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| Eisenhower artwork painted of house where he planned D-day to go on sale | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| He was a better military commander than he was an artist but Dwight D Eisenhower's oil painting of the south London house where he lived while planning the D-day landings is to be auctioned 65 years after he first painted it for his valet. | He was a better military commander than he was an artist but Dwight D Eisenhower's oil painting of the south London house where he lived while planning the D-day landings is to be auctioned 65 years after he first painted it for his valet. |
| "Ike" had also stayed at Telegraph Cottage in Kingston in autumn 1942, while preparing Operation Torch, the allied landings in north Africa, the same year John Moaney began working for him. | "Ike" had also stayed at Telegraph Cottage in Kingston in autumn 1942, while preparing Operation Torch, the allied landings in north Africa, the same year John Moaney began working for him. |
| "Very few people knew that Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander and the man who would take the decision to launch D-Day, was living there," said Bobby Livingston, vice-president at Boston sales house RR Auction. "His small staff went to great efforts to maintain his privacy and to avoid reminders of the war, so that the cottage became a kind of refuge and Eisenhower had some brief respite from his job." | "Very few people knew that Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander and the man who would take the decision to launch D-Day, was living there," said Bobby Livingston, vice-president at Boston sales house RR Auction. "His small staff went to great efforts to maintain his privacy and to avoid reminders of the war, so that the cottage became a kind of refuge and Eisenhower had some brief respite from his job." |
| On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the launch of Operation Overlord, Livingston has detailed memorabilia relating to the allied commander and the wartime president Franklin D Roosevelt, as well as other White House-related and sporting items. | On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the launch of Operation Overlord, Livingston has detailed memorabilia relating to the allied commander and the wartime president Franklin D Roosevelt, as well as other White House-related and sporting items. |
| It was not until 1949 that Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, New York, painted the 17.25in by 13.5in present from an earlier watercolour, including his initials in the left-hand corner. He also authenticated its provenance in pencil on the back. The following year he took leave of absence to be first supreme commander of Nato as the cold war got colder. | It was not until 1949 that Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, New York, painted the 17.25in by 13.5in present from an earlier watercolour, including his initials in the left-hand corner. He also authenticated its provenance in pencil on the back. The following year he took leave of absence to be first supreme commander of Nato as the cold war got colder. |
| The artist and future two-term president had been encouraged to take up the hobby by Winston Churchill but had no illusions about his abilities in this field, at least. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has recounted how the former president told the then young UPI reporter as they walked round an exhibition of his work in New York in 1967 and stopped before a painting of his Gettysburg farm:"They would have burned this [expletive] a long time ago if I weren't the president of the United States." | The artist and future two-term president had been encouraged to take up the hobby by Winston Churchill but had no illusions about his abilities in this field, at least. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has recounted how the former president told the then young UPI reporter as they walked round an exhibition of his work in New York in 1967 and stopped before a painting of his Gettysburg farm:"They would have burned this [expletive] a long time ago if I weren't the president of the United States." |
| Moaney and his wife Delores, who was Mamie Eisenhower's housekeeper and personal assistant from 1947, continued working for Eisenhower until his death in 1969. | Moaney and his wife Delores, who was Mamie Eisenhower's housekeeper and personal assistant from 1947, continued working for Eisenhower until his death in 1969. |
| The painting is now owned by Raleigh DeGeer Amyx, a retired trade association executive who as a young man worked for the FBI, first as a messenger for the director J Edgar Hoover in the 1950s. While in Washington, he got to know many who had worked at the White House and elsewhere with their own fragment of history – valets, housekeepers, cooks, secretaries, secret service agents, groundskeepers, and others. | The painting is now owned by Raleigh DeGeer Amyx, a retired trade association executive who as a young man worked for the FBI, first as a messenger for the director J Edgar Hoover in the 1950s. While in Washington, he got to know many who had worked at the White House and elsewhere with their own fragment of history – valets, housekeepers, cooks, secretaries, secret service agents, groundskeepers, and others. |
| Eisenhower was not a great artist, Amyx accepted. But when a "general of that importance … wants to sit down and paint it and write about why he painted that, obviously it meant a lot from the point of view of General Eisenhower, and General Eisenhower thought it would mean a great deal to his valet that he had done the painting." | Eisenhower was not a great artist, Amyx accepted. But when a "general of that importance … wants to sit down and paint it and write about why he painted that, obviously it meant a lot from the point of view of General Eisenhower, and General Eisenhower thought it would mean a great deal to his valet that he had done the painting." |
| When Moaney first saw Eisenhower, said Amyx, he did not realise who he was, but "the two became close friends and they went everywhere together. The painting has great historical significance." | When Moaney first saw Eisenhower, said Amyx, he did not realise who he was, but "the two became close friends and they went everywhere together. The painting has great historical significance." |
| Amyx, 76 this month, said that when Eisenhower was president and he was 18, "I used to follow him to church and sit behind him and just stare at him … I would follow (him) around for no other reason than stare at greatness." | Amyx, 76 this month, said that when Eisenhower was president and he was 18, "I used to follow him to church and sit behind him and just stare at him … I would follow (him) around for no other reason than stare at greatness." |
| Telegraph Cottage is alas no more. It burned down in 1987. The general's leather flight jacket from the second world war (less often worn than the jacket whose style still carries the Ike imprimatur), his 1953 Bauch and Lomb binoculars, and his gold Rolex watch – the 150,000th ever made and presented to him by the company in 1951 – are also up for sale. | Telegraph Cottage is alas no more. It burned down in 1987. The general's leather flight jacket from the second world war (less often worn than the jacket whose style still carries the Ike imprimatur), his 1953 Bauch and Lomb binoculars, and his gold Rolex watch – the 150,000th ever made and presented to him by the company in 1951 – are also up for sale. |
| Roosevelt items include the top hat he wore for his first inauguration in 1933 , his blue black woollen cape with satin lining and velvet-trimmed collar and his walnut cane, with white bone handle and tip. | Roosevelt items include the top hat he wore for his first inauguration in 1933 , his blue black woollen cape with satin lining and velvet-trimmed collar and his walnut cane, with white bone handle and tip. |
| Amyx told the Guardian: "Sometimes people in the most humble positions … have great access and information, and they often have very close contact that they don't reveal and don't discuss with the press." Such people might however tell their stories to someone they got to know and trust. "Sometimes they would show me these things and I might say, 'Whatever is going to happen to them?' Because very often these things will be in the closet or will be in the basement or in the attic." | Amyx told the Guardian: "Sometimes people in the most humble positions … have great access and information, and they often have very close contact that they don't reveal and don't discuss with the press." Such people might however tell their stories to someone they got to know and trust. "Sometimes they would show me these things and I might say, 'Whatever is going to happen to them?' Because very often these things will be in the closet or will be in the basement or in the attic." |
| He and his wife Hilda, who have four children, have downsized and moved from Virginia to Hernando, Florida. He is keeping most of his cherished White House china but over 400 items will be auctioned in Boston on 17 September – including another personal favourite, a painting Jackie Kennedy made of the White House as it looked in 1805. Hopes that he might be able to sell the treasure trove as one concern have not been realised. "I have never had anybody approach me from a concept of 'let's keep this together'," said Amyx. | He and his wife Hilda, who have four children, have downsized and moved from Virginia to Hernando, Florida. He is keeping most of his cherished White House china but over 400 items will be auctioned in Boston on 17 September – including another personal favourite, a painting Jackie Kennedy made of the White House as it looked in 1805. Hopes that he might be able to sell the treasure trove as one concern have not been realised. "I have never had anybody approach me from a concept of 'let's keep this together'," said Amyx. |
| "It was never my intention to have an auction. I am just facing my own mortality and realising that if something isn't done and this is not presented in the proper way, that if I were to pass away I would be leaving a mess for my heirs." | "It was never my intention to have an auction. I am just facing my own mortality and realising that if something isn't done and this is not presented in the proper way, that if I were to pass away I would be leaving a mess for my heirs." |
| Stressing his desire to be "fair to the people who gave (the items) to me in the first place", Amyx acknowledged he would probably see his collection broken up. "It is not what I want, I don't know any other way to do it." Collecting, he said, "takes a tremendous amount of energy, a tremendous amount of passion and if you don't have the combination of time, knowledge and passion, it cannot be done." | Stressing his desire to be "fair to the people who gave (the items) to me in the first place", Amyx acknowledged he would probably see his collection broken up. "It is not what I want, I don't know any other way to do it." Collecting, he said, "takes a tremendous amount of energy, a tremendous amount of passion and if you don't have the combination of time, knowledge and passion, it cannot be done." |