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
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