KEEPSAKES

Letter from Mamie Eisenhower

Back in 1956, my parents watched politics on TV often. Even though there were just three commercial stations and a public television station (WTTW “Window to the World”) in the Chicago area, they managed to cover President Dwight D. Eisenhower well. Not only was he our president, he was running for reelection that fall.

It was perfectly normal to see my father, Art

Henrikson, sketching caricatures of Ike and other politicians while watching television. After all, he made a living drawing gag and editorial cartoons for local newspapers.

In June 1956, my dad even created an animated character for WNBQ-TV to introduce color television to Chicagoland. Red-haired Tommy Tint was dressed in a green shirt and blue overalls. Tommy painted the town and blew it up with a dynamite plunger

to show off the vivid primary colors and entice the audience to tune in. Unfortunately, our family did not own a color TV set, so we missed seeing Tommy and WNBQ in living color.

As an enthusiastic preschooler, I positioned my own small desk and chair in front of our blackand-white television set during the evening news. I loved Ike. My parents wore “I Like Ike” campaign buttons, and my grandmother even wore a rhinestone IKE pin to promote his reelection.

Soon I started imitating my dad and drew and colored my own caricatures of Ike. I eventually added first lady Mamie to my repertoire. I especially loved her bangs and red hat.

My dad was not shy about his pride in my drawings of Ike and Mamie. He also was a loyal Republican. Ironically, the Democratic presidential candidate that election was Adlai Stevenson, who was from our home state of Illinois.

One day, my dad suggested that I mail my drawings of Ike and Mamie to the president and first lady. I carefully drew and colored special drawings for each of them. My mom, Lois, addressed the envelope to the White House, placed my drawings inside and drove them to the nearest post office.

I continued doing the normal things a 4-year-old does: attending preschool and Sunday school, playing with my neighborhood friends and singing along with the albums of my favorite musicals.

Two weeks after the November election, my parents brought in the mail and exclaimed, “You have a letter from the White House, Diane!”

They carefully opened the envelope. Inside, on White House stationery, was a letter signed by the first lady. My mom read it aloud:

I was thrilled beyond words. I screamed with excitement as any 4-year-old would. I told all of my friends, while my parents called and wrote our relatives.

My parents took it one step further. They contacted several Chicago and Des Plaines local newspapers. Shortly afterward, reporters and a photographer came to our house to interview us and take a photo of my mother and me with the letter. The newspaper articles were published in late November 1956.

I became an even bigger fan of

Ike and Mamie, of course. My parents mailed my valentine to them in early 1958. I was surprised to receive a second letter from the White House. It was written on White House letterhead and signed by the first lady’s secretary.

My treasured 1956 letter from first lady Mamie Eisenhower hangs on my wall to this day. And I still like Ike…and Mamie.