Details
EISENHOWER, Dwight D. Typed letter signed ("Ike") to Lewis Strauss, Palm Desert, California, 3 February 1965. 1 page, 8vo, on personal stationery.
EISENHOWER ON HIS "SAD JOURNEY TO LONDON" FOR WINSTON CHURCHILL'S FUNERAL.
"Minutes before I boarded a plane on the first leg of my sad journey to London," Eisenhower tells Strauss, "I was handed a number of telegrams including yours. Of course, I particularly appreciate your gracious compliments. As you know, I valued Sir Winston's friendship highly and my conversation with Walter Cronkite was done, at least, with sincerity and feeling." Eisenhower was one of over 100 current and former world leaders who attended Churchill's funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral on 30 January 1965. It was the first time a commoner was accorded the honor of a state funeral.
Eisenhower was the American official with whom Churchill dealt most extensively during the Second World War, so it was fitting that he be one of the Queen's few personal guests at the ceremony. President Lyndon Johnson asked Eisenhower to lead the American delegation at the service. Returning to America, the Churchill service not only stirred many of his World War II memories, but got Ike thinking about his own funeral plans. He knew there would be a large, public ceremony in Washington, but once that was over he wanted his casket flown to his hometown of Abilene, Kansas for a military funeral, where he would be simply buried in an $80 army coffin.
EISENHOWER ON HIS "SAD JOURNEY TO LONDON" FOR WINSTON CHURCHILL'S FUNERAL.
"Minutes before I boarded a plane on the first leg of my sad journey to London," Eisenhower tells Strauss, "I was handed a number of telegrams including yours. Of course, I particularly appreciate your gracious compliments. As you know, I valued Sir Winston's friendship highly and my conversation with Walter Cronkite was done, at least, with sincerity and feeling." Eisenhower was one of over 100 current and former world leaders who attended Churchill's funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral on 30 January 1965. It was the first time a commoner was accorded the honor of a state funeral.
Eisenhower was the American official with whom Churchill dealt most extensively during the Second World War, so it was fitting that he be one of the Queen's few personal guests at the ceremony. President Lyndon Johnson asked Eisenhower to lead the American delegation at the service. Returning to America, the Churchill service not only stirred many of his World War II memories, but got Ike thinking about his own funeral plans. He knew there would be a large, public ceremony in Washington, but once that was over he wanted his casket flown to his hometown of Abilene, Kansas for a military funeral, where he would be simply buried in an $80 army coffin.