PTPI is thrilled to bring you a very special addition to this quarter’s Global Book Club selection – a two-part Q & A with the authors themselves! Below is a note from David Eisenhower (brother of PTPI President/CEO Mary Eisenhower), followed by his response to the first of three questions posed by our staff readers:
Julie and I are excited to participate in the PTPI book discussion! PTPI was important to Dwight Eisenhower and, as we describe in our book, Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life With Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961-1969, one of the great satisfactions of Granddad’s retirement years was that he had more time to devote to the organization . Granddad really was committed to the idea that world peace could be achieved if nations allowed their citizens to interact with each other and learn from each other. He encouraged me to take part in PTPI and when I was in high school, I traveled to Mexico to stay with a family during the summer of 1965. Two decades later, Julie and I encouraged our then junior high school daughter, Melanie, to travel to Europe with People to People.
Of course, we are proud of Mary’s leadership of PTPI today. In our book, Julie and I included many letters and diaries in order to bring into sharp focus Granddad and his world during the crucial decade of the sixties. We want to quote now what Granddad wrote about Mary in his Dec. 21, 1967 diary entry:
“Mary Jean’s 12th birthday. Sent her a telegram; Mamie sent a present. She is a fine little girl, rapidly growing up.”One of the questions you have asked is:
1. What did we learn about Dwight Eisenhower’s retirement years as we worked on this book?
Of course, Granddad was a larger than life figure to me and I thought I knew him as well as anyone. Until I was four years old, I called him “Ike.” After he was elected President in 1952, it was gently suggested I switch to “Granddad. “ I worked for my grandfather as a farm hand from the time I was eight. He seemed old-fashioned to me in many ways–his beliefs, his rigid, upright personal code of conduct. Yet, as I researched and wrote this book, I was struck by how relevant Granddad sounds in terms of the issues the United States faces today. One example, in a letter to me in 1966, Granddad expressed thoughts that many are articulating in various ways in 2011:
“Too many of us are allowing too much authority and responsibility for our lives to become concentrated in Washington…If we had better and stronger government at lower levels we would do much to reduce the risk that one day we are going to be governed by and entrenched and organized bureaucracy.”
Another example: in calling for civility in politics and public life, Eisenhower sounded a theme that is not unfamiliar today:
“except for moral issues and exact sciences, extreme positions are always wrong.”
Finally, in another letter to me in early 1968, Granddad confides that he has just had a letter from my sister, Anne, who
“reports (secretly) that when you come to see her, it is usually for money. Remember that most Republicans are very severely criticizing the administration Democrats for ‘Big Spending.’ Republicans don’t believe in financial deficits.”
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
-David Eisenhower
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