Eisenhower speechwriter dies

Former President Eisenhower speechwriter Bob Kieve died on Sunday, at 98. He served in Eisenhower’s first term before going on to a colorful career as an independent radio station owner in San Jose.

At a Rotary Club lecture a few years back, Kieve told a story about Eisenhower’s quirky but strong linguistic preferences:

“On one occasion Bob got a call from Ann Whitman, Eisenhower’s secretary, asking him to please stop using ‘appreciation for’ since Eisenhower always changed it to ‘appreciation of’ and Ann would have to retype the whole note.  Bob felt appreciation for’ was correct and told this to Ann. Ann called back shortly and said Eisenhower had an opening at 2:00 that afternoon if Bob would like to explain to the President why his wording was incorrect. Bob got the point and used ‘appreciation of’ from that point forward.”