Volume_29_Issue_3

12 Volume 29, Issue 3 Preservation & Progress The Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg is the official National Park Service (NPS) Eisenhower site, the only home Dwight and Mamie ever owned. They lived there while he was still in the White House as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 and throughout retirement. Eisenhower was a man of many interests and many qualifications. While visiting the farm, visitors are often drawn to his days as a farmer raising his herd of Angus cattle. But he was so much more: the recognized architect and leader of D-Day in World War II, an accomplished, though young, US Army officer in World War I who instructed soldiers in tank warfare at Camp Colt on the grounds of Pickett’s Charge. He was also a university president (Columbia University 1948–1953), although on extended leave from those duties to serve as the first supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He bought the Gettysburg farm in 1950 and during his White House years and used it as a weekend retreat of sorts because it is only eight miles from Camp David, the official “vacation White House,” so named for his grandson David. While at the White House and also in retirement, he welcomed world leaders at the farm and took them on personal tours of the Gettysburg National Military Park. He was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1915 and a student of military history regardless of the era. He was also a believer in the American school system and its teachers. Recently o n TeachHUB.com, t here was a ranking of the 12 most influential presidents. Eisenhower was ranked number one for the following enumerated reasons: In his two terms as president, Eisenhower laid the foundation of federal participation in education as we know it today. Eisenhower created the cabinet-level Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Fueled by Cold War competition, Eisenhower infused tremendous federal funds into education. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, Americans worried that the US was falling behind in areas such as science and mathematics. In response, Eisenhower enacted the National Defense Act of 1958. This legislation provided additional funding for all levels of education, gave money to some private institutions, and guaranteed that each state would continue to manage its own education system. President Eisenhower also enforced the desegregation of schools following the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in the case of Brown v. Brown of Education of Topeka. In one instance, Eisenhower sent troops to escort nine black students into their all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Among the other 11 presidents listed as educational influencers not in order here, were Woodrow Wilson, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Benjamin Harrison, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, and one more. Number two was Abraham Lincoln because he signed into law the Morrill Land Grant Act to establish public colleges and he is also important at Gettysburg—maybe for another newsletter issue! Source: www.teachhub.com E ISENHOWER ’ S 1 2 3 Influence on Education By Barbara J. Finfrock