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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1961)
How Rich Is Ike? As Dwight D. Eisenhower begins his well-deserved retirement, he has no money worries; here's a look at how much he's worth By JERRY KLEIN 'T'homas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Ulysses S. Grant all these Presi dents were virtually poverty-stricken upon leaving . office. But Dwight D. Eisenhower has left the White House as not only the oldest President of the United States but one of the very richest. As a young boy, he worked at odd jobs to increase his family's inadequate income: his father was a railroad worker. Even as an adult, his Army pay only enabled him and Mamie to "get by." But today there seems small doubt that Eisenhower is a million aire, for in money matters the ex-President has been described as "prudent." And a prudent man who has earned the money Eisen hower has in the past dozen years would easily be worth a million dollars today. True, when Dwight and Mamie were married in 1916, they had to make ends meet on his lieutenant's pay of less than $100 a month. It may also be true that when the General resigned as Chief of Staff following World War II he had no more than about $25,000 some of which came to Mamie from her father, a successful meat packer. But in 1948 Ike wrote his 200,000-word war memoir, "Crusade in Europe," which was the best-selling nonfiction book of the year and reportedly earned him over $635,000. After taxes, there was still about $475,000 in the till. When Eisenhower was elected President, he didn't want to be in the position where his official decisions could knowingly influence his own financial holdings, so he is said to ha- turned over his finances to a New York investment house. This firm was instructed to handle his investments without tell ing him how or where his money was invested. According to some observers, the considerable fortune Eisen hower started with a decade ago should now be "at least doubled." Besides and it's a big "besides" the General has since earned a A Presidential salary totaling a cool $800,000 more. And, in addition, he has enjoyed expense accounts amounting per haps to .mother $650,000! So all in all it is not difficult to see where the Eisenhower exchequer may be up over the million-dollar mark. And this doesn't count the many thousands of dollars worth of machinery, livestock, trees, furniture, antiques, and other gifts given to the President and his wife for their retirement home in Gettysburg, Pa. In addition, Mrs. Eisenhower recently became heir to more than $100,000 from the estate of her late mother. ' So much for their Capital assets. How about their income now that the Eisenhowers are out of public life? Here, too, they have enough cash coming in to put them in a high tax bracket. First of all, as an ex-President, Eisenhower receives a lifetime pension of $25,000 a year. (A President's widow is entitled to a $10,000 annual pension.) In addition, the Government allows him up to $50,000 a year in salaries for aides, free office space and post age. Congress already has set aside $37,500 to meet this bill for the first six months of 1961. But that's not all. A move is afoot in Congress to restore Eisenhower's rank as a five-star general, which he resigned to run for President. If reinstated, Eisenhower will be eligible for a $20,543 annual pension, office space in the Pentagon or elsewhere, use of two military aides, and free hospital and medical care. Summing up, with the grand total of probably more than a mil lion dollars in reserve and pension possibilities of some $900 a week, Dwight D. Eisenhower leaves the White House as one of the wealthiest Chief Executives since George Washington. Except for Washington himself, few Presidents have come any where near being as well off as this plain country boy who has lived to find fame and to enjoy fortune. COVER: the array on the dashboard is any indi cation, artist Homer Hill's driuer plans a long trip. For a report on U. S. roads, see "Are Our Superhighways Obsolete?" p. 6. Family Weekly February 5, 1961 LEONARD S. DAVIOOW Vretident and PuMijhrr WAITER C. DREYFUS Vice Mini PATRICK E. O'ROURKE Adrerlirino llireetor MORTON FRANK Dfrrefor of Publisher Relation Send all advertising communications to Family Weekly, Board of Editors 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, 111. Address all communications about editorial features to Family Weekly, 60 E. 36th St., New Talk 22, N. V. ERNEST V. HEYN Editor-in-Chief EN KARTMAN Exeeatire Editor ROBERT FITZGIBBON Managing Editor MARGARET BELL Feature Editor PHILLIP OYKSTRA Art Director MELANIE DE PROFT Food Editor Bob Driscoll, John Hochmann, Jerry Klein, Harold London, Murray Miller, Jack Ryan; Peer Oppenhelmer, Hollywood. INI. FAMILY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, INC., 1S3 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, III. All rights reserved.
