I am old enough to remember standing on a curb and waving as President Eisenhower's motorcade whizzed by. Such a thrill at the time. My buddy Skip's parents pushed Skip under the rope line, much to the Secret Service's distress, so he could shake the President's hand.
Ike's boyhood home is less than a couple of hours' drive west of our store. He was the third son born to David and Elizabeth Eisenhower; they had seven sons in total. Their home is evidence of the family's modest means. Eisenhower always emphasized the value of his Kansas roots. Therefore, of all the Presidents, my connection with Eisenhower is the strongest.
This Presidential Library was in the news recently when the director was forced to resign over a spat with the current administration regarding the gifting of one of Eisenhower's swords to King Charles III during his recent state visit. The sword rightly remains in the collection, but the former director is now gone. The 22-acre campus includes not only the final resting place for both the President and Mamie Eisenhower, but also 70,000 artifacts, 335,000 photographs, and 30 million pages of historical records. It is a world-class research facility, museum, and library. It is well worth a visit.
You can gain a better understanding of the man and his times. He wasn't perfect. He didn't make enough progress with civil rights, let McCarthyism fester too long, and oversaw the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran. However, you come away understanding that Ike was driven by duty, honor, and country, which his family and West Point drilled into him. He did his best.
Presidential libraries explain how the political pendulum swings back and forth. Eisenhower ended 20 years of Democratic control of the White House; after 8 years, JFK replaced Ike. At the end of World War II, Ike was the consensus candidate for President. Both Democrats and Republicans wanted to nominate him; his party affiliation was unknown. His campaign slogan was simple: "I like Ike." At the end of Ike's tenure in the White House, the national debt was a paltry $289 billion, inflation remained steady below 2% and unemployment stayed below 4.5%. He practiced what he called "practical conservatism." Although he ardently believed in small government with a balanced budget, he did operate at a deficit, though modest when you consider the infrastructure projects like the Interstate Highway System and gearing up for the Cold War. Eisenhower's net worth was around $10 million in inflation-adjusted 2026 dollars. That is about the same as Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. He was an honorable man. Even so, the country wanted the "torch passed to a younger generation" and party. The upcoming midterms will provide plenty of data points indicating the pendulum's direction. Even the Kansas Senate race seems competitive. It will be interesting.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
