Remarks at Presentation by Field Marshal Alexander of a Portrait of the President.
FIRST OF ALL, you know how much I will prize the portrait that was made by Sir Oswald Birley. To have a replica will be a very great honor, and to have you bring it to me is something that I can scarcely imagine. You know how I have felt toward you all these years. I assure you it will always be the same, and I will always have the same feeling toward all those other people that make up that great band that I am privileged to call my British friends.
Thank you.
Note: The ceremony was held in the President's office. The remarks of Field Marshal Alexander were also released.
The original portrait was painted in 1951 at SHAPE headquarters, shortly fore the artist's death. Marshal Alexander stated that Birley had painted it as a gift to the American people, and that he had planned to do a replica for presentation to the President. The actual replica, by Sir John Leigh-Pemberton, was arranged for by Birley's British friends.
The original was sent to the Smithsonian Institution for display as part of the National Collection of Fine Arts; the replica, to the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks at Presentation by Field Marshal Alexander of a Portrait of the President. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232323
