August 2, 2011

VIDEO INTERVIEWS ON EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY TO BE PRESERVED

Interviews with 117 of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's family members, friends, associates, journalists, cabinet members, political allies and opponents, and leaders of the Soviet Union and America's major Cold War allies will be preserved in digital format over the next two months.  The announcement was made by Contemporary Learning Systems, Inc. (CLS), a Michigan non-profit firm that specializes in media education programming. 

     These interviews - which were initiated in 1990 at Eisenhower Centenary events held in Abilene, KS, Gettysburg, PA and Moscow - were conducted by George A. Colburn, Ph.D., a historian who is President and Executive Producer of CLS and Starbright Media Corporation, a documentary television production company.  There are aproximately 300 broadcast quality interview tapes in the CLS presidential archive that will be transferred from broadcast-quality videotape to digital format.

      The President Eisenhower Tape Preservation Project was established at CLS following a donation to the company by Stanley M. Rumbough of Palm Beach, FL, the co-founder in 1951 of “Citizens for Eisenhower,” an independent grassroots organization that helped persuade Eisenhower to run for the Presidency and then aided his 1952 nomination and election campaigns.  In 1951, "Ike" was the Supreme Commander of NATO and based in Paris.  He threw his hat into the political ring as a Republican presidential candidate just prior to the first-ever New Hampshire primary election in March of 1952. 

       The complete CLS videotape archive collection includes approximately 500 interview tapes. Interviews about Ike’s military career and civilian life, 1940 – 1950, are not included in the preservation project.  CLS continues to seek funding for expanding the preservation project to include the approximately 200 tapes covering earlier period.  

       Among the 117 interviewees are three family members - Gen. John S.D. Eisenhower, Ike's son who worked in the White House as an assistant to the President’s chief military advisor, John's son, David, and daughter, Susan.  Also included in the collection are four Presidents - Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.  Political, diplomatic and military leaders of England, France, West Germany and the Soviet Union - including Nikita Khrushchev's son and son-in-law - are also in the collection to be preserved.

       The majority of Dr. Colburn’s interviews about the Eisenhower presidency were conducted from 1990 through 1996 and led to three one-hour, prime-time television Specials in 1991, 1993 and 1995 for the Discovery and Disney networks.  These programs were hosted by John Chancellor, the late NBC news anchor and commentator.  A five-hour series entitled "The Eisenhower Legacy, 1941 - 1961" - hosted by Gen. Colin Powell (U.S. Army, ret.) - then followed for Disney in 1996.  In 1997, a 20-part classroom video series for Disney Educational Productions was completed by SMC.  The company plans to edit both Disney series and re-release them later this year, according to Dr. Colburn. 

       Beginning in 2003, Dr. Colburn began a new round of interviews with witnesses to the Eisenhower presidential years and with scholars who had carried out research on aspects of the Eisenhower presidency that had not been thoroughly examined previously.  These interviews are to be featured in a new two-hour television Special entitled "IKE: From Warrior to Peacekeeper, 1950 – 1960.”  SMC hopes to complete the Special to coincide with next year’s presidential primary campaigns. The actual air date will depend on the availability of funding for the final stage of post-production, Dr. Colburn said. 

       With regard to the preserved interviews, Dr. Colburn stated that he hoped an appropriate home could be identified in the upcoming months - "a museum or library where the tapes will be properly stored for the foreseeable future and organized for easy access by scholars, researchers, students and interested members of the general public."

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