[cheering] this occasion reserves unbroken tradition which began with president theodore roosevelt. The great and the new great have addressed this audience. But tonight, we welcome the man who history will record among World Leaders in the hour of our greatest need. [applause] i have in mind the rapid succession of communist aggression and millions of people were involved behind the farreaching iron curtain. I have in mind the stalemate of fertility in korea, the rampaging inflation in our homelands. Which was eating up the savings, and traveling the enterprise economy. Then is the man, will be acclaimed by future generations as the man who laid the foundations of peace. [applause] [applause] and more, he is our president only love with a deep and abiding affection. [applause] s direct welcome too the commonwealth quoth im george amateur of the humanities for much put together todays program. Along with the staff at the Commonwealth Club. The text aphis help helped to put together these online programs, we have done dozens and dozens of them since a covid crisis began. It is my great pleasure to introduce Susan Eisenhower who is here with us today preaches the granddaughter of president eisenhower. She has written a great book, how like lead. It is like a u2 spy plane overview of his hold the principles that led his presidency. But with the young girls point of view on the man himself. It is really quite a combinatio combination. It is a nice combination because it is also the combination that you lived your life at susan. Because you are a political analyst et cetera pretty live this life this way and you knew him personally for many, many years. I bet that was interesting. He did not pass away until you were already in college or around that age, right . Guest yes. Host so welcome everyone. We are going to get started to talk about president eisenhower. For those of you who are not familiar is president from 1953 until 1961. Jfk was the president right after words. He was he supreme allied commander during world war ii. So susan, first of all thank you very much for joining us from afar. Our inner online world of all recognize can happen much more easily than we thought. But, tell us a little bit about what inspired you to write the book. Youve been working in this field for a long time. As a political consultant et cetera an advisor. And you decide to write about your own grandfathers work. It mustve been very interesting to try to be objective and subjective at the same time for you did it successfully. Will george, first of all thank you so much for the opportunity to be back at the Commonwealth Club. I had the wonderful opportunity of presenting two of my other books at the club in years past. It is great to be back and talk about this. And yes, i think the question is a very interesting one. Maybe as part of the disclaimer for our discussion this evening i should say as a kid i was really raised to compartmentalize what i knew about his politics, about the period in which he governed, about the issues that he dealt with. And on the other side, my relationship with him as a grandparent. So this book is really the marriage of those two things as you said. It was really quite an experience for me to it put it together in one place. Because i was continually struck by how we were doing certain things as a family. And he was dealing with some of these crises. So that was interesting. The impetus of why to do it now revolved around three events i guess. One is that the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii. Certainly bj day is about to occur. We had of course the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in europe. Back in may of this year. Secondly, the eisenhower memorial in washington d. C. Will be dedicated on september, september 17. In a much more scaledback version of its original self. But it will, nevertheless less be open too the public after that day. Finally, were going into an election year. And there is always a lot of thinking about the presidency. As the most important for your election occurs. And so, i thought that i something to say to us today. And i guess that is the reason i put it together. Host he really did predict found that, he took it from that angle. There so many different elements there were so interesting today. As applicable. One that i thought, its a small side tangents, but there were people who said in 1956 that were against him being reelected, saying will you are actually going to be electing Richard Nixon. Do not going to be electing eisenhower pretty sick, just had this heart attack and so on. So soon Richard Nixon is going to be the president present things happening in the Democratic Party biting will never be the present for more than a month or 20 really electing kamala harris. I think thats interesting and keeps getting thrown out of people. Select both course im not going to speculate on whether there is a difference in the approach. But eisenhower is very conscious of what it would be to be a diminished president. We have to remember the president wilson, was really almost a scandal that people in the country did not know how ill that president was. So i was determined not to find himself in that situation for the good of the country. And after he had three illnesses during his presidency, and after each one of them he would give himself a very arduous test. Like a round the world trip, or a trip to europe the required lots of meetings and lots of stress. And he always would tell his advisors, if i do not perform at top level you have to tell me. Because then i will resign. In any case, that never happened. He became actually rather adroit at managing his time. Managing his stress, and generally you know positioning himself to get through his second term. It was interesting also, a small tangent, that the doctors lied to him about the helium thing said he did not think it was as serious. He kind of thought he might have made a different decision and 56 had they warned him about it. I thought that was interesting. Speech at one of the biggest decisions about running for second term as you point out, is that he had a heart attack in 1955. And he had a doctor named Howard Snyder. Although they were devoted friends and theyd been together in one form or another since the war, Howard Snyder actually drove granddad up the wall. [laughter] because first of all, he hovere hovered. He came up with all sorts of things, eisenhowers not allowed to do which is watching the army, Navy Football team in real time. Because he decided it would raise the president s blood pressure. [laughter] ike really did care about the outcome of the game by the way. I think Howard Snyder was part of the team that was not actually about his iliads situation. I was not i was not going to be a diminished president. And he very well could have december decided differently. I think at the end of the day, my grandmother intervene for the first time the early part of their marriage. And encourage him to run again. She thought he would probably die of another heart attack watching everything. You know, thats a tough decision. Sweet steve got on top of that high blood pressure. We what i think your grandmothers decision was much easier to understand. The doctors decision, this is a guy making decisions about the war in korea and all these Big Decisions. And youre worried about them watching a football game. Even if he takes it too seriously. That seems a little bit ludicrous. [laughter] i told that story in the book in the context of how extraordinary amount of power how that often warps relationships you have with other people. Doesnt mean that makes them terrible, it does change things. On the doctors for some reason , i love this expression, actually tried to handle this man. Which would only make him more wound up i am sure. Because he was a guy used making Big Decisions and was perfectly capable of facing any difficult news. As a matter fact, in his last years of life i saw this so often. How brave he was. And how ready he was to take whatever was coming. As a matter fact he even volunteered for some rather exotic treatments for his condition. Because he thought it might help people after he was gone. This was not anyone who is not straightforward with, i just want to say that for the record. Sue and thats a good transition. Before we the big issues that he faced, i think its good to talk about these personal relationships that he had. The friendships that he had, the people who capped him with his family in your own relationship with them. And you have some pictures to show which include pictures of yourself with him when you were younger. Well get those up on the screen. Okay, so there is the picture we have been showing. This is him right around the end of world war ii, right . Speech it yes. This picture was taken in 1945. By that time he had his fifth start. And i think its a lousy picture. I think he looks tired though i dont if you would agree. Helix contents. If the picture were fulllength, youd see he is wearing only a single bar of ribbons and five stars on his shoulder. He was not one to walk around like a soviet general with metals all the way down to their waist. I like this picture because i think he looks approachable. Now i would say tired. And that its to be a fairly accurate assessment since its impossible to know how he could be working 100 hours of work or 130 hours a week sometimes come up all night, up in the middle of the night. And not come out of a three year stench like that really deeply tired. And 45 how old is he . Tsubaki was born in 1890. He was 55 years old. As a matter fact if you look at pictures when he was president of Columbia University he looks younger than he does in that picture. Even though it was another five years later. Sue went yes, he gave a lot of energy. To the next picture is a picture of you. Guest yes. [laughter] sue and this is you as a teenager with him and a horse . Guest is our horse that picture i cant see it from her here. Perfect, perfect. Okay well i became an amateur photographer. And we have in our family collections all sorts of these homemade things. But i like about that pictures, somebody else took a picture of ike take a picture of me. I dont know, every time i see this picture makes me smile because of this baldheaded his as my grandmother always said she loved to roll over at night in bed and pats little baldhea baldhead. [laughter] there if theres a horse in the picture is from the standpoint i cant quite see it. I was the family horseback writer. And so this was a bond we had. Because he loved horses. They were the only animal on his farm hand dolch in any way, shape, or form. He was more cattle and he certainly did not like barnyard cats. But he loved his horses. So i think it is a really sweet picture. Give a short story in your book about when you were 11 and the horses got away and he just put in a putting green. His special putting ring, you might tell that story. I think it shows your relationship nicely. Well, i think the story says a lot about ikes compassion, by lifetime guilt. He put in a putting green. He put the putting green and because he wanted to have some privacy while he practiced his putting. Otherwise he would have had to have gone to the country club. Which he enjoyed doing and seeing people. There is not actually any privacy in those events. People came out to watch you golf and the rest of it. So one evening i was paddle locking a gate, and five of the horses on the farm pushed against the gate, sort of almost knocked me over and went running all around the lawn in front of my parents, grandparents sitting area, or they always sat in the evening. All five of these horses were running around like crazy. And circling hearing going ther there. And then, made a huge sweep across the golf green. I listen more than a state of panic. Everybody came out of the field, field hands, secret service, everybody. We were trying to wrap around these animals. Finally did and then i had to go in and face the music. Not only had they run my grandfathers golf rebuttals late for dinner. [laughter] this was one of those moments in childhood you do not forget. I walked in the outset and a swivel chair, he swiveled around and looked at me and said to notice that your grandmother . I havent seen horses run like that since i was a kid in abilene, kansas. And of course i apologize after that. I never heard of it again. Was a very smart move on his part. Because the guilt would be lingering. [laughter] he was very nice not to bring it up or hold it against me hold it over my head. Because i think he knew i was devastated and would not do it again. She wanted some of this classic experience as in a disney cartoon for children that the children makes makes that responsibility where the parents are good they do what i did. When their bad they look like a witch. Georgette had one more thing part had the great sense to apologize profusely and take full responsibility. And i think that went down very well. I would have had a significant ongoing lecture about personal accountability had i not done so. [laughter] tsubaki would already learn that lesson i bet. Yes, i learned that one already. So curious commies painting a picture i assume you are in that picture . You can see from the postcard that its my mother and for my savings, you my youngest sister was born 1955 after that portrait was painted. Taken at camp david. One of the helpers in camp david came in and took a picture of him doing that. He took up painting actually after the war. He followed Winston Churchills example pretty was intrigued by how much painting the Prime Minister did while he was trying to get his head together also his own portrait painter gave him oil paints as a present i took it up then. And they became they found at centered him was concentrating on the painting you have a short story in the book about how he had exhibited an art museum nor is it is being shown years because i was president , speech or they never give a guy like me an exhibit for painting it looks like this. He wanted to be regarded almost as a professional. He gave his cabinet members pictures of him. He had a wartime colleagues and even painted Prince Charles and princess and for the queen of england. He was full of apologies about their execution. Live a picture of churchill thats the next picture. Thats quite talented. Not amateur. Its not bad. Its actually able to present it to two churchill was visiting and the that has churchill the painter would. I also painted field marshal one of the big personalities hed worked with during world war ii. It was a lovely, lovely painting that hangs today in the British Embassy in washington d. C. Becky said its one of the interesting personalities but hes kind of a frenemy as they would call him now. Something like that. [laughter] select their enemies too. The next pictures when he gave to you, the next painting. Theres a little store with this on, right . There is a story about this one. I often stood behind him when he was at the easel. He had an addition to his retirement years, he always insisted on having a studio somewhere nearby. So in the white house this on the second floor overlooking lafayette park. And it was around that time that i was standing behind him, admiring his work. I dont know what this scene is. As i said before he painted usually from postcards. And these landscapes he did were all always serene. It has been noted that theres something ironic about it. Because probably every brushstroke is full of some kind of turbulence he is trying to make sense of. This painting at the bottom is dated de 1957. And 1957, many things happened. I was intrigued when i looked at the back of it. It says to susan covid 1958. So that means is likely a painting that was done, personnel during the little rock crisis. When eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to desegregate Little Rock High School and to escort nine africanamericans to start school and that september. And then, right after that of course was sputnik. So launches first artificial satellite or worlds first artificial satellite in space. So i look at this painting and i think wow, those brushstrokes must have provided some relief during those times of great controversy and crisis. Host we are going to go back to that. People talk about october surprises. In 1956, your grandfather certainly got to really huge ones. But lets finish the pictures. Then we will go. By the way for the audience if you have any questions just send them in through the chat room. And we will ask them for it begot yours gary, we will get to the korean conflict a little bit later. So next picture is . And thats you write . Guest that is me. Will i look like im terribly thoughtful. He looks very kind. I like that picture because i once, ive always wanted people to know that he has some very, very tough decisions and some very dark times during our history. We think about what he saw and what he had ordered during the war, but you know he never became hard or cynical. I think as both a Family Member and as an analyst, i think it is remarkable. Says a lot about his character. It seems to be one of the hardest things to do to make those decisions. Well get to d day later. Said note that is the best so may people will die. At at the worst you do not even succeeded what youre trying to accomplish. And even more people will die. I people of made those decisions for us i think it is why they get admired for decades and even centuries to come because it is so crucial. Your grandfather certainly one of those. The next picture, have a couple pictures of him now i think. Theres a picture of him as a young man on a baseball team. Just of the can see him before he is bald, right . Thats right. I was looking, its always fun to see ike with a full head of hair. So he is, george maybe you could describe which one he is. Im not sure i can. That is exactly right. This is the abilene high school. He was on the baseball team. He was a very good baseball player. I think his real passion was football. And he launched his way for a little while when he broke his knee them was unable to continue playing football at west point because he had played against jim thorpe as a matter fact in the army versus carlisle game. He was regarded as a very fast, effective football player. And that was very discouraging for him. And he had to learn how to snap out of that downer after taking up cigarettes of course. Host one tangent, was not planning on going there. I thought is interesting you mention above all the leaders are not people who obeyed the whole time his kind