They say, “The eyes have it,” and what the “it” is exactly in this sentiment is debatable, yet no one can argue that Mamie Eisenhower’s baby blues rivaled the Atlantic and set more than a few hearts ablaze. The blue of her eyes was practically iconic and the tell-tale sparkle, legendary. Even when Mamie swore off blue, in favor of the more ostentatious pink, (not only her favorite hue, but her personal lifelong obsession), she was depressed for three years, and nearly did herself in. Somehow pink had let her down, and she could not escape the irrefutable and piecing blue of her own eyes. Gazing in the mirror, she realized THAT was her secret weapon – not the florid, girlish decadence of PINK, but the subtle persuasiveness of her very own blue eyes. Besides, after a “certain age” pink is just downright embarrassing.

Blue could be quite dashing and diplomatic, and owing to the fact it is one of the mainstays on the American flag, it possesses a kind of built-in gravitas where folks just take it more seriously, whereas pink is for nurseries and babies’ butts, flamingos, carnations, and strawberry milk – hardly the stuff of presidents.

Mamie, having recognized her true potential, made the most of her baby blues, accentuating her one singular best trait to great effect, including a series of presidential portraits where she willingly posed in a sapphire gown with blue topaz earrings and a stunning cerulean angora shawl.

At the end of her life her when her vision started to fail, she wore coke bottle glasses which further emphasized her extraordinary peepers. Once, well into her golden years, and living on her farm in Gettysburg, PA, she decided to have a willing enucleation and donated her eyes to her husband’s presidential library in Abilene Kansas where they can still be found to this day, floating in a bottle of formaldehyde on the bottom shelf in the basement of the great hallowed halls.