Ike's Heart
On February 29, 1956 (56 years ago today) President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that he would be running for a second term. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal for an incumbent President to announce, but for Eisenhower, it wasn't a given. Just five months earlier Ike had suffered a heart attack and many people assumed that his health problems would prevent him from seeking re-election.
While in the Army, Eisenhower had been quite a chain-smoker, smoking four packs a day. In 1949 General Eisenhower quit his cigarette habit following a strong recommendation from his doctors, but as we know now, years of cigarette smoking can damage the heart and arteries and that damage may often not become apparent until years later. In 1955, Eisenhower took a vacation in Denver and complained of stomach pains following a golf game. That night after dinner with his wife and doctor he had more complaints. At first the doctor was unconcerned about the problem, but Eisenhower's distress became worse, and his wife Mamie drove him by car to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital after 2 AM, September 24, 1955. (Can you imagine a modern-day president having to be driven to hospital by his wife in the middle of the night?)
Eisenhower suffered a myocardial infarction (heart attack). He remained in hospital on the 8th floor of Fitzsimmons Hospital for seven weeks. In November he returned to Washington and then on to his farm in Gettysburg to recuperate. In December he considered announcing he would not run for re-election in 1956, but changed his mind as the medical reports became more and more optimistic.
In February 1956 the medical opinion was "his present active life satisfactorily for another five to ten years." On February 29, 1956 Eisenhower announced he would indeed seek a second term.
This wasn't the end of Eisenhower's health problems. He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease or ileitis on May 10, 1956. On June 8, he required surgery at Walter Reed Hospital, and so the public learned of the diagnosis during the election year. Despite this, he won re-election to a second term in the 1956 election.
On November 25, 1957 Eisenhower suffered a mild stroke in the Oval Office. This left him with a slight speech impediment. The next year Eisenhower wrote a letter of authority giving Vice President Richard Nixon the authority to assume power in the event of Eisenhower's incapacitation. This procedure was later formally recognized a decade later in 1967 when the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified.
While we're on the subject of Ike, a new biography of him came out this month, written by prolific biographer Jean Edward Smith (who has previously written lengthy biographies of Ulysses Grant and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.) The new book is entitled Eisenhower in War and Peace.
While in the Army, Eisenhower had been quite a chain-smoker, smoking four packs a day. In 1949 General Eisenhower quit his cigarette habit following a strong recommendation from his doctors, but as we know now, years of cigarette smoking can damage the heart and arteries and that damage may often not become apparent until years later. In 1955, Eisenhower took a vacation in Denver and complained of stomach pains following a golf game. That night after dinner with his wife and doctor he had more complaints. At first the doctor was unconcerned about the problem, but Eisenhower's distress became worse, and his wife Mamie drove him by car to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital after 2 AM, September 24, 1955. (Can you imagine a modern-day president having to be driven to hospital by his wife in the middle of the night?)
Eisenhower suffered a myocardial infarction (heart attack). He remained in hospital on the 8th floor of Fitzsimmons Hospital for seven weeks. In November he returned to Washington and then on to his farm in Gettysburg to recuperate. In December he considered announcing he would not run for re-election in 1956, but changed his mind as the medical reports became more and more optimistic.
In February 1956 the medical opinion was "his present active life satisfactorily for another five to ten years." On February 29, 1956 Eisenhower announced he would indeed seek a second term.
This wasn't the end of Eisenhower's health problems. He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease or ileitis on May 10, 1956. On June 8, he required surgery at Walter Reed Hospital, and so the public learned of the diagnosis during the election year. Despite this, he won re-election to a second term in the 1956 election.
On November 25, 1957 Eisenhower suffered a mild stroke in the Oval Office. This left him with a slight speech impediment. The next year Eisenhower wrote a letter of authority giving Vice President Richard Nixon the authority to assume power in the event of Eisenhower's incapacitation. This procedure was later formally recognized a decade later in 1967 when the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified.
While we're on the subject of Ike, a new biography of him came out this month, written by prolific biographer Jean Edward Smith (who has previously written lengthy biographies of Ulysses Grant and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.) The new book is entitled Eisenhower in War and Peace.