Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

This morning we departed Smith Center and hit the road again on our adventures. On our way to Branson we plan to visit two presidential libraries. The first one, today, is in Abilene, Kansas, birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower. For both Ken and me, Ike was the first president whose name we knew, so we were especially interested. The Eisenhower complex includes a Visitors Center, Ike's boyhood home,the Place of Meditation, the Library, and the Museum.



In front of the statue are the words "Champion of Peace." On the pylons in back are plaques provided as memorials to Ike’s parents, his brothers, the military, Americans in general,and Ike’s roles as leader of the army and the nation.












We arrived at lunch and picnicked on the grounds, then started at the Visitors Center, which is basically a gift shop. We became members of the Eisenhower Foundation, which permits us to visit any of the presidential libraries operated by the National Archives without charge. Then we went to the Place of Meditation--very like a chapel, where Ike and Mamie are buried. Some quotations from Ike's speeches are on the walls. Here is my favorite: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." (from The Chance for Peace Address).





The Place of Meditation














Ike lived in the modest home located here from 1898, when he was 8, until he left for West Point. The house contains the original furnishings and really gives some of the flavor of life growing up in small town America in the early part of the 20th century.














Many items used by Ike are on display, including the staff car he used in Europe during World War II.














The museum currently houses a special exhibit called Presidential Treasures. For me the highlight was JFK's rocking chair.