Fifty years ago today, President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower passed away on March 28, 1969. He was our president throughout most of the 1950s, serving from 1953 to 1961.
During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Force in North Africa, and later commander of all Allied forces. (You can read more about the five-star general’s many accomplishments in war and peace here.)The death of the popular 34th President of the United States was well covered in the Journal.
I distinctly remember the great Vaughn Shoemaker editorial cartoon shown above that ran on the day after his passing. The Journal’s editorial was particularly eloquent and well-written.
On March 31, 1969 most of the Journal’s front page was devoted to coverage of Eisenhower’s funeral the day before.
****
On a family trip out west in 1971, we stopped in Eisenhower’s hometown of Abilene to visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. As a twelve-year old, I probably did not appreciate just how great a man Eisenhower was.
That was a pretty eventful day. The passing of Ike, The Bethal Baptist Church shooting in Detroit, George Harrison convicted for pot, "new" technology to determine sex of a baby and a South Amherst drug bust. Strange that the Journal knew about the drug raid before it happened.
ReplyDelete