Clifton Forge, Va. (WVDN) – Following a competitive application process, the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, the non-profit organization that preserves and shares the history of the C&O Railway, is the recipient of a grant from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society of Pennsylvania. The $2,478.01 award from the organization that perpetuates President Eisenhower’s legacy through educational programming will allow the Virginia-based historical group to develop a mobile exhibit titled, “Dwight D. Eisenhower and the C&O’s ‘Cold War Soldier.’”
With full development and implementation now possible through these funds, the new display will focus on the story and historical ramifications of President Eisenhower’s 1956 trip with C&O Railway President Walter J. Tuohy on board the railroad’s office car, “Chessie 29.”
Reflecting the competitiveness of the application process, the notification letter from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society stated, “The Society received over $67,000 in grant requests and we had $45,000 to give. You were chosen to receive this grant based on the merit of the project as presented in your application.” The application packet was written and completed for the C&O Historical Society by Board of Directors member and Operations Director Rick Gartrell.
The content of the exhibit will educate the public about the role President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chessie 29 played on the stage of Cold War history, specifically how the intersection of the two led to the construction of the now-famous bunker under The Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The exhibit will include photographic and documented evidence of President Eisenhower’s trip on the C&O Railway, the events that unfolded after, and inform the public about the 83’ artifact that survives to the present day.
“We were pleased to receive a grant request from the C&O Historical Society as their efforts to educate others about this part of Eisenhower history is just the type of project we like to support,” said Carol Hegeman, Executive Director of the Eisenhower Society.
With hopes of having great public appeal, the displays will feature tabletop elements, artifacts, and free-standing features, weaving together the complex story of Cold War intrigue that unraveled en route to the hills of West Virginia. The exhibit is designed to be mobile so it can be utilized in additional locations from the C&O Historical Society’s museums at Clifton Forge, Virginia and St. Albans, West Virginia.
Mark Totten, President of the C&O Historical Society, reacted to the notification, “We are humbled to receive such a high honor from the prestigious Dwight D. Eisenhower Society. The receipt of this grant is a wonderful and encouraging milestone. I’m also pleased with this newfound partnership with an organization that believes, as we do, in preserving and sharing these chapters of history.”
According to the C&O Historical Society, Chessie 29 was the location of a virtually-unknown meeting with critical ramifications as President Eisenhower’s administration quietly prepared the United States for the Cold War’s worst possible outcomes.
Totten offered some context; “Throughout the 20th century, railroad passenger cars crisscrossed the United States by the tens of thousands, transporting Americans in wartime, peacetime, and sometimes providing the backdrop for other historical events. Chessie 29 stands out as ‘the room where it happened’ for West Virginia’s once-secret congressional bunker.”
Now the most famous surviving passenger car from the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, the office rail car “Chessie 29” was permanently assigned to Walter J. Tuohy, the C&O’s charismatic president and later CEO from 1948 to 1966. Taking its name from the railroad’s mascot, Chessie “the Railroad Kitten,” the 83-foot car provided Tuohy a mobile office on which to conduct railroad business throughout C&O’s rail system, which stretched from the Virginia shore through Michigan and into Ontario.
Soon to be illustrated for the first time with this new exhibit, Chessie 29’s most famous distinction in history connects President Eisenhower, the Cold War, and the famous West Virginia hotel, The Greenbrier, at White Sulphur Springs. In 1956, following a cryptic overture to the railroad from the Architect of the Capitol, C&O Railway President Walter Tuohy and President Dwight Eisenhower traveled on board together from Washington to White Sulphur Springs. During this trip, an agreement was made through which the United States government constructed a top-secret bunker to house members of the U.S. Congress in the event of a nuclear attack on the nation’s capital. Arriving in the Mountain State together on Chessie 29, the guise for the meeting was the “Summit of the Americas” at The Greenbrier with other North American leaders.
In reality, while on board Chessie 29, Tuohy and President Eisenhower agreed upon a collaboration by which the federal government funded construction and future staffing of this bunker complex with cut-and-cover concealment, disguised under a to-be-constructed wing for The Greenbrier, which the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway owned at the time. This bunker, meant to house and allow the surviving United States Congress members to function following an attack, was staffed and kept ready for possible use from the period just before the Cuban Missile Crisis until 1992.
“Eisenhower always said as president that he ‘kept the peace,’ but as a Five-Star General, he knew the importance of always being prepared. Sharing Eisenhower’s plans for the continuity of government in the event of a nuclear attack is an important story to tell through this new exhibit. The fact that it will be portable and can be displayed at many locations means that more visitors will learn the story,” said Hegeman.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society now owns Chessie 29 and plans to restore the little-known artifact of the Cold War. Because it is such an irreplaceable asset, saving this piece of rolling history and returning it to operational condition as a mobile museum and teaching tool for future generations has become a priority for the Virginia-based group. According to Totten, “On the list of surviving equipment from America’s golden age of railroad travel, few passenger cars carry the historical richness and connections to world history like Chessie 29.”
Summarizing the importance of the grant award and the meaning of Chessie 29, Totten concluded, “In the context of the Cold War’s fears and President Eisenhower’s quiet but necessary reactions to them, Chessie 29 was the backdrop for what is now nearly unthinkable, as the secret bunker was to be vital for the continuity of our legislative branch of government. The former office rail car tells this story and preserves the legacy of Eisenhower’s actions in the early years of the world’s nuclear tensions.”
Hegeman noted, “We are pleased to support this exhibit as it coincides with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society mission to promote the memory and legacy of leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower through educational programs, scholarships, grants, and special events. People can learn more about the Society at dwightdeisenhowersociety.org.”
Updates and additional information can be found on Facebook under @cohs.org and @DwightDEisenhowerSociety.
