Susan Eisenhower | |
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 Eisenhower in 2009 | |
| Born | Susan Elaine Eisenhower (1951-12-31)December 31, 1951 (age 73) |
| Political party | Republican (before 2008)Independent (2008–present)[citation needed] |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
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Susan Elaine Eisenhower (born December 31, 1951)[1] is an American consultant, author, and expert oninternational security,space policy,energy, andrelations between the Russian Federation and the United States of America. She is the daughter ofJohn Eisenhower and the granddaughter of PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower.[2][3]
Eisenhower is the daughter of John Eisenhower and the granddaughter of Dwight D, Eisenhower.[4] In 1970, following family tradition, she was presented as a debutante tohigh society at theInternational Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.[5]
Eisenhower is President of the Eisenhower Group, Inc, which provides strategic counsel on political, business, and public affairs projects. She has consulted for Fortune 100 andFortune 500 companies doing business in the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union and for a number of major institutions engaged in the energy field.[6][better source needed]
She is also Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs and Chairman Emeritus of theEisenhower Institute, athink tank based inWashington, D.C., and inGettysburg, Pennsylvania, owned and operated byGettysburg College. She served as the president of the Eisenhower Institute twice, and later as chair. During that time, she became known for her work in the former Soviet Union and in the energy field.[6][better source needed]
In January 2010, Secretary of EnergySteven Chu appointed Eisenhower to serve on the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, which has been asked to develop a long-term solution for safely managing the back end[clarification needed] of the nuclear fuel cycle.[6][better source needed]
Over the years, she has served on many other government task forces. In 2000, she was appointed byUnited States Secretary of EnergyBill Richardson to the Baker-Cutler Commission, a blue-ribbon task force, to evaluate U.S.-funded nonproliferation programs in Russia. Since that time, she has also served as an advisor on two otherUnited States Department of Energy studies; one on the threat of nuclear terrorism and the other a blue-ribbon panel on the future of nuclear energy. In 2001, after two terms on the NASA Advisory Council, she was appointed to the International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation Task Force, which analyzed International Space Station management and cost overruns. She currently sits on the Nuclear Threat Initiative board, co-chaired by SenatorSam Nunn andTed Turner, the Energy Future Coalition, the US Chamber of Commerce's new Institute for 21st Century Energy, and the Air Force Academy's Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies.[6][better source needed]
In academia, she is an External Advisory Board Member of the MIT Energy Initiative. She has also served as an Academic Fellow of the International Peace and Security program of theCarnegie Corporation of New York, as director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and as an advisor toJohns Hopkins' Nitze School of Advance International Studies.[6][better source needed]
Eisenhower testified before the Senate Armed Services and Senate Budget Committees on policy toward the region.[which?] She was also appointed to the National Academy of Sciences' standing Committee on International Security and Arms Control, where she served for eight years.[6][better source needed]
Eisenhower is also active in the corporate world, serving on the advisory boards of Thorium Power, IxReveal, and Foolproof. She is also a Senior Director of Stonebridge International, a Washington-based international consulting firm headed by former national Security Advisor Samuel "Sandy" Berger and former Senator Warren Rudman.[6][better source needed]
She has provided analysis forCNN International,MSNBC,The Situation Room withWolf Blitzer,Fox News,The Newshour with Jim Lehrer,Hardball with Chris Matthews,One on One withJohn McLaughlin, theBBC, and three network morning programs. Over the years, she has appeared on many other programs, includingNightline,World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,This Week with David Brinkley, andCBS Sunday Morning withCharles Kuralt.[citation needed]
She has spoken at diverse gatherings such as Harvard University, World Affairs Councils, and corporate gatherings. She has also spoken to many expert audiences. For instance, she gave the Commandant's Lecture at theArmy War College in Carlisle, the Harry S. Truman Distinguished Lecture atSandia National Laboratory, and she delivered the 2008 Rose Lecture atMIT. She has also given full speeches at other prominent places, such as theNational Press Club, theSmithsonian Institution, theNational Archives, theHollywood Bowl, the French National Assembly, the Rotunda of the Capitol, and the White House.[6][better source needed]
Eisenhower has also been seen as a "talking head" on television programs and documentaries, includingOliver North'sWar Stories,Why We Fight and, most recently, Sputnik Mania.[6][better source needed]
She has received four honorary doctorates, including from theMonterey Institute, where she was cited for her work on nuclear nonproliferation. She received the 2008 Dolibois History Prize fromMiami University.[7] She was a keynote speaker at the 2012Washington & Jefferson College Energy Summit, where theWashington & Jefferson College Energy Index was unveiled.[8]
| External videos | |
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 Booknotes interview with Eisenhower onBreaking Free, October 8, 1995,C-SPAN | |
| Presentation by Eisenhower onMrs. Ike, November 7, 1996,C-SPAN |
Eisenhower has written extensively on nuclear and space issues. She is the author of four books:Breaking Free: A Memoir of Love;Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower;Partners in Space: US-Russian Cooperation After the Cold War andHow Ike Led. She has co-authoredThe Making of a Soviet Scientist with Roald Sagdeev. She has also edited four books on regional[which?] security issues; the most recent –Partners in Space (2004) – was also published by Nayuk, the publishing house of theRussian Academy of Sciences. In 2000, she co-edited a book,Islam and Central Asia: An Enduring Legacy or an Evolving Threat?[7] She has written chapters for a number of collected volumes, and penned hundreds of op-eds and articles on foreign and domestic policy for theWashington Post,Los Angeles Times,United States Naval Institute'sProceedings,The Spectator, theNational Interest,Politique Americaine,USA Today and otherGannett Newspapers.[7][better source needed]
She also maintains a blog on her website,[9][better source needed] addressing various issues in foreign and domestic policy, national security, and politics.[citation needed]
Although a lifelong member of theRepublican Party, Eisenhower endorsedBarack Obama for president of the United States in 2008.[10][11][12] She announced on August 21, 2008, that she was leaving the Republican Party and becoming an Independent.[13] She spoke on the final day of the2008 Democratic National Convention. Her speech began with, "I stand before you tonight not as a Republican or a Democrat, but as an American."[14][15]
On October 29, 2012, she re-endorsed Barack Obama for a second term in the2012 presidential election.[16][17]
Since leaving the Republican Party, she has described herself as "an Eisenhower Republican".[18] Her father, John Eisenhower, had similarly left their family's traditional party in 2004 to become an Independent; he endorsed Democratic candidate SenatorJohn Kerry for president in 2004.[19]
Along with the rest of her family, Eisenhower has stated her opposition to architectFrank Gehry's proposed design for theDwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. She objects to its size, arguing that it is ecologically unsustainable,[17] to the negative symbolism associated with the 80-foot-high metal curtains, and to the design's overall depiction of former President Eisenhower as a young boy rather than a man. In her testimony to Congress on the matter, she said, "The Eisenhower Memorial can and should be a reflection, not only of Eisenhower's lifetime achievements, and the challenging and dangerous times in which he led us; it should also be anthem to our national purpose."[20]
Eisenhower has been married three times. Her first husband was Alexander H. Bradshaw, a London barrister, They have two daughters,[21] Laura Magdalene Eisenhower and Caroline Eisenhower Bradshaw.[22][23] Then she married John Mahon, an American lawyer, with whom she had a daughter, Amelia Eisenhower Mahon.[24] Her third marriage was to Russian space scientistRoald Sagdeev,[21][25] formerly the director of theRussian Space Research Institute and pro-democracy advocate.[26]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Laura Magdalene Eisenhower ... the great-granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ike's great-granddaughter, Laura Eisenhower
Media related toSusan Eisenhower at Wikimedia Commons
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