Edward Elson

Dwight David Eisenhower was among our most religiously devout American presidents, raised with Jehovah’s Witness and Brethren (comparable to Mennonite) influences. Since both groups embraced pacifism, Eisenhower’s appointment to West Point and subsequent military career conflicted with his religious upbringing. While he prayed and spoke of God, he distanced himself from organized religion before his years as president (1953-1961). The Eisenhower’s lived close to National Presbyterian, whose senior pastor, Edward Elson (1906-1993), had previously served as a World War II chaplain. When Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie expressed interest in joining the church, Elson held firm that all new members had to be catechized, but Eisenhower’s presidential schedule conflicted with membership classes, so he invited Elson to the White House for one-on-one training. Eisenhower was subsequently baptized, the only sitting president to do so while in office. They were well-suited to each other. Elson shared Eisenhower’s patriotism and conviction that Christianity was the best remedy for godless communism. Both were deeply impacted by the events of World War II: Eisenhower in his role as Commander of Allied Forces in Europe and Elson as chaplain, which involved the grim tasks of witnessing the execution of a young deserter and interviewing clergy imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp after the war. The two families socialized together at the White House. Elson delivered the invocation at Eisenhower’s inauguration and conducted his funeral in 1969. Elson was appointed Senate Chaplain (1969-1981) which included opening the Senate meetings with prayer. Twelve years’ worth of Senate prayers were later collected into a dozen volumes, one for each year of prayer. These were tumultuous years, given the contentious Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and the resignation of President Nixon. When Elson’s daughter Eleanor was asked by the university where she taught English to write a tribute to her dad, she chose her father’s Senate prayer from June 17, 1980, as an expression of trust in difficult times: