September 9, 2003

A new exhibit is now on display at the Eisenhower Museum, Abilene, Kansas.  “Bob Hope: American Patriot” opened August 1st and will run through February 15, 2004.  Bob Hope has become one of the most recognized personalities in the world, and in the history of show business no individual traveled so far and so often to entertain so many.  For sixty years, he and a group of Hollywood gypsies traveled the globe to enterain our men and women in uniform.  His first military audience was at March Field, California, in 1941, and his last was in 1989 at the age of 86 when he visited the troups in the Middle East during Operation Desert Shield.

Visitors to the exhibit will see uniform items presented from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, and the Gulf War; congressional and military citations; signed manuscripts from presidents Roosevelt to Clinton; a golf club presented to Hope by Richard Nixon; a putter Hope gave to President Eisenhower; a large golf ball from the Hope Classic Golf tournament; a record given to President and Mrs. Eisenhower on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary; a Christmas card to the Eisenhowers; a cariacture pinata of Hope; and of special interest are video clips of Hope’s many USO shows.
The exhibit was prepared by Hope Enterprises, Inc., of Burbank, California,  to honor Hope as a patriot, a humanitarian, and one of  the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century.  Mr. Hope celebrated his 100th birthday May 29, just before his death on July 27, 2003.

All buildings at the Center are handicapped accessible and open daily from 9 a.m. until 4:45 p.m., closed only Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.  The Eisenhower Center is one of ten presidential libraries operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
For more information, please call (785) 263-4751 or toll free 877- RING IKE.