{"id":297,"date":"2016-06-16T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T04:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/?p=297"},"modified":"2016-07-05T12:00:18","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T16:00:18","slug":"a-presidents-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/a-presidents-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Eisenhower National Historical Site: A president’s retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

GETTYSBURG, Pa.<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>hese days, tourists and National Park Service rangers walk the grounds of the Eisenhower farm here. A short bus ride across the Gettysburg National Military Park brings visitors to the site, where they can examine the house with its souvenirs of presidential life, the show barn with its Pennsylvania Farm Show ribbons and the grounds with their helicopter landing pad.<\/p>\n

But during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, the rural escape was a site of important meetings between world leaders.<\/p>\n

Eisenhower hosted former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, French President Charles de Gaulle, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of West Germany and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India at the farm. And in September 1959, he brought for a brief visit the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, as Eisenhower sought to defuse the Berlin crisis, which threatened the peace in Europe and the world.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/a>
The Eisenhowers purchased their Gettysburg farm in 1950. Most of the farm house dated from the mid 1700’s and was in disrepair. Their reconstruction of the home was completed in 1955. (Photo credit: National Park Service) <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The President’s den reflects his many interests. It includes Civil War artifacts and a portion of his 860 book library. (Photo credit: National Park Service) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"NPS <\/a>
NPS The flowering crabapple trees along the Eisenhower Farm front lane bloom in May. (Photo credit: National Park Service) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The crisis was sparked in 1958, when Khrushchev declared that the United States, Great Britain and France had to end their occupation of West Berlin, handing it over to Communist-controlled East Germany. This was unacceptable to the United States, and it exacerbated the strain in a relationship that already was adversarial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a genuine worry among thinking people that you could have Armageddon. You could have World War III. One side or another might launch an unprovoked attack,\u201d said Michael Birkner, a professor at Gettysburg College, said of the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s.<\/p>\n

With the Berlin situation unresolved, Khrushchev arrived in Washington, D.C., for a visit to the United States that would include talks with Eisenhower.<\/p>\n

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Eisenhower National Historic Site<\/h2>\n

Access is by shuttle bus only from the Gettysburg National Military Park visitor center and museum at 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg. See website for bus schedule.<\/p>\n

1-717-338-9114<\/p>\n

Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n