FIRST LADY MAMIE DOUD EISENHOWER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/17/1969 - HFSID 171402

MAMIE D. EISENHOWER
Ike's Death: Rare personal letter acknowledging condolence.
Typed Letter Signed: "M" with 27 words in holograph, 1p, 6¼x9. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1969 April 17 (Eisenhower died on March 28). To Mrs. Mollie P. Cullum, LaQuinta, California. In full: "Thank you for your telegram of sympathy in my great loss. The burden of grief has been lessened by the kind thoughts of so many of our friends and the knowledge that the entire country is sharing my sadness. I am sorry that I did not have an opportunity to see you while in Washington." Mrs. Eisenhower completed the letter by hand: "but did receive your thoughtful and loving messages. Mr. Joel could not come to Abilene because of his health but have talked to him over telephone often." Fine condition. With original envelope bearing metered free frank: "Mamie Doud Eisenhower". postmarked Gettysburg, Pa., April 19, 1969, six days before a special act of Congress granted her the franking privilege. Fine condition. Dwight D. Eisenhower died of heart failure three weeks earlier, on March 28, 1969, at the age of 78. His last words were: "I've always loved my wife. I've always loved my children. I've always loved my grandchildren. And I have always loved my country." His coffin lay in state for 28 hours in the Washington Cathedral before it was taken to the Capitol. It arrived there on an artillery caisson drawn by a team of black horses. When the body had been carried into the rotunda and placed on a bier first used for Lincoln's body in 1865, President Richard Nixon gave the eulogy. During the next 24 hours, an estimated 55,000 mourners filed through the rotunda to pay their respects. He was buried in Abilene, Kansas on April 2, 1969. Two items.