The Eisenhower name has been associated with Republicans ever since the great general joined the Grand Old Party to seek the 1952 presidential nomination — but this week it is being subsumed under the Obama banner.
It began back in February, when Ike’s granddaughter Susan, a mover and shaker in her own right in foreign affairs and business consulting, wrote a column announcing her support for Obama. She followed Aug. 21 with a new column, for The National Interest online, announcing that she was leaving the Republican Party for good, registering as an independent — and re-emphasizing her support for Obama. She did so as the Democratic convention was being made ready in her grandmother Mamie’s hometown of Denver.
At the famous Brown Palace hotel in Denver, Room 825 served for years as the “Western White House” to President Eisenhower and first lady Mamie. The room has been known ever since as “The Eisenhower Presidential Suite.” The hotel has joined the convention spirit by dropping both the Eisenhower name and photos from the room and renaming it the “Barack Obama Suite.”
