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About Dwight D. Eisenhower

About Dwight D. Eisenhower: Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969. At the time of these entries, serving in the American Military Mission to the Commonwealth of the Philippines. See Dwight D. Eisenhower  in the White House website.

About the Diaries:

At present, the project incudes two diaries.

The first is from Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941, Daniel D. Holt, ed. published by the Johns Hopkins University Press for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, 1998.

From the Preface and Acknowledgements, the following information is relevant:

Eisenhower kept the Philippine Diary while serving with the American Military Mission to the Philippines from December 27, 1935, to January 25, 1940…

After Eisenhower’s death in 1969, the Eisenhower Library received fragments of a diary and two small books kept in 1938, that overlapped with the Philippine Diary. Until his death the general had retained them at his Gettysburg home. They include twenty entries dated December 1935 to July 1937; a diary of an official trip to the United States while Eisenhower was stationed in the Philippines from June 26 to November 5, 1938; and a diary of a family trip while visiting the United States on official travel from the Philippines, August 11-16, 1938. The editors of this volume have reintegrated these as part of Eisenhower’s comprehensive Philippine Diary…

By 1982 the Eisenhower Library had processed all the Eisenhower diaries and opened most of them to researchers… With publication of this volume, all pre-World War II diaries at the Eisenhower Library through 1941 are open without limitation. However, five very brief segments of the Philippine Diary, which are open at the Eisenhower Library,  have not been included in this publication… They are located in the diary entries at August 25, 1937; October 15, 1937; December 13, 1937; February 15, 1938; and November 10, 1938.

The second is Eisenhower’s January – July 1942 Diary, written during his assignment to the War Plans Division. As cited by the Eisenhower Presidential Library:

[Eisenhower, Dwight D.: Diaries, Diaries Files, Box 1, [DDE Diary Jan. 1 – July 6, 1942]; NAID #575354] This is essentially the first portion of the “Butcher Diary” from Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Pre-Presidential Papers. This diary was dictated by Eisenhower himself and typed by Eisenhower’s naval aide, Harry Butcher.

Diaries of Dwight D. Eisenhower

The portion used is from January 1 to May 9 1942, covering the Philippines being in the ambit of his work. While only a few entries are related specifically to the Philippines, or which touch on the Philippines or Asia, all the entries for the period are included; as they provide a unique perspective situating the Battle of the Philippines in the overall conduct of the War.

A useful overview of the MacArthur-Eisenhower relationship, which includes a particularly context-rich exploration of the views found in the diary entries written in the Philippines, can be found in “Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines: There Must Be a Day of Reckoning” by Kerry Irish, The Journal of Military History 74 (April 2010): 439-473.

Mamie Eisenhower pins the Philippine Distinguished Service Star conferred by President Quezon on Dwight D. Eisenhower (Eisenhower Presidential Library)