HIS HIGH SCHOOL GEOMETRY TEXT BOOK EISENHOWER, DWIGHT D. Phillips and Fisher. Elements of Geometry. Signed, twice ("Dwight D. Eisenhower" and "Eisenhower"), on front endpapers, with numerous markings, brief notes, diagrams, and doodles throughout, most in pencil. Most of the drawings and notes are diagrams or page ranges relating to assignments, but the first table of contents page features a small portrait of a man's face in profile, and the first rear blank contains a couplet: "Whether in blue or / K-det gray-- / we'll back that old / team 'till dying day [Army blue and cadet gray are colors worn by commissioned officers or students of West Point]." 8vo, publisher's ¼ morocco over cloth, marked loss to gilt label on spine, moderate scattered soiling and dampstaining; loss to half of rear free endpaper, occasional soiling throughout. (SFC) New York, (1986); inscriptions: circa 1907
A relevant anecdote is found in Eisenhower's In Review: Pictures I've Kept (Garden City: Doubleday, 1969): "In high school, plane geometry was an intellectual adventure, one that entranced me. After a few months, my teachers conducted an unusual experiment. The principal and my mathematics teacher called me to the office and told me that they were going to take away my textbook. Thereafter, I was to work out the geometric problems without the benefit of the book. They said that . . . unless the experiment was terminated by them, I would automatically receive an A-plus grade. "Strangely enough, I got along fairly well."
