The Real Ike

Eisenhower Fact and Fiction

Martin Mack Teasley

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9780700640690
• eBook ISBN: 9780700640706
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Former deputy director of the Eisenhower Library and Museum dispels rumors, finds the truth behind the myths, and answers the most-asked questions about the thirty-fourth president, offering a picture of Ike as he’s never been seen before.

Was President Eisenhower really a good cook? What are on those secret Oval Office recordings? Did he really spend his free time painting? Are the rumors of his love affair true? And where did he get the nickname Ike anyway?

For Martin Mack Teasley, the former deputy director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library and Museum, these questions and thousands of others came across his desk from scholars, journalists, and the American public. In The Real Ike, Teasley answers the most common questions about the major, minor, and obscure parts of President Eisenhower’s life.

Like a museum curator, Teasley has compiled twenty-five exhibits that give a more well-rounded, humane picture of President Eisenhower than most historians can provide. Drawn from his years of experience in the archives, Teasley illuminates aspects of the thirty-fourth president rarely discussed in textbooks, including Eisenhower’s athletic ambitions, his interest in cooking, the question of Roswell and extraterrestrials, Ike’s love of painting, his habit for swearing, the rumors of his Black ancestry, and the alleged affair with Kay Summersby.

Seasoned scholars and people learning about Ike for the first time alike will find something new to appreciate in this winsome and nuanced book. From the mundane to the scandalous, The Real Ike gives readers a more complete understanding of a pivotal figure in American history.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene: From Ivory Tower to People’s Library
• 2 The Ike Nickname: A Most Affectionate Ethnic Slur
• 3 Ike the Athlete: An NCAA Rules Violator?
• 4 “Hail to the Chef”: Ike the Cook
• 5 The First Preppy President
• 6 Oy Vey! Ike the Terrible Swedish-Jew
• 7 Ike’s Rumored Black Ancestry
• 8 Ike the Pilot: Fulfilling a Young Man’s Dream
• 9 “Take Me to Your Leader”: Ike and the Extraterrestrials
• 10 “Other Losses”: General Eisenhower’s One Million Missing German POWs
• 11 Kay Summersby: Did Ike Have an Affair?
• 12 The Profane Ike: Blame the Army
• 13 “Dwight van Gogh”: Eisenhower the Artist
• 14 Ike and the Atomic Bomb: A Steady Hand
• 15 Move Over Richard Nixon! Eisenhower’s Secret Recordings
• 16 Ike the Cultural Warrior: The Eisenhower Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC
• 17 “Deporter in Chief”: Operation Wetback, 1954–1955
• 18 Ike and the Emmy: The Father of the Modern Presidential Press Conference
• 19 A Natural Curiosity: How Ike Invented the Internet and Other Neat Scientific Stuff
• 20  Ike the Wordsmith: “He Really Should Have Been an Editor!”
• 21 Ike and God: A Coworker with the Almighty
• 22 Eisenhower on America’s Youth: “I, for One, Believe in You”
• 23 Finding Common Ground in Public Conversations: Eisenhower’s American Assembly
• 24 Abilene Honors Ike: Being a Hometown Hero Has Its Limitations
• 25 The Prescient Eisenhower: Ike’s 1965 Predictions for the Year 2000
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover