My Kansas Kronikles: The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

When I was a small boy growing up in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of a summer afternoon on a riverbank we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major-league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish. Dwight D. Eisenhower.My first Abilene post only touched on the the town's most famous son, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Now it's time for Ike.

Let me be blunt. If you are anywhere near Abilene--the town is just south of Interstate 70--and you are history buff and especially a World War II buff, you need to visit the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.

Sitting on 22 acres of land, the Eisenhower complex includes a vistor's center, the for-scholars-only library, and the museum.

There's also the Place of Meditation, where Eisenhower, his wife Mamie, and one of their sons are entombed. The Eisenhower family home, where Ike's mother lived until 1946, is also part of the complex.

The museum is dominated, or seemed that way to me, by Eisenhower's military career and his time as the Supreme Allied Commander for the invasion of Europe. Other rooms of the museum are dedicated to of course Ike's underrated (I think so) presidency, a section devoted to Mamie Eisenhower, and a room, which was kind of a disappointment, showcasing the gifts the nation's 34th president received during his eight years in the White House.

Eisenhower was a great man, but his presence in Kansas is in the background. Many states of the union have as their icon, "the guy." So far no women are so blessed.

What is "the guy" of a state? Well, Illinois has of course Lincoln, Tennessee has Andrew Jackson, and Pennsylvania has Ben Franklin. Ten years ago I bought a car from a woman in St. Louis, on the vehicle's title was the image of Eisenhower's predecessor, Harry Truman.

North Dakota has Theodore Roosevelt. Now Teddy probably didn't spend more than a couple of years living there, but I saw Roosevelt's picture on the "Welcome to North Dakota" sign on the North and South Dakota border when I was in that part of the country three years ago.

Kansas needs to elevate Eisenhower as it's "guy." True, Eisenhower was born in Texas, but moved with his family to Kansas two years later. Oh, of "the guys" that I mentioned above, only Truman was born in "his state."

And yes, Ike didn't spend a lot of time in Kansas, outside of a late 1920s stint at Fort Leavenworth, but Eisenhower always considered himself a Kansan.

I can't think of any reason not to add Eisenhower's image to "Welcome to Kansas" signs.

Kansans, he's "your guy."

Next: Another courthouse post, my penultimate entry.

Related post:

My Kansas Kronikles: Abilene