THE PRESIDENCY: I'm Not Mad at Anybody

"On this Christmas Eve," said Dwight Eisenhower, "all hearts in America are filled with special thanks to God that the blood of those we love no longer spills on battlefields abroad. May He receive the thanks of each of us for this, His greatest bounty—and our supplication that peace on earth may live with us, always." Then, after finishing his first Christmas Message to the American people, the President went to his backyard and turned on the thousand lights of the nation's Christmas tree, a 35-ft. Norway spruce.

With that, most of the 15 million Americans who watched him on TV retreated to the warmth of their family circles, and the spirit of Christmas closed in around them. The Eisenhowers were no exception—but their moments of privacy were few. For Ike, the holidays meant a season of hard work.

Bubbling & Coaxing. The holidays at the White House got under way on Christmas Eve, in the East Room, when Ike and Mamie greeted 516 members of the staff, and presented each with a handsome folder containing a color reproduction of one of Ike's latest paintings: a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, copied from an 1863 photograph. Early Christmas morning, the President, with his wife and mother-in-law, left the gaily decked White House, drove through the silent, deserted streets of Washington, and flew off to Georgia for a family reunion. At Fort Benning they stopped briefly for a light lunch and inspection of their grandchildren's tree, while Major John Eisenhower observed the Army's tradition that an officer eats Christmas dinner with his troops. Then, with all the family aboard, they flew off again on the last leg of the trip to the Augusta National Golf Club.

In Augusta the President, bubbling with the Christmas spirit, emerged from the plane carrying Susan. That night, as the family gathered around the tree in the presidential cottage, Ike was still beaming. The room was a pleasant bedlam—grandchildren, toys, noise, and the happy litter of Christmas night. Mamie, with an arm around Ike's shoulders, coaxed him to tell reporters how he felt: "Tell them what you said to me this morning." Ike grinned and complied: "I said I'm not mad at anybody."

"I was ten minutes late this morning," said Mamie, "and Ike didn't say a thing." "That's nothing unusual," retorted the President. "Yes," agreed Mamie, "but I used up ten minutes of your vacation."

Mugging & Posing. While the cameras clicked, young Anne Eisenhower, 4, posed self-consciously, and brother David, 5½, showed off the set of matched, miniature golf clubs Bobby Jones had given him. "You may take a picture of a golfer if you like," brother David announced, and was promptly shushed by Grandpa (see cut). "I'm afraid," said Ike disapprovingly, "that their father is not going to let their picture be taken very often. There's getting to be a lot of mugging around here."