The Real Ike: Eisenhower Fact and Fiction

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.