Mamie Doud Eisenhower

"Ike and Mamie were middle-class Americans to the core, right out of a Norman Rockwell painting." —Bob Hope, 1980

Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was born in Boone, Iowa in 1896 and spent her early years in Cedar Rapids. At age six, she moved with her family to Colorado. In 1915, she met and later married Lieutenant Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Eisenhowers moved 35 times, living in a variety of army posts, including Panama, France, and the Philippines. Two sons were born to them. Mamie Eisenhower was a well-known and admired First Lady who served with her husband in the White House from 1953 to 1961. For over 25 years, she was listed on the Gallup Poll of the "Ten Most Admired Women in America." Her years in the White House were marked with dignity, grace, charm, and charitable works. After the Eisenhowers retired from public office, they returned to their farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1970, Eisenhower received the "Nation's Foremost Heart Volunteer" award from the American Heart Association and was the first woman to receive the coveted Iowa Award. In 1971, President Nixon presented her with the "Military Wife of the Century" award at a Diamond Jubilee Dinner. Eisenhower died in 1979, 10 years after the former President. Eisenhower's birthplace in Boone was restored to its 1890s period and dedicated as a museum/library in 1980. It is open to the public from April through October and at other times by appointment. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.