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September 22, 2009

Eisenhower promotes peace at energy luncheon

KATHY TOPPINS

EDMOND — BY KATHY TOPPINS

THE EDMOND SUN



Mary Eisenhower, granddaughter of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, continues her grandfather’s legacy by calling for understanding and respect among individuals through her leadership in People to People International. Forty years after her grandfather’s death, Eisenhower brought the former president’s voice to the International Energy Policy Conference luncheon Tuesday at Oklahoma Christian University.

A commanding general in World War II, President Eisenhower started People to People in 1956.

“He felt like he had already seen how governments solved their problems and he felt, if it was up to you and me, we would find a way to live in peace in a much more constructive way,” Mary Eisenhower said. She said her grandfather believed if people get together, so will nations.

Eisenhower reminded the audience of her grandfather’s position on the cost of arming warring nations by reciting his words: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

Mary Eisenhower began her participation with People to People as a volunteer and now serves as its president and chief executive officer. She shared with the group some of her favorite memories. Right after Sept. 11, 2001, she said, President George W. Bush formed a coalition to bring Islamic and U.S. children together. “He was hoping their understanding and the feelings they developed for one another would spill out to their parents,” Eisenhower said.

People to People’s participation in the program started out, she said, “as an electronic pen pal type exchange,” not fulfilling the organization’s goal of getting the children together. At that time, she said, she knew it would not be possible to have Islamic children from many nations come to the United States. While attending a conference in Egypt, however, the sight of two women of different backgrounds embracing gave her the idea that Egypt might be the place for the peace camps she envisioned.

President of Egypt Hasni Mubarak agreed, Eisenhower said. Participating with 3,500 individuals in a peace walk along the Red Sea, Eisenhower recalled, she saw two students from Israel and two students from Palestine walking hand in hand by the Red Sea in the presence of President Mubarak. She said she remembered thinking she saw peace for that minute.

“It’s not people schmoozing each other. It’s not people making deals. It’s just people walking hand in hand next to the Red Sea. That’s the whole People to People type of concept,” Eisenhower said.

Eisenhower encouraged luncheon guests to visit www.ptpi.org. “Our youngest member is 10 and our oldest member is 85,” she said. “There is really something for everybody.”

Mary Eisenhower was born during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency and was christened in the Blue Room of the White House. She grew up on the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg, Penn., before moving to Belgium, where her father served as ambassador.

Mark A. Stansberry, chairman of the Global Trade and Development Group as well as conference chairman, said they are looking at working with People to People on a global energy initiative. The goal of the initiative, the Edmond resident said, will be to meet energy needs worldwide, “not just in our own backyard.”



ktoppins@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 112

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