The Presidential Timeline

Early Life and Career

October 14, 1890 - January 20, 1953

Dwight David Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890, to David and Ida (Stover). In 1892, his family moved back to Abilene, Kansas, where Eisenhower attended elementary school and high school. There, he was given the lifelong nickname, “Ike.” Eisenhower began his illustrious military career by entering West Point in 1911. He met his wife Mamie Geneva Doud while assigned to Ft. Sam Houston in Texas; they married in 1916 and had two sons. Prior to WWII, Eisenhower served in a variety of military assignments domestically and internationally, and eventually joined the War Department as an assistant military advisor to Army Chief of Staff General Douglas McArthur.

Following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, General George Marshall gave Eisenhower the task of planning military operations against Japan. In 1942, he took command of U.S. Forces, European Theater. Eventually, he became Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces, European Theater. He administered the Allied plan for victory, culminating in the D-Day invasion of France in June 1944. Later victories in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, resulted in the defeat of Germany. Before the war in Europe ended, he had become a five-star general.

In November 1945, Eisenhower succeeded General Marshall as Army Chief of Staff and returned to the United States. On his watch, international tensions escalated as the Soviets and the Communist Chinese used every means to expand their power and influence. The Cold War had begun.

Eisenhower resigned his military commission in 1948 to become president of Columbia University, but returned to military service in 1950 to assume operational command of the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization. When he returned to the United States to run for the presidency in 1952, he left to his successor, a strong and stable NATO.

October 14, 1890

In October 1888, Eisenhower’s father, David Eisenhower, leaves Hope, Kansas for Denison, Texas to work for the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railway. His wife, Ida Eisenhower, joins him in Denison, Texas with sons Arthur and Edgar in April 1889. Dwight David Eisenhower is born in Denison on October 14, 1890.

March 1892

Eisenhower family returns to Dickinson County, Kansas.

May 28, 1909

Eisenhower graduates from Abilene High School and works as a refrigeration engineer at Belle Springs Creamery in Abilene, Kansas.

June 14, 1911

Eisenhower enters U.S. Military Academy (USMA), West Point, New York.

June 12, 1915

Eisenhower graduates from U.S. Military Academy (USMA) and is commissioned second lieutenant of infantry.

September 13, 1915

Eisenhower reports to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, for military service.

July 1, 1916

Eisenhower weds Mamie Geneva Doud at her family home in Denver, Colorado.

May 15, 1917

Eisenhower is promoted to captain.

September 22, 1917

Eisenhower serves as an instructor at the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) camp in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

December 12, 1917

Eisenhower serves as an instructor at the Army Service Schools in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

March 1, 1918

65th Engineers, Fort Meade, Maryland.

March 23, 1918

Eisenhower serves as commander of Camp Colt, Tank Corps, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

July 18, 1918

Eisenhower is promoted to temporary rank of major.

October 14, 1918

Eisenhower is promoted to temporary rank of lieutenant colonel.

November 18, 1918

Eisenhower serves as troop commander to Tank Corps in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

December 24, 1918

Eisenhower serves as troop commander to Tank Corps in Fort Benning, Georgia.

March 17, 1919

Tank Corps, Fort Meade.

July 7, 1919

Lt. Col. Eisenhower serves as observer for the Tank Corps on the Army’s First Transcontinental Truck Convoy on the Lincoln Highway.

January 26, 1922

Eisenhower serves, under General Fox Conner, as executive officer to the 20th Infantry Brigade at Camp Gaillard, Panama Canal Zone.

August 26, 1924

Eisenhower is promoted to permanent rank of major.

September 28, 1924

Eisenhower serves as Recreation Officer, III Corps Area, Fort Meade.

January 25, 1925

Eisenhower serves as a recruiting officer for the 38th Infantry at Fort Logan, Denver, Colorado.

August 25, 1925

Eisenhower attends Command and General Staff School in Fort Leavenworth and graduates number one in his class.

August 18, 1926

Eisenhower serves as Assistant Post Executive Officer at Fort Benning, and commander of 2d Battalion, 24th Infantry.

January 21, 1927

Eisenhower serves on staff of American Battle Monuments Commission.

August 16, 1927

Eisenhower attends Army War College in Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.

July 1, 1928

Eisenhower serves on the American Battle Monuments Commission in Washington, D.C., and Paris, France.

November 8, 1929

Eisenhower is assistant executive to assistant secretary of war.

February 20, 1933

Eisenhower is special assistant to General Douglas MacArthur, the Chief of Staff of the War Department General Staff.

October 25, 1935

Eisenhower is senior assistant to General Douglas MacArthur, the military adviser to the Philippine Commonwealth.

July 1, 1936

Eisenhower is promoted to lieutenant colonel.

January 6, 1940

Eisenhower serves temporary duty at IX Corps Area Headquarters the Presidio, San Francisco.

February 3, 1940

Eisenhower serves as Executive Officer of the 15th Infantry and Commander of the 1st Battalion in Fort Lewis, Washington.

November 30, 1940

Eisenhower is appointed Chief of Staff of Headquarters, 3rd Division in Fort Lewis.

March 4, 1941

Eisenhower serves as Chief of Staff of Headquarters of the IX Army Corps in Fort Lewis.

March 11, 1941

Eisenhower is promoted to temporary rank of colonel.

August 7, 1941

Eisenhower serves as Chief of Staff of the Third Army in San Antonio, Texas.

December 14, 1941

Eisenhower is appointed Deputy Assisant Chief of Staff, War Plans Division, War Department in Washington, D.C.

February 16, 1942

Eisenhower is designated as Assistant Chief of Staff, War Plans Division.

April 1942

Eisenhower is appointed Assistant Chief of Staff, Operations Division.

May 1942

Eisenhower conducts a mission to increase cooperation among World War II allies in London, England.

June 1942

Eisenhower is designated Commanding General of U.S. Army Forces in the European Theater in London, England.

November 1942

Eisenhower is named Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces in North Africa.

August 30, 1943

Eisenhower is promoted to the permanent rank of brigadier general and permanent rank of major general.

December 1943

Eisenhower is named Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

June 6, 1944

Allied Forces under Eisenhower’s command invade Europe.

December 20, 1944

Eisenhower is promoted to General of the Army (5 stars).

May 1945

Eisenhower is appointed Military Governor of the U.S. Occupied Zone, Germany.

November 19, 1945

Eisenhower is designated Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and returns to the United States.

April 11, 1946

Eisenhower’s wartime rank of General of the Army is converted to permanent rank.

1947

Eisenhower publishes Crusade in Europe, a best-selling memoir of his service as Supreme Allied Commander, European Theater of Operations.

June 7, 1948

Eisenhower assumes duties as President of Columbia University in New York City.

December 19, 1950

Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Europe. He is given operational command of NATO and the U.S. Forces in Europe.

May 31, 1952

Eisenhower retires from active service.

June 4, 1952

Eisenhower announces his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for president.

July 1952

Eisenhower resigns his commission as General of the Army.

July 11, 1952

Eisenhower defeats Ohio Senator Robert Taft for the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

September 1952

A secret campaign fund benefiting his running mate Richard Nixon is alleged, and Nixon delivers his “Checkers” speech.

October 1952

Eisenhower announces that if elected president, he will go to Korea.

November 4, 1952

Eisenhower wins the presidency by a landslide of 33 million votes to opponent Adlai Stevenson’s 27 million.

November 29, 1952

Eisenhower departs for Korea to review the military situation.

1953

Senator Joseph McCarthy, chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee, continues hearings on communist subversion in America and investigates communist infiltration of the Armed Forces.

Presidency

January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1961

After Eisenhower decisively won the 1952 election, he dedicated his administration to restoring economic prosperity, ending the Korean conflict and containing communism abroad. Under Eisenhower’s leadership, considerable gains were made in education, transportation and civil rights. He ordered federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, when violence erupted over school integration. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 consolidated in one agency all research and development programs in space and aeronautical research. Internationally, Eisenhower’s presidency confronted the growing military, political and economic threat of the U.S.S.R. Scientific and technological competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. led to rivalry in the space race, resulting in the launch of Sputnik (U.S.S.R.) and Explorer I (U.S.).

Combining diplomacy with military muscle, Eisenhower obtained an armistice in Korea, ending a vicious war that had raged since 1950. The Eisenhower administration witnessed the division of Indochina into communist North Vietnam and U.S.-backed South Vietnam. Eisenhower’s presidency also faced and dealt with Middle East crises (Suez in 1956 and Lebanon in 1958), confronted the Soviet Union over Berlin and struggled with formulating a policy toward the anti-American Castro regime in Cuba. In his famous “Atoms for Peace” speech in December 1953, President Eisenhower proposed diverting nuclear materials from weapons development toward peaceful uses. Today’s International Atomic Energy Agency was born of the Atoms for Peace Program.

The Eisenhower presidency ended in January 1961, leaving Eisenhower’s successor John F. Kennedy a legacy of strong economic growth, a rapidly growing middle class, low inflation, relatively low unemployment and significant progress in civil rights for minority citizens. Although the Cold War continued and many international issues remained unresolved, the Eisenhower administration had avoided a major war with the Communist Bloc. The Cold War had not been won, but neither had it turned hot.

1953

Senator Joseph McCarthy, chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee, continues hearings on communist subversion in America and investigates communist infiltration of the Armed Forces.

January 20, 1953

Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as thirty-fourth President of the United States.

February 1953

During his weekly National Security Council meetings, Eisenhower frequently discusses the Korean War.

February 2, 1953

Eisenhower announces that the Seventh Fleet patrolling the Formosa Strait will no longer shield Communist China from military action by Nationalist China.

February 6, 1953

Eisenhower removes government controls on wages and salaries.

February 11, 1953

Eisenhower refuses clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of delivering atomic secrets to Soviet agents.

March 5, 1953

Death of Josef Stalin, the Premier of the Soviet Union.

April 1, 1953

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare is created. Eisenhower names Oveta Culp Hobby as the first secretary of the newly created department. Hobby is only the second woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet.

April 16, 1953

President Eisenhower delivers “The Chance for Peace” speech before American Society of Newspaper Editors.

May 22, 1953

President Eisenhower signs the Submerged Lands Act giving states the natural resources, ownership and sovereignty over “lands beneath navigable waters within the boundaries of the respective states.”

June 14, 1953

President Eisenhower delivers the “Don’t join the book burners” speech on civil liberties at Dartmouth College.

June 19, 1953

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are executed.

July 1953

Eisenhower approves basic national security policy known as the “New Look.”

July 27, 1953

The signing of armistice at Panmunjon begins Korean War cease fire, calls for demilitarized zone, voluntary repatriation of prisoners, and establishes the thirty-eighth parallel as boundary between North and South Korea.

August 1953

American prisoners of war (Korea) are repatriated.

August 1953

President Eisenhower announces to the public that the Soviets have tested a hydrogen bomb.

August 12, 1953

Soviet Union tests thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb.

August 19, 1953

The Leftist government of Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran is ousted with covert CIA assistance and replaced with a regime loyal to Shah Pahlevi.

September 30, 1953

Gov. Earl Warren is appointed Chief Justice of Supreme Court.

December 4, 1953

Eisenhower meets with Churchill and the French Premier at the Bermuda Conference.

December 8, 1953

President Eisenhower delivers his “Atoms for Peace” speech at the United Nations, proposing an international atomic energy agency and peaceful development of nuclear energy.

January 21, 1954

First Lady Mamie Eisenhower launches USS Nautilus, first nuclear submarine.

March 1, 1954

The Atomic Energy Commission detonates a multimegaton thermonuclear device on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

March 13, 1954

The Vietminh begin their siege of Dien Bien Phu.

April 22, 1954

The U.S. Army-McCarthy hearings begin and continue for two months.

May 7, 1954

The French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrenders to the Vietminh.

May 8, 1954

The Geneva Conference on Indochina results in the Geneva Accords, which partition Vietnam at the Seventeenth Parallel and provide for unifying elections in two years.

May 13, 1954

The St. Lawrence Seaway Bill is signed authorizing joint construction by the United States and Canada.

May 17, 1954

In the court case Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, the Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are “inherently unequal.”

June 16, 1954

Orders the Atomic Energy Commission to award a power contract to the private Dixon-Yates Company rather than the TVA.

June 25, 1954

Eisenhower and Prime Minister Churchill confer at White House on world peace.

June 27, 1954

In Operation PBSUCCESS, U.S. covert action overthrows the Arbenz Regime in Guatemala

July 21, 1954

The Geneva Accords are signed, establishing a cease-fire and partition of Vietnam.

August 24, 1954

The Communist Party is banned in the U.S., but party membership is not made a crime.

September 1, 1954

Social Security Amendments of 1954 include increased benefits of old-age and survivors insurance. It expands coverage to include farmers, and professional people and others, adding nearly 7.5 million additional persons to the Social Security rolls.

September 8, 1954

The Southeast Asia Defense Treaty (SEATO) is signed.

October 23, 1954

West Germany is admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

October 25, 1954

The first telecast of a cabinet meeting.

November 10, 1954

Eisenhower transmits the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Collective Defense Treaty to the Senate for advice and consent.

November 24, 1954

Eisenhower approves the building of thirty U-2 reconnaissance planes.

December 2, 1954

Eisenhower signs a mutual defense pact with Taiwan.

December 2, 1954

U.S. Senate votes to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy.

January 10, 1955

The Chinese Communist Air Force raids Tachen Islands, 200 miles from Taiwan.

January 10, 1955

Eisenhower nominates John Marshall Harlan II to the Supreme Court.

January 19, 1955

President Eisenhower holds first televised presidential news conference.

January 28, 1955

Congress approves resolution to allow U.S. forces to defend Formosa against Communist aggression.

April 6, 1955

Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.

April 12, 1955

Americans receive the much-welcomed news that Dr. Jonas Salk has developed a safe vaccine against poliomyelitis. Immediately, the federal government implements a plan to have the vaccine produced by six licensed pharmaceutical companies and distributed to children throughout the country. Within one year, the deaths attributed to polio declines by 50 percent.

May 14, 1955

The Warsaw Pact is created.

May 15, 1955

The Austrian Treaty is signed, ending Allied occupation and restoring Austria as an independent sovereign nation.

May 31, 1955

The Supreme Court case, called “Brown II,” reaffirms principles of school integration, ordering compliance by local authorities “with all deliberate speed.”

July 21, 1955

At the Geneva Four-Power Conference, President Eisenhower submits his “Open Skies” proposal to U.S.S.R. allowing mutual air reconnaissance over each nation’s military installations; Soviets reject it.

August 12, 1955

Eisenhower signs a bill increasing the minimum wage to one dollar an hour, effective March 1, 1956.

September 24, 1955

President Eisenhower suffers a heart attack in Denver.

November 28, 1955

White House Conference on Education.

December 1, 1955

Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give her bus seat to a white person. Her arrest results in a boycott of city buses led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 30, 1956

British Prime Minister Eden confers with President Eisenhower at Washington, D.C.

February 22, 1956

President Eisenhower releases sizeable quantities of uranium 235 for peaceful atomic purposes, both domestic and foreign.

April 2, 1956

The Federal Council on Aging is established.

April 11, 1956

Upper Colorado River Storage Project authorizes Glen Canyon Dam and excludes dam in Dinosaur National Monument.

June 1956

Eisenhower approves U-2 spy flights over the Soviet Union.

June 9, 1956

President Eisenhower undergoes emergency operation for intestinal blockage.

June 29, 1956

Eisenhower signs National Defense Interstate Highway Act, creating the interstate highway system. This act provides $33.5 billion in federal funds to build 42,500 miles of roads and is the largest single U.S. public works program in history.

July 1, 1956

Mission 66, a ten-year plan to strengthen the National Parks, begins.

July 19, 1956

U.S. withdraws offers to help finance construction of Aswan High Dam in Egypt.

August 1956

The Suez Canal Crisis includes a brief military conflict between Egypt and an alliance of the U.K., France and Israel over Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal.

September 11, 1956

Eisenhower addresses the first People-to-People Conference.

September 29, 1956

Eisenhower appoints William J. Brennan to the Supreme Court.

October 1956

Armed revolt in Budapest, Hungary is crushed by Russian armed forces.

October 31, 1956

President Eisenhower deplores Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt, promising that the U.S. will not support its traditional allies.

November 6, 1956

President Eisenhower is re-elected in landslide (457-74 electoral votes) over opponent Adlai Stevenson.

November 8, 1956

U.S. offers to admit Hungarian refugees resulting from an anti-Soviet revolt.

1957

Business recession, over five million are unemployed before reversal of downward trend.

January 5, 1957

Joint Resolution for Peace and Stability in the Middle East is presented in President Eisenhower’s special message to Congress, unofficially known as the “Eisenhower Doctrine.”

January 10, 1957

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is formed by Martin Luther King, Jr., and 60 others.

March 9, 1957

“Eisenhower Doctrine” bill is signed, authorizing use of U.S. forces to assist Middle East nations threatened by Communist aggression.

March 19, 1957

Senate confirms the nomination of Charles Whittaker to the Supreme Court.

March 20, 1957

The Bermuda Conference is held with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

May 14, 1957

U.S. resumes military aid to Yugoslavia that was halted during Marshal Tito’s reconciliation with U.S.S.R.

June 19, 1957

Prime Minister Kishi of Japan visits Washington, D.C., and joint American-Japanese communiqué is issued June 21, announcing withdrawal of American ground combat forces from Japan.

July 1957

U.S. proposes ban on nuclear tests after establishment of inspection system.

July 1, 1957

The opening of the International Geophysical Year, a joint effort by scientists of 60 nations.

July 29, 1957

U.S. ratifies International Atomic Energy Agency, which was proposed by President Eisenhower in 1953 to pool atomic resources for peaceful use.

September 9, 1957

The President signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The new act establishes the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowers federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. It also establishes a federal Civil Rights Commission with authority to investigate discriminatory conditions and recommend corrective measures.

September 19, 1957

First underground nuclear explosion at Nevada proving grounds.

September 24, 1957

Eisenhower sends federal troops to enforce federal court ordered integration at Little Rock Central High School.

October 4, 1957

Soviet Union launches first earth satellite, Sputnik, into orbit, setting off demands for greater American efforts in defense and technology.

November 25, 1957

President Eisenhower suffers a mild stroke, but recovers rapidly.

December 13, 1957

President Eisenhower attends North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meetings in Paris.

January 31, 1958

First U.S. satellite, Explorer I, is sent into orbit.

April 2, 1958

Eisenhower recommends the creation of a civilian agency, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, to direct space exploration.

May 8, 1958

Vice President Nixon, on Latin American tour, is attacked by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Peru and again in Venezuela on May 13.

May 26, 1958

The dedication of first commercial atomic power plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.

June 15, 1958

Eisenhower meets with advisers on the growing crisis in Lebanon.

July 1958

Polar voyages of atomic submarines Nautilus and Skate.

July 15, 1958

Eisenhower orders U.S. Marines into Lebanon at the request of Lebanese President Camille Chamoun, who fears being overthrown by United Arab Republic.

July 29, 1958

Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The fledgling agency absorbs the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and conducts the civilian space program through research in its own facilities or by contract.

August 1958

Mainland China shells offshore islands Quemoy and Matsu in Formosa Straits.

September 2, 1958

President Eisenhower signs the National Defense Education Act, which provides loans for college students majoring in math, science and foreign languages.

September 22, 1958

Sherman Adams resigns in controversy regarding personal gifts from individuals doing business with the government.

November 1958

Khrushchev indicates that he plans to sign an early peace treaty with East Germany and calls on the western powers to withdraw their forces from West Berlin.

1959

Growing crisis in Laos.

January 1, 1959

Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba.

January 3, 1959

President Eisenhower signs a proclamation admitting Alaska as the forty-ninth state.

January 17, 1959

Eisenhower appoints Potter Stewart to the Supreme Court.

April 25, 1959

The St. Lawrence Seaway is opened.

May 24, 1959

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles dies.

July 24, 1959

Nixon and Khrushchev have their “kitchen debate” in Moscow.

August 21, 1959

Eisenhower signs a proclamation admitting Hawaii as the fiftieth state.

September 15, 1959

Premier Khrushchev visits the U.S.

October 13, 1959

Ground is broken for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas.

December 1, 1959

Signing of Antarctic Treaty.

December 3, 1959

President Eisenhower’s goodwill tour spans 22,000 miles and eleven nations in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

February 1, 1960

The President’s Commission on National Goals is organized as a non-official body whose purpose is to “develop a broad outline of national objectives and programs for next decade and longer.”

February 22, 1960

Eisenhower’s good will trip to South America.

March 17, 1960

Eisenhower approves program of covert action against the Castro regime.

March 27, 1960

Eisenhower addresses White House Conference on Children and Youth.

May 1, 1960

U-2 reconnaissance plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the U.S.S.R.

May 16, 1960

Paris Summit meeting collapses when Khrushchev demands an apology from Eisenhower for the U-2 flights.

June 12, 1960

Eisenhower’s good will trip to Far East.

June 30, 1960

The Congo (Zaire) gains independence from Belgium and widespread violence leads to intervention by U.N. troops.

July 20, 1960

Successful firing of Polaris missile.

August 18, 1960

CORONA reconnaissance satellite produces its first image.

October 14, 1960

President Eisenhower’s seventieth birthday.

November 8, 1960

Sen. John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon in presidential election.

December 6, 1960

Eisenhower signs Civil War Centennial Proclamation.

January 3, 1961

Eisenhower severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.

January 9, 1961

President Eisenhower addresses the White House Conference on Aging.

January 12, 1961

Eisenhower sends his last State Of the Union address to Congress.

January 17, 1961

Eisenhower delivers Farewell Address warning the nation of the “Military-Industrial Complex.”

Post-Presidency

January 20, 1961 - March 28, 1969

After departing from the presidency, Eisenhower looked forward to retirement and a more leisurely pace of life with his wife Mamie. To that end, Eisenhower had acquired the Gettysburg Farm, located not far from the place his grandfather had left nearly a century before when the family had made its trek to Kansas. With his son John and his family living nearby, Eisenhower anticipated the quiet years ahead. Raising prize-wining Black Angus cattle, overseeing an extensive garden and spending hours practicing on his backyard putting green were to become his favored retirement pastimes. Although he enjoyed being away from the limelight, Eisenhower was not a recluse. His new role as elder statesman kept him in touch with world events, and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson sought his counsel frequently. As he had all his life, Eisenhower kept a disciplined work schedule at his Gettysburg office. Here he completed his two-volume presidential memoirs: Mandate for Change in 1963 and Waging Peace in 1965. His popular autobiography, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends was published in 1967; and In Review: Pictures I’ve Kept: A Concise Pictorial Autobiography, his fourth post-presidential book, was published in 1969. The former president also contributed numerous articles to major magazines, including a series of thoughtful essays that appeared in Reader’s Digest from 1963 to 1967. During the last year of his life, Eisenhower’s health declined rapidly, and he spent most of his time at Walter Reed Hospital with Mamie at his side. His death on March 28, 1969, brought to an end the life of an extraordinary American public servant. Following a state funeral in Washington, D.C., Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the most admired men of the twentieth century, was honored with a full military funeral and burial in his beloved Abilene.

January 1961

Eisenhower maintains an office at Gettysburg College and a residence at his farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

March 22, 1961

President Kennedy signs a special act of Congress restoring Eisenhower’s military rank as General of the Army.

April 22, 1961

Eisenhower meets with Kennedy to discuss the Cuban Bay of Pigs failure. Kennedy consults with Eisenhower on foreign policy issues several times over the next three years.

May 1, 1962

Eisenhower attends dedication of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas.

July 18, 1962

Eisenhower leaves for a six-week tour of Europe, where he will speak on behalf of the People-to-People program and goodwill among nations.

October 29, 1962

Eisenhower and President Kennedy discuss the Soviet Union’s placement of missiles in Cuba.

1963

Doubleday publishes the first volume of Eisenhower’s presidential memoirs, The White House Years.

June 5, 1964

CBS broadcasts Walter Cronkite’s 90 minute-long documentary based upon his interviews with Eisenhower on the beaches of Normandy.

August 12, 1964

Eisenhower attends GOP “summit” in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he attempts to bandage the wounds left by the convention battle for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination.

January 30, 1965

In London, Eisenhower delivers a personal tribute, broadcast by the BBC, at the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill.

February 17, 1965

Eisenhower attends President Johnson’s “war council” meeting in which the initial U.S. response to the Vietnam crisis is developed. Many additional conversations with Johnson on foreign policy follow.

November 9, 1965

While vacationing at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, Eisenhower suffers a second major heart attack.

1966

Doubleday publishes At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends.

November 28, 1967

With General Omar Bradley, Eisenhower asks the American people to support U.S. efforts in Vietnam.

July 17, 1968

From his hospital suite at Walter Reed Army Hospital, Eisenhower issues a statement to the press endorsing his former vice president for the Republican nomination.

August 4, 1968

Via closed circuit television from his hospital suite, Eisenhower addresses the Republican National Convention.

March 28, 1969

Eisenhower dies at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. Following a state funeral in Washington, D.C., Eisenhower is buried with full military honors at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, on April 2, 1969.