol consumption. She did, reportedly, suffer from claustrophobia. Because of these recurring health issues, she made fewer public appearances during Eisenhower’s second term and declined to accompany the president on major overseas trips in both 1959 and 1960.

The Eisenhowers had a long and happy marriage which survived the difficulties associated with Ike’s career as an Army officer: long workdays, frequent household moves, and the sometime requirement of living in cramped, uncomfortable, and even harsh conditions. While such factors would severely strain any marriage, the Eisenhowers overcame occasional disagreements triggered by Ike’s career demands and arrived at a mutually acceptable solution. In sum, many of the parameters of their relationship were defined by their goal of meeting the demands of his military career.

Substantial evidence suggests that they had a strong marriage. For example, each of them wrote lengthy and frequent letters to the other when they were apart as well as corresponding with other family members. Many of the surviving letters suggest a close relationship, marked by occasional, but not powerful, disagreements. A rumored affair between Ike and his driver-secretary Kay Summersby was vigorously denied by the general. Overall, the Eisenhowers’ personal correspondence, coupled with subsequent accounts from friends and peers, shows that their solid relationship withstood career-based obstacles seldom encountered by their generational peers.

The Eisenhowers’ other family relationships supported the strength of their marriage. The couple had a consistently closer relationship with the Doud family than with the Eisenhowers, and they received nurture and some financial support from the Douds. Significantly, both of Mamie and Ike’s sons were heartily loved and given a nurturing and supportive environment.

Presidency and First Ladyship

Unquestionably, Mamie enjoyed being First Lady, but she set her own terms in regard to the position. She viewed her role as First Lady as one of managing family matters and the social obligations of the president and supporting his responsibilities as chief of state.

Although it has been noted that no job exists to prepare anyone to become president of the United States, few incoming First Ladies were better prepared for the impact of the office on their lifestyle than Mamie. Her lengthy experience as the wife of an Army officer—and particularly the years when her husband served at the highest levels—provided her with the necessary experience in planning and managing large, formal social gatherings. The breadth of her obligations had increased along with Ike’s promotions in rank. Generals, particularly those assigned to major commands overseas, were frequently expected to entertain important military, economic, and political figures.

Helping Mamie develop her skills as the hostess for an important figure were her husband’s overseas Army assignments, especially to the Philippines in 1936 as an aide to General Douglas MacArthur and in 1951, when Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe. In both instances, Mamie was put in charge of a large home that also served as the setting for the social events over which she presided, together with an extensive domestic staff. As her husband’s career-related social obligations became progressively larger and more complex, Mamie became increasingly comfortable in giving orders to the staff, supervising the execution of those plans, and making immediate corrections if she thought them necessary.

The NATO assignment in particular provided her with extensive opportunities to plan and carry out large social events, attended by an array of important international guests. The couple lived in a fourteen-room villa at Marnes-la-Coquette, just outside Paris. She often was the hostess for gatherings of more than one hundred guests, including European royalty.

The Eisenhowers had been married more than thirty-five years upon arriving at the White House. Mamie had long before become comfortable with being married to a powerful man. She knew how to deal with those seeking to curry favor with her husband. She also had endured harsh criticism of her husband and herself from jealous or vengeful rivals. Mamie always had to guard both her public and private actions, to avoid saying or doing anything that could reflect poorly on her husband’s career. Instead, she cultivated the art of maintaining a gracious appearance in the background.

On a personal level, she enjoyed living with her family in one location for the longest period of time since their wedding. Although Mamie and the president were the only full-time residents of the second floor of the White House, her mother, Elvira Carlson Doud, lived with them for a time. In addition, their son, John, and his family were frequent guests. The sights and sounds of their four grandchildren playing in the hallways and on the White House grounds were both comforting and uplifting for the president and the First Lady.

One noteworthy activity Mamie undertook as First Lady was to reclaim antique furnishings which had previously been used in the White House. She was particularly interested in acquiring furniture and china. Mamie established a reputation among the White House staff for being the lone person in charge. She was known as a forceful, yet fair, manager who paid great attention to the countless details of overseeing the operation of the White House.

Mamie was much more passive concerning public policy, eschewing politics and avoiding discussion of issues with her husband during their private time together. “It wasn’t my business anyway—he was president and I wasn’t,” she explained to one interviewer. She completely avoided speaking in public or at news conferences and entered the Oval Office only four times during her husband’s eight years in the presidency, and only after being invited to do so, she reported.

Aside from attending to personal family matters, Mamie devoted her time as First Lady to planning and carrying out the myriad social obligations expected of a chief of state. She planned each occasion, particularly those held in the White House, down to the smallest detail. She carefully orchestrated all of the receptions, parties, state dinners, and other social gatherings in the White House. She was by now comfortable in dealing with the nuances of protocol as well as the boundless ego of the occasional public official.

Legacy

Although many incoming First Ladies have encountered difficulty in adjusting to life in the public eye, Mamie Eisenhower possessed several tools for dealing with the challenges. First, she had overcome many more trying times earlier in her marriage: The death of her first son left emotional scars which remained with her the rest of her life. In addition, as the wife of an Army officer, she moved repeatedly and lived in not only Army posts in western and southern parts of the United States but overseas in the Panama Canal zone and the Philippines. Moreover, after her husband became a senior officer during World War II, Mamie was separated from him for most of the remaining three years of the conflict. The White House was the most permanent address she had enjoyed since they were married in 1916.

Another strength Mamie brought with her to the White House was an apparent determination to create what later might have been called an image to support the position of her husband. On one dimension, she was passionately devoted to her family and provided the public with countless images of a caring wife, mother, and grandmother. She also sought to present a fitting picture of a president’s wife. Mamie was regularly named to “best-dressed” lists of prominent Americans. Her favorite color was pink, which she wore regularly in a variety of ways. She also popularized bangs to the point that similar hairstyles were referred to as Mamie bangs.

Bibliography

Brandon, Dorothy. Mamie Doud Eisenhower: A Portrait of a First Lady. New York: Scribner’s, 1954.

David, Lester, and Irene David. Ike and Mamie: The Story of the General and His Lady. New York: Putnam, 1981.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. Letters to Mamie. Edited by John S. D. Eisenhower. Garden City, N.J.: Doubleday, 1978. Dwight

Eisenhower, Susan. Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.

Hatch, Alden. Red Carpet for Mamie. New York: Holt, 1954.

Henney, Elizabeth. “Presenting: Mamie.” The Washington Post, August 2, 1942.