Primary Sources: U.S. Presidents

Access a selection of presidential papers online. Provided by Project Avalon at Yale.

Eisenhower Speech Hanover, N. H. Dartmouth College, 1953

First Inauguration - January 20, 1953
Second Inauguration - January 21, 1957

Access digital documents, oral history transcripts, and other information related to Eisenhower and the available materials.

"Between 1949 and 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower secretly recorded a number of meetings while president of Columbia University. While U.S. president, Eisenhower secretly recorded at least 25 additional meetings in the Oval Office. In the 1990s, archivists at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library discovered and released close to 15 hours of these recordings."

On January 17, 1961, in this farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex."

A digital collection provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

"These photographs primarily cover the period of Eisenhower's two terms as president (1953-61). They also document his service as Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces; Chief of Staff, United States Army; Supreme Commander, Allied Powers in Europe; and president of Columbia University. They are arranged chronologically by date. "

"As television spread images of the subsequent mob violence around the world, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the following radio and television address on September 24, 1957, announced his reluctant response. Despite his disapproval of the Brown decision, Eisenhower, couching his address in the language of law and order, Cold War propaganda, and national pride, became the first president since Reconstruction to send Federal troops to protect the rights of African Americans. Although the nine students enrolled, resistance to desegregation continued as Faubus closed Little Rock high schools the following year and the number of desegregated schools in the South dropped precipitously in the ensuing years."