Regional history buffs and patrons of education and literacy will enjoy a rare insider’s view of 34th U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower as grandson David Eisenhower and his wife Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon, discuss their book Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961-1969, on Thursday, December 8. The Joy of Reading fundraising event will support tuition assistance at Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers (CACC).
The VIP reception will be held at 6 p.m. at Scossa Restaurant & Lounge, 8 N. Washington St., Easton, followed by the presentation at 7:30 p.m. at the Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover St., Easton. Tickets are $135 for the reception, which includes cocktails and light fare, reserved seats at the presentation and a signed copy of the book, or $35 for general admission to the presentation. For tickets, call (410) 822-8061 or visit www.cacckids.org.
David and Julie have long championed the cause of education, which continues President Eisenhower’s legacy of commitment to develop what he saw as the nation’s natural resources, the education of its people. During World War I and II, President Eisenhower realized that hundreds of thousands of American adults were not only undereducated, but also functionally illiterate with reading skills at a level lower than those of a fifth-grade student. Years later when he retired from the U.S. Army and assumed the presidency of Columbia University, he established the Conservation of Human Resources project.
“We are honored to host such distinguished speakers for this year’s Joy of Reading event,” says Tara O’Barsky, executive director of Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers. “David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon Eisenhower are the quintessential patrons of education which makes them perfect speakers for this presentation. They truly understand that an investment in childhood education is an investment in our future. We are humbled to welcome them as this year’s presenters,” she adds.
Going Home to Glory recounts family stories and includes and never-before published diaries and letters from the days after President and Mrs. Eisenhower left the White House to retire on their farm in Pennsylvania to his death in 1969. David and Julie Eisenhower describe the retired general and former president’s efforts to counsel Presidents Kennedy and Johnson on Vietnam as well as to advise his own family members. The book is full of anecdotes and observations about President Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower in retirement.
David Eisenhower is a professor and public policy fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of several books. His book, Eisenhower: at War, 1943-1945 was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history. David is son of the military historian John S. D. Eisenhower, who lives in Trappe, Md., with his wife, Joanne T. Eisenhower. Julie Nixon Eisenhower is a public speaker on such topics as Life in the White House, Women in Politics and the Presidency, and the author of several books, including Pat Nixon: The Untold Story.
Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers (CACC), Easton, is an accredited, educationally-based childcare program serving more than 450 children aged two through 15 in five locations throughout Talbot County. For more than four decades CACC has touched the lives of more than 8,000 children and adults. Each year it provides $120,000 in tuition assistance to more than 115 families. Forty percent of its families receive some level of tuition assistance.
To learn more about Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers or to purchase event tickets, call (410) 822-8061 or visit www.cacckids.org.