Doud Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States. He was born in Denison, Texas, and was raised in Abilene, Kansas. Eisenhower's family background is predominantly of German and Pennsylvania Dutch descent. His ancestors with German roots included Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer, who migrated from Karlsbrunn (Nassau-Saarbrücken) in 1741 and settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The family name was originally Eisenhauer, meaning "iron hewer" or "miner," but it was later anglicized to Eisenhower.

His grandfather, Jacob Eisenhower, was a Kansas farmer, and his father, David Jacob Eisenhower (1863–1942), was an engineer and owner of a general store in Hope, Kansas. David Jacob’s efforts to support his family placed him in various occupations, including work as a railroad mechanic and at a creamery, after earlier economic hardships that resulted in poverty. His wife, Ida Elizabeth (Stover) Eisenhower, born in Virginia, was of German Protestant heritage. The couple married in 1885 in Lecompton, Kansas, and by 1898, they had achieved a moderate level of financial stability.

Dwight Eisenhower was one of seven children; one of his siblings died in infancy. His brothers included Arthur Bradford Eisenhower, Edgar Newton Eisenhower, Roy Jacob Eisenhower, Paul Dawson Eisenhower (who died in infancy), Earl Dewey Eisenhower, and Milton Stover Eisenhower. Milton became notable as the president of Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Johns Hopkins University.

Eisenhower married Mamie Doud on July 1, 1916. Mamie Doud was born in Boone, Iowa, in 1896, and came from a family with Norwegian and Swedish immigrant roots. Her father, John Sheldon Doud, was a meatpacking executive; her family lived in Cedar Rapids, Colorado Springs, and San Antonio, Texas. Mamie and Eisenhower had two children: a son, Doud Dwight Eisenhower, and a daughter, Ruth Eakin Eisenhower.

Doud Eisenhower was born on September 24, 1917, in San Antonio, Texas, and died on January 2, 1921, of scarlet fever. His death was a profound tragedy for Eisenhower and his wife. A memorial service was held in Denver, Colorado, where the family resided. Eisenhower was notably affected by the loss and later characterized it as an irreparable personal tragedy.

Their second child, Ruth Eakin Eisenhower, was born in 1938.

Eisenhower’s son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013), served in the U.S. Army and retired as a brigadier general in 1963. He was a military historian and served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1969 to 1971 under President Richard Nixon. John Eisenhower married Barbara Jean Thompson in 1947, with whom he had four children, including David Eisenhower (born 1948), who married Julie Nixon, daughter of President Richard Nixon.

John Eisenhower later married Joanne Thompson in 1988. He lived in Maryland after residing previously in Pennsylvania. His extended family includes grandchildren involved in various public and private endeavors, notably David Eisenhower, an author and public figure.

Eisenhower's familial connections include ties by marriage to Richard Nixon's family, through his son David's marriage to Nixon’s daughter.