PASSINGS: John S.D. Eisenhower
He was not on the list.
John S.D. Eisenhower, 91, the son of a five-star general turned president who forged his own career in the U.S. Army and then chronicled the history of the American military in numerous books, died Saturday, his family said in a statement.
No cause of death was given
John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower was born in Denver on Aug. 3, 1922, the second son of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mamie Doud Eisenhower.
Both father and son graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the son on June 6, 1944 — the day his father oversaw the Allied invasion of Europe. John Eisenhower spent 35 years in the Army, including 19 on active duty and several in the Reserve. He retired with the rank of brigadier general.
“My dad being an Army officer, I was just born to it,” Eisenhower said in a C-SPAN interview in 1998.
Eisenhower taught English for three years at West Point, then volunteered for service during the Korean War and later became a battalion commander.
He served on his father’s White House staff for the last few years of his administration and later helped his father write his post-presidential memoirs. The younger Eisenhower began writing his own books, then served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium during the first years of the Nixon administration. He soon returned to writing, focusing on the military’s relationship with government and politics.
“I can’t get away from the military,” Eisenhower told C-SPAN. “That’s my readership. And I don’t think I want to.”
His books included “The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge” and “So Far From God: The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846-1848.” He took the latter title from Mexican President Porfirio Diaz’s lament: “Alas, poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States!”
He also wrote a memoir about his father, “General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence,” as well as a 2008 biography of Zachary Taylor, the 12th president.
His marriage to Barbara Eisenhower ended in divorce. He is survived by his second wife, Joanne, and his four children: daughters Anne, Susan and Mary, and son David, who married President Nixon’s daughter Julie.
Eisenhower served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War, remaining on active duty until 1963; then serving in the U.S. Army Reserve until retirement in 1975 – attaining the rank of brigadier general. A decorated soldier, Eisenhower found his World War II military career thwarted by fears for his safety and concern from the top brass that his death or capture would be a distraction to his father, the Supreme Allied Commander. During World War II, he was assigned to intelligence and administrative duties. This issue arose again in 1952 when Major Eisenhower was assigned to fight in a combat unit in Korea while his father ran for president. But unlike World War II, John was able to see combat in Korea. After seeing combat with an infantry battalion, he was reassigned to the 3rd Division headquarters.
During his father's presidency, John Eisenhower served as Assistant Staff Secretary in the White House, on the Army's General Staff, and in the White House as assistant to General Andrew Goodpaster.
In the administration of President Richard Nixon, who had been his father's vice president, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971. In 1972, President Nixon appointed Eisenhower Chairman of the Interagency Classification Review Committee. In 1975, he served President Gerald Ford as chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees
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