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Dwight D Eisenhower |
If you want less detail and more pictures, watch the video of this trip on youtube.
We spent all of yesterday traveling through Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas, stopping for the night at Salina, Kansas. The wind was howling for most of the afternoon, which made staying on the road a struggle all the way. This morning, we stopped at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. The movie was an excellent introduction to the life of Dwight David Eisenhower, showing how is up bringing prepared him for his two decades as the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II and then as President from 1953 to 1960. On the grounds is the site of his boyhood home. He was raised here with his 5 brothers (one of whom died in childhood). The home is quite modest, and has all of its original furnishings, since it was made a museum after his mother died. Ike learned how to be a diplomat and work with others through the course of his army career, which led to his promotion over many senior officers in World War II. The temporary exhibit (if 3 years is temporary) was the story of World War II in Europe. It pointed out that the first major victories were in North Africa, since it was going to take years of preparation to assault the core of Europe. Eisenhower did a lot of the planning for this operation, showing his expertise for planning D-Day. After the War, both parties tried to draft him to be their presidential candidate in 1952. The exhibit on his presidential years, left two key impressions: everyone seemed to like Ike and he faced the challenge of slowing the spread of communism without starting a war. Korea, the death of Stalin, the Hungarian revolt, Fidel’s revolution in Cuba, the first sputnik launch – all these happened on his watch. But probably his greatest legacy was the Interstate system. He had a passion for this because of the difficulty he found traveling the country before World War II and admiration for Germany’s autobahn. The huge program was justified for the nation’s defense.
We spent all of yesterday traveling through Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas, stopping for the night at Salina, Kansas. The wind was howling for most of the afternoon, which made staying on the road a struggle all the way. This morning, we stopped at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. The movie was an excellent introduction to the life of Dwight David Eisenhower, showing how is up bringing prepared him for his two decades as the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II and then as President from 1953 to 1960. On the grounds is the site of his boyhood home. He was raised here with his 5 brothers (one of whom died in childhood). The home is quite modest, and has all of its original furnishings, since it was made a museum after his mother died. Ike learned how to be a diplomat and work with others through the course of his army career, which led to his promotion over many senior officers in World War II. The temporary exhibit (if 3 years is temporary) was the story of World War II in Europe. It pointed out that the first major victories were in North Africa, since it was going to take years of preparation to assault the core of Europe. Eisenhower did a lot of the planning for this operation, showing his expertise for planning D-Day. After the War, both parties tried to draft him to be their presidential candidate in 1952. The exhibit on his presidential years, left two key impressions: everyone seemed to like Ike and he faced the challenge of slowing the spread of communism without starting a war. Korea, the death of Stalin, the Hungarian revolt, Fidel’s revolution in Cuba, the first sputnik launch – all these happened on his watch. But probably his greatest legacy was the Interstate system. He had a passion for this because of the difficulty he found traveling the country before World War II and admiration for Germany’s autobahn. The huge program was justified for the nation’s defense.
The next morning we traveled across the first
18 miles of Interstate just west of Topeka.
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Eisenhower's boyhood home |
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