John Eisenhower

John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower was born on August 3, 1922, at Denver General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. He was the second child of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later became the 34th President of the United States, and Mamie Eisenhower. His older brother, Doud, affectionately called "Icky," died at age three in 1921 after contracting scarlet fever.

Eisenhower attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating on June 6, 1944. He later earned a Master of Arts degree in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 1950. Between 1948 and 1951, he taught in the English Department at West Point. In 1955, he graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College.

His military service included assignments during World War II and the Korean War. Eisenhower remained in active duty until 1963 and continued in the U.S. Army Reserve until his retirement in 1975, achieving the rank of brigadier general. During World War II, he was assigned to intelligence and administrative duties. Concerns for his safety and strategic considerations led to restrictions on his combat participation during the war. However, he saw combat in Korea in 1952, serving with an infantry battalion and later being reassigned to the 3rd Division headquarters.

During his father’s presidency, Eisenhower held positions such as assistant staff secretary in the White House, on the Army's general staff, and as assistant to General Andrew Goodpaster. From 1969 to 1971, he served as the United States Ambassador to Belgium during the Nixon administration, which had significant political connections to his family. Nixon, who was Eisenhower’s father’s vice president, also was the father-in-law to Eisenhower's son, David.

In 1972, President Nixon appointed Eisenhower as chairman of the Interagency Classification Review Committee. In 1975, he served as chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees under President Gerald Ford.

Eisenhower was also a military historian and author. His published works include *The Bitter Woods*, a study of the Battle of the Bulge, and *So Far from God*, detailing the Mexican–American War. His book *Zachary Taylor: The American Presidents Series* was published in 2008. He also wrote forewords for books by Mitchell Yockelson and Kenneth W. Rendell. As a critic of certain architectural proposals, he opposed Frank Gehry’s proposed design for the National Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial.

A lifelong Republican, Eisenhower voted for Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, citing dissatisfaction with George W. Bush’s foreign policy management. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he addressed his wartime experiences and the issue of presidential children participating in military conflicts in a New York Times opinion piece titled "Presidential Children Don't Belong in Battle."

He was married twice. In 1947, he married Barbara Jean Thompson, with whom he had four children: Dwight David Eisenhower II, Barbara Anne Eisenhower, Susan Elaine Eisenhower, and Mary Jean Eisenhower. The couple divorced in 1986. Barbara Eisenhower died in 2014. In 1988, Eisenhower married Joanne Thompson. He resided in Trappe, Maryland, after moving from Kimberton, Pennsylvania.

John Eisenhower died on December 21, 2013, in Trappe, Maryland. From 2005 until his death, he was the oldest living child of a U.S. president, a distinction that passed to Lynda Bird Johnson after his passing. He was buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy.