 |
| Photo: Jann Segal |
A
visit to the Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Library and
Museum in Abilene, Kansas feels like a visit to the Twilight Zone
and the 1950s. Once on Eisenhower/Buckeye Blvd, the 21st century is gone. This is not only evident
at the Eisenhower Library, but upon visiting the small town of Abilene itself.
The
library and museum is in a large campus-like setting and consists of five
buildings, the library and museum being two of them. A third building is
Eisenhower’s boyhood home, where tours are given regularly as part of the price
of admission. The movie on his life is offered in a small viewing room adjacent
to the gift shop. A chapel is the last building. The inside of the chapel is
the final resting place for Eisenhower, his wife Mimi, and a child of theirs
who died early in their marriage.
A
visit to the museum is very much about World War Two. At the time of this
writing, the library, and not just the museum, was open to all visitors, not
just those who had historian credentials. This is because a World War Two
exhibit in the library is open to everyone. The rest of the library remained
off limits except to those doing research. That exhibit however, continues once
the visitor enters the museum, and it is difficult to determine when the war
exhibit has ended and the presidential museum begins. This could very well be
the message the museum's curator wanted to send; that it is difficult to
separate General Eisenhower known by many during the war years, from President
Eisenhower. However, this long exhibit on the war, including details on battles,
relics from the war overseas, and details on the war effort at home, can be a
bit daunting to the casual visitor who is not wrapped up in war time history.
For those who grew up dung the post-war years, much of it is also nothing new.
Once
a visitor progresses to the display on Eisenhower’s life and pre-presidential
activities, the museum takes on the flavor of the other presidential libraries
in the presidential library system, of which there are now thirteen.
This includes whole sections on the clothes Mimi Eisenhower wore, the gifts
they received by visiting dignitaries, and personal details of his life and
pre-war years.
The
Eisenhower Library and Museum, while interesting and well worth the visit to
people interested in presidential history, needs an update. The exhibits need
modernizing, and there is probably more that can be taken from the library and
shared as an exhibit in the museum that pertains to his presidency directly,
and not just his years during the war. He presided during years of happiness
and prosperity in America following World War Two, and that was certainly
addressed. However, additional artifacts from those years would have been a
welcome addition to the museum.
Once
a visitor leaves the grounds, there is of course Abilene to stroll through,
soda fountains to visit, and mansions and historic homes that have not lost
their luster and in fact go back even further in time. One of these is the
hundred year old Seelye
mansion. On the way back to the
freeway and into the 21st century, there is even a 1950's drive-in that serves
hamburgers and malts to those seated in their car.
No comments:
Post a Comment