Eisenhower Plaque
This granite plaque resides adjacent to the main entrance of the Chapel and in front of the Downes Clock Memorial, and was made to commemorate President Dwight Eisenhower's visit to the campus on October 20, 1954. The Greek inscription on the stone reads “The Leader In War And Peace At This Place Was Present As A Mark Of Friendship.” Initials along the side of the plaque, A.C.J. and D.D.E., stand for Albert C. Jacobs and Dwight D. Eisenhower, respectively.
Jacobs and Eisenhower had formed a strong friendship when they both worked at Columbia University (Jacobs was Provost and Eisenhower was President). Jacobs had been a frequent visitor of the White House, and had invited Eisenhower to speak at Trinity multiple times before, but the President's busy schedule had prevented it.
Eisenhower finally visited Trinity College while Jacobs was College president during the 1954 commencement ceremony, where he gave a speech and accepted an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in front of roughly 7,500 people gathered on the main quad. The crowd included faculty, students, people from the surrounding area, and a host of reporters and photographers documenting the presidential visit.
The College went to great lengths when preparing for the visit, it being the first time an incumbent President had visited the campus. A press room was set up in the Williams Memorial, room inspections were made, and areas were made restrictive to students to allow parking room for the influx of visitors. Though President Jacobs claimed this was an apolitical visit, Eisenhower did appear at Governor John Lodge's rally for reelection directly after. Lodge was a friend of the College and of the same Republican party as Eisenhower and Jacobs.
Sources
Eisenhower Plaque: The Leader in War and Peace
Trinity and the Story of Two Presidents (2008) by Ward S. Curran, p. 1.
The Trinity Reporter, Fall 2004.
Trinity College in the Twentieth Century (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 216-217.
The Trinity Tripod, 10/21/1954.