Dwight D. Eisenhower's Childhood
Dwight David Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas. His dad, David Jacob Eisenhower, and mom, Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower, had a total of seven sons. In Denison, the family lived in a tiny house near the railroad tracks while David, his dad, cleaned train engines for a living.
When Dwight was a year and a half old, his family moved back to Abilene so that his dad could take a better job at his brother-in-law’s creamery. In Abilene, Dwight’s three-year-old brother Paul died of diphtheria when Dwight was six years old. Despite the tragedy, Dwight formed happy childhood memories in Abilene that he would cherish throughout his life. Among these were his days playing baseball and football at Abilene High School. |
After Eisenhower graduated from high school in 1909, he joined his father and uncle at the Bell Springs Creamery while also moonlighting as a fireman. Eisenhower used the money he earned to pay his younger brother Edgar’s tuition at the University of Michigan. The brothers had a deal: After two years, they’d switch places—with Edgar then working to support Eisenhower’s college education. Luckily for Edgar, he never had to live up to his end of the deal. In 1911 Dwight landed an appointment at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where attendance was free of charge. Once again he was a star on the football field, until a series of knee injuries forced him to stop playing. In 1915 Eisenhower proudly graduated from West Point at the top of his class, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
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