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Mamie Doud Eisenhower
Military Wife and First
Lady
By
Anne Adams
“I’ve just had the first good night’s
sleep I’ve had since we’ve been in the
White House… … now I can reach over and
pat Ike on his old bald head any time I
want to!”
So said Mamie Eisenhower to a friend in
her first few days as First Lady, as
described by White House Chief Usher J.B.
West in his book Upstairs at the White
House (p. 129). While Mrs. Eisenhower’s
delight in being so close to her husband
might be heartwarming to any couple who
have a long-term marriage, for Mrs.
Eisenhower it had special meaning. It
was based on the fact that she could do
it – that he was right beside her. Also,
it was something she had not always been
able to always do since her military
officer husband had previously been gone
so often. However, there would be no
more absences since her military husband
was now President.
When Mamie Geneva Doud was born in
Boone, Iowa in November 1896, she was
the second presidential wife to be born
in the west, the first being Lou Hoover,
who was also born in Iowa. Mamie was the
second daughter of four, and her father
was a businessman from Chicago and her
mother an Iowa girl. Mr. Doud was
successful enough to retire in 1904 when
he settled his family in Denver where
Mamie attended school. Eventually he
acquired a winter home in San Antonio,
Texas and since he was an automobile
devotee each fall he drove his family
(and 2 servants) from Denver to Texas,
and then returned in the spring. The
trip took three weeks and when bad roads
or breakdowns halted their progress,
Mrs. Doud lifted their spirits by
playing popular songs on her harmonica.
In the autumn of 1915 once in San
Antonio, the Doud family drove to nearby
Fort Sam Houston to visit friends, who
in turn introduced 19-year-old Mamie to
the newly arrived Lt. Dwight D.
Eisenhower. He was completely smitten by
the smiling, petite and pretty Miss Doud,
yet at first Mamie saw Eisenhower as
only one beau among many. However, he
persisted and soon was visiting the Doud
home to both court Mamie and become
closer to her family. Eventually as the
winter passed, Mamie began to take his
attention more seriously and they soon
announced their engagement. Though Mamie
would have preferred to wait to marry in
the fall of 1916, because Ike could have
been called to military action she
advanced the wedding date. They were
married at the Doud home in Denver in
July, 1916.
Mamie soon learned that a military
family was frequently on the move. They
first lived in a small apartment at Fort
Sam Houston, then over the years they
would occupy a variety of residences of
various sizes and conditions as Ike’s
military assignments took them to such
places as Pennsylvania, Georgia,
Maryland, the Panama Canal Zone,
Colorado and Kansas. However, as
Eisenhower advanced in rank they resided
in better quarters in Washington, New
York, and later in Paris. In fact, Mamie
once guessed that in her thirty-seven as
a military wife she had unpacked and set
up a new home 27 times.
Besides the frequent moves, Mamie
learned to live on a lieutenant’s pay,
which was probably a great change from
her family’s affluence, as well as how
to operate the home, and deal with
family expenses. However, when it came
to the cooking, Ike was the family chef.
Since life for military families could
be routine and even monotonous Mamie
soon learned to play card games with the
other wives, as well as with Ike and
other couples. She also occupied herself
or entertained with her piano skills
As World War I continued and Ike was
assigned where Mamie could not always
accompany him, she remained at Fort Sam
Houston. There she gave birth to her
first son Dwight Doud, in September,
1917 – a baby quickly nicknamed Icky.
Soon promoted to the rank of major, Ike
was assigned to stateside posts during
the war then three years later they
moved to Ft. Meade, Maryland. There Icky
was stricken with scarlet fever and with
Mamie bedridden at home with a serious
respiratory affection following
pneumonia, it was Ike who stayed by the
child’s sick bed. Icky’s death in
January, 1921 flung Mamie into a sense
of shocked grief so serious that her
family and Ike were greatly concerned.
Their next assignment was in the Panama
Canal Zone and since Mamie knew such a
post would mean a great deal to Ike and
his career she coped with the heat and
humidity of a tropical climate. In 1923
she returned to Denver for the birth of
her second child and after John Sheldon
Doud Eisenhower was born in August.
Several months later with the baby and
his nurse, Mamie returned to the Canal
Zone. A year later, Ike completed his
tour of duty there and when the
Eisenhowers returned to the U.S., Mamie
was wearing her hair short and bobbed
with a fringe of bangs crossing her
forehead. It was a hairstyle that was to
become her trademark.
After several years in Washington, in
1935 Major Eisenhower was asked by
General Douglas Macarthur to join his
command in the Philippines. While Mamie
did not relish returning to a tropical
climate, she found she had to delay
joining Ike till John had finished
junior high school. Once mother and son
arrived in the Philippines, John went to
boarding school, and Mamie took up
residence in a hotel to cope with the
dislike of the climate as well as poor
health. After a few years when Ike was
promoted again they moved to more
comfortable housing at Fort Sam Houston.
The Second World War brought new
promotions and resulting assignments for
Ike but more loneliness for Mamie. While
he served in Europe, Mamie remained in
Washington. Despite Ike’s concern for
her health and provision of a companion,
Mamie continued to be apprehensive about
his safety. Her nervousness caused
insomnia and a general decline in
health, and there was more anxiety when
John Eisenhower graduated from West
Point and was then assigned to overseas
duty. However, Ike did manage a brief
low profile return for a short vacation
with Mamie before returning to Europe.
When he finally returned home in 1945,
Mamie’s health broke down, but as she
recovered, she began to enjoy the fact
that her husband had become very popular
because of his war service. They lived
in New York for a while when he was the
president of Columbia University, then
moved to Paris as Ike assumed a command
post with the newly organized North
Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was
this last residence in Paris where she
was often complimented for her cordial
good manners, hospitality and
cheerfulness.
Even before Ike had assumed his European
command post the Eisenhowers had
acquired a farm property near
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Here Mamie
began supervising the remodeling of what
would be the first home of their own
after 34 years of marriage. She
continued the supervision throughout the
White House years as they demolished a
great portion of the original farmhouse
and built a new house around what was
left.
When Ike decided to leave his European
command and run for President Mamie
continued her loving support at the new
challenge. When campaigning by the
“whistle stop” train tour she stood on
the rear platform of the train while Ike
addressed the crowd but was ready to
step forward when he introduced her with
…” and now I want you to meet my Mamie.”
At that point Mamie, enjoying the whole
experience, stepped forward with a smile
and a wave.
Once the Eisenhowers entered the White
house Mamie proved a gracious First
Lady, and those who knew her both
publicly and privately found the same
charming and composed personality. J.B.
West described a well equipped First
Lady: “Yet underneath the buoyant
spirit, there was a spine of steel
forged by years of military discipline.
As the wife of a career army officer,
she understood the hierarchy of a large
establishment, the division of
responsibilities, and how to direct a
staff.” She was accustomed to operating
a large home with a complete staff and
Ike’s previous commands had also given
her great experience. Since she had
managed Quarters Number One at Ft.
Myers, Virginia as Ike had served as
U.S. Army Chief of Staff, as well as a
French estate when he was Supreme
Commander, Headquarters of Allied Powers
in Europe the White House was nothing
new. Yet the experienced house manager
was also very human. West continued: “In
Mamie Doud Eisenhower, the public saw a
friendly outgoing lady…a closer looked
showed a vivacious, fun-loving
grandmother, an uninhibited belle who
adored her Ike.” (p. 130-131).
The Eisenhowers continued to spend
frequent summer vacations at the Doud
home in Denver and there in 1955 Ike
suffered a heart attack and when he was
hospitalized Mamie stayed with him. A
second attack in 1957 was not as serious
and he recovered to finish his second
term.
After Ike left office he and Mamie began
their retirement at Gettysburg and
winters at Palm Springs. Ike’s heart
attack early in 1968 brought them back
to Washington and the Walter Reed Army
Hospital. She remained with him through
successive attacks as a comforting and
composed companion till he died in
March, 1969.
After Ike’s death, Mamie remained in the
Gettysburg home, but once a year she
made the trip back to Abilene to the
Eisenhower library where she visited
Ike’s grave, as well as that of Icky.
Finally in September, 1979 Mamie
suffered a stroke and moved to Walter
Reed Army Hospital where Ike had died
just ten years before. There she passed
away on November 1, 1979.
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