Two Men, Two Towns: The Legacy of Eisenhower and Dole
Mary Jean Eisenhower could have lived anywhere in the world.
Born in 1955 in Washington, D.C., as the youngest granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower – “I always make sure to say I’m the youngest” – Eisenhower lived in Pennsylvania, Belgium, California and has visited more than 70 nations.
Yet the pull of Abilene started long ago, after President Eisenhower died in 1969. Mary Jean was only 13.
“When he died, I came (to Abilene) and I realized that he was right,” Eisenhower said, just steps from the chapel at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home, when we met earlier this month. “He could have had presidential stories, World War II stories, but what he talked to us about, mainly, was Abilene. He is the reason I came here fifty years later.”
Mary Jean Eisenhower moved to just outside of Abilene in 2018.
“I said, ‘If I don’t do it now, I won’t be around long enough to enjoy it,’” said Eisenhower. “I decided it was worth it. I was working out of my home, which I could do at the time and I was traveling a lot. I’ve lived all over the world, literally, and I have found a home.”