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Lot 30
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Archive of Film of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at Retirement Home in Palm Desert, California, and Related Correspondence
Archive of Film of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at Retirement Home in Palm Desert, California, and Related Correspondence
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Description:

Mamie Eisenhower
Palm Desert, CA; Gettysburg, PA, ca. 1962, 1973
Archive of Film of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at Retirement Home in Palm Desert, California, and Related Correspondence
Archive
This small archive of materials revolves around a short 8-mm film taken when former President Dwight D. Eisenhower and former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower entertained friends at their home in Palm Desert, California, in April 1962, presented to the Eisenhowers by Josephine H. Barth, who had met Mamie Doud at a girls' finishing school in Denver around 1912. The two-and-a-half-minute film features the group standing around the pool at the Eisenhower's home. Barth sent the film to the Eisenhowers in 1962, and Eisenhower mentioned it in two included letters to Barth in 1962 and again in two included letters in 1973, when she still had not seen the film because she could not locate an 8-mm projector.

Highlights and Excerpts
- [Josephine H. Barth], Film Reel, 8 mm, April 8, 1962. 2.875" diameter reel; in 5.125" diameter metal film canister, approximately 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Based on the transfer below, scenes of Dwight D. and Mamie Eisenhower and members of the Barth family are from April 8, 1962, at the Eldorado Country Club, Palm Desert, California. The film shows the group around the pool at the Eisenhower home.

- ITC Video Services, VHS Transfer of above 8 mm film with instrumental music overlay, n.d. with explanatory typed notes. Approximately 5 minutes. Includes the April 8, 1962, visit of the Barth family to the Eisenhower home at Palm Desert, California, and the 1960 visit of M. Allen Barth to Whittier, CA.

- Mamie Eisenhower, Autograph Letter Signed, to Josephine H. Barth, April 11, 1962, Palm Desert, CA. 2 pp., 6.25" x 9.5". On "Eldorado Country Club" stationery; with hand-addressed envelope.
"We did enjoy our visit with you, little Jo, Judy Kay and Dan on Sunday He was not feeling too well as he was coming down with a cold. Yesterday the doctors came and dosed him with pills etc. Feels better to-day but not able to play golf which distresses him."
The Eisenhowers leased a retirement home from wealthy oil and real estate executive Robert P. McCulloch at Eldorado Country Club in Palm Desert, California, where they often spent their winters.
Former President Eisenhower was an enthusiastic golfer and greatly increased the popularity of the sport during his two terms as president. He typically shot in the mid-80s and carded more than 800 rounds of golf during his presidency. He practiced hitting shots into a net in the basement of the White House and used the South Lawn as a practice range.

- Mamie Eisenhower, Autograph Letter Signed, to Jo Allen Barth, June 5, 1962, Gettysburg, PA. 2 pp., 6" x 9". On "Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower" stationery; with hand-addressed envelope.
"The film you took of us all at Eldorado has arrived safely but have not seen yet as we must find an 8M.M. machine. Thank you for remembering us."
"We have been very busy since we came home from California and have big plans for a summer trip—never a dull moment. The Farm is beautiful right now as we have had lots of rain and the roses are in full bloom."
"P.S. Pleased about Mr Nixon"
After Eisenhower became president of Columbia University in 1948, the Eisenhowers purchased a farm on 189 acres at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. They began renovating the property, but Eisenhower's role as supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from 1951. Mamie Eisenhower oversaw the construction of a new house and other upgrades, which were completed in 1955 after he had become President.
On June 5, 1962, Richard Nixon won the Republican primary to challenge incumbent Democrat Pat Brown for the office of Governor of California. In November, Nixon lost the election by 5 percentage points. After his loss, Nixon famously said to the press, "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more."

- Mamie Eisenhower, Typed Letter Signed, to Josephine H. Barth, January 16, 1973, Gettysburg, PA. 1 p., 6.5" x 9". On "Mamie Doud Eisenhower" stationery; with Typed Envelope.
"Naturally, it made me happy to have the little word from you, and I hurry to explain that since Ike died I have not sent Christmas cards and this year was no expection [exception]."
"How wonderful that you could be with your children and grandchildren for the holidays. Somehow it is the time when families, especially grandmothers, like to be with their off-spring. I felt very lucky that John and Barbara and my youngest granddaughter, Mary Jean, came here to the farm to be with me. For many years I have had no one as they were all out of the country."
"Everyone is a-buzz here over the Inauguration next Saturday and I am going down on Thursday to attend some of the pre-Saturday functions."
"I have your little 8-millimeter reel here on my bedside table that you sent to me after your visit with Ike and myself at Eldorado. No one seems to have an 8-millimeter machine, but I shall keep on trying to find one so I can view these pictures."
Dwight D. Eisenhower died in March 1969. Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as President for the second time on January 20, 1973.

- Mamie Eisenhower, Typed Letter Signed, to Josephine H. Barth, June 28, 1973, Gettysburg, PA. 1 p., 6.5" x 9". On "Mamie Doud Eisenhower" stationery; with Typed Envelope.
"Someone else sent me the wonderful clipping about Ike's honeymoon cottage which amused me no end, for after all I was there—as you well remember. I often think of how you and Allen and a couple of others threw stones at our window in the hotel trying to get us to come down to the Casino to dance. Eldorado Springs was really fun in those days and, as you remember, even the Inter-Urban ran up there.
"I guess that I will not be coming to California very often now for I understand that Eldorado where you and little Jo and all came to see us, is being filled with many people that we do not even know. We had such a fine group there when Ike liked to go out and play golf there.
"On my bedside table right now I have the little film that you all took that day, but it being an 8 mm. and I can't find anything less than a 16 mm. projector, I haven't seen it. Someday I will find one, though, and it will bring back happy memories of our visit."

Mary Geneva "Mamie" Doud Eisenhower (1896-1979) was born in Iowa and raised in a wealthy household in Colorado. She attended finishing school at Wolcott School for Girls in Denver. In 1916, she married Dwight D. Eisenhower, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and over the next 37 years, she lived in 33 different homes as an army wife. They had two sons, Doud (1917-1921) and John (1922-2013). After Ike's election as president in 1952, Mamie Eisenhower served as First Lady of the United States. She maintained distance from the press, rarely granting interviews, but personally responded to every letter she received as First Lady. After Eisenhower's second term, the Eisenhowers retired to their home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and their retirement home in Palm Desert, California. After Ike's death, she went to Belgium, where their son was serving as ambassador. When she returned to the United States, she lived on the farm in Gettysburg and increasingly in an apartment in Washington, D.C. She had a close relationship with the family of Richard M. Nixon, and her grandson married the Nixons' daughter in 1968.

Josephine Frances Hooper Barth (1896-1980) was born into a wealthy family in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She attended Wolcott School for Girls, where she met and formed a close friendship with Mamie Doud Eisenhower. She married Moritz Allen Barth (1890-1963) in 1915. He was a graduate of Harvard University, received a law degree from the University of Denver, and served in World War I. After his service in the war, he undertook the management of the "Elk Hotel". He later renamed it The Barth Hotel, Denver. In the 1930s, they moved to Miami Beach, Florida, where he was a Charter Member of the "International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 45" Miami, Florida; and he contributed his magic shows and musical entertainment for fund raising for his many charitable organizations. Together, they had one child, Josephine "Jo Allen" Barth Williamson (1918-2000). Later in life, Josephine Barth lived in Whittier, California, where she continued a decades-long correspondence with Mamie Eisenhower.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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