Kay Summersby
Kay Summersby in 1944.
Born1908 (1908)
County Cork, Ireland
Died20 January 1975 (1975-01-21)
Southampton, New York
Allegiance United Kingdom
 United States
Service/branchMechanised Transport Corps (UK)
Women's Army Corps (US)
Years of service1939–1947
RankCaptain
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsLegion of Merit
Women's Army Corps Service Medal
European Campaign Medal
World War Two Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal
External image
image icon Bust portraits of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Kay Summersby Morgan[1]

Kay Summersby (1908–20 January 1975[2]) was a member of the British Mechanised Transport Corps during World War II, who served as chauffeur to Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force Dwight D. Eisenhower, later as his secretary and, it is alleged, his mistress.

Biography

Summersby was born Kathleen Helen MacCarthy-Morrogh in Ballydehob, County Cork, Ireland.[3][4] She was the daughter of Andrew F. and Vera MacCarthy-Morrogh; her father was originally from County Kerry, and her mother was born in Wales.[3] She described her father, a retired Lt. Colonel of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, as black Irish and her mother as English. As a young woman, she moved to London where she worked as a film studio extra, dabbled in photography, and eventually became a fashion model. She was married and divorced, retaining the name of her ex-husband.[4]

When Britain entered the Second World War in 1939, Summersby joined the British Mechanised Transport Corps (MTC). She drove an ambulance throughout the London Blitz in 1940 and 1941,[4] and was reportedly excellent at navigating London streets during blackouts and fog.[5] When the United States joined the Allies after the German declaration of war in December 1941, Summersby was one of many MTC drivers assigned as chauffeurs to high ranking American military officers. She was assigned to drive Major General Dwight Eisenhower when he arrived in London in May, 1942. Though there was a brief interruption of several weeks due to Eisenhower's short return to the US, Summersby drove the general and later became his secretary until November, 1945. During this time Eisenhower rose in rank to a five-star General of the Army and Commander of the European Theatre, and Kay, with his help, became a US citizen and a commissioned officer in the US Women's Army Corps (WACs), ultimately leaving the service as a captain in 1947. Captain Summersby's military awards included the Legion of Merit, Women's Army Corps Service Medal, European Campaign Medal, World War Two Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal with "Germany" clasp.

After a broken engagement with a California man[5] Summersby married the Wall Street stockbroker Reginald H. Morgan in 1952,[6] but was divorced again.[5] She died at her home in Southampton, Long Island, of cancer, on 20 January 1975.[7]

Relationship with Eisenhower

There is a question whether Summersby consumated a romance with Eisenhower during the war. Many people knew both of them during the war but none alleged there was an affair. In Eisenhower Was My Boss, her 1948 memoir of the war years, she made no mention of an affair. Her 1975 autobiography, Past Forgetting: My Love Affair with Dwight D. Eisenhower, was explicit about the romance. This book was contracted after Eisenhower had died in 1969 and was written by a ghost writer after Summersby herself died. The text states the omission of the affair from the 1948 book was due to her concern for Eisenhower's privacy. Summersby reportedly stated in 1976: "The General is dead. I am dying. When I wrote Eisenhower Was My Boss in 1948, I ommitted many things, changed some details, glossed over others to disguise as best I could the intimacy that had grown between General Eisenhower and me. It was better that way."[8]

Past Forgetting was ghostwritten by Barbara Wyden while Summersby was dying of cancer.[9] Those who dispute the claim of an affair maintain that the second book's description of the relationship was simply fabricated, presumably by the ghostwriter. By the book's account there were two unsuccessful attempts to have intercourse, as recounted in a 1991 report in The New York Times: "Miss Summersby, a former model, wrote of how her friendship with the general had developed into passion. 'I suppose inevitably, we found ourselves in each others' arms in an unrestrained embrace,' she wrote. 'Our jackets came off. Buttons were unbuttoned. It was as if we were frantic, and we were.' But, she added, the general had difficulty consummating the affair".[8] Instead of sex, wrote Summersby, the affair mostly consisted of "stolen kisses" during walks or on airplanes, holding hands, and horseback riding or golfing together. She kept a note from Eisenhower that asked, "How about lunch, tea & dinner today?" the note says. "If yes: Who else do you want, if any? At which time? How are you?" [5]

Eisenhower himself only mentioned Summersby once in Crusade in Europe, his memoir of the war, in a list of aides.[5] Historian Carlo D'Este notes that members of Eisenhower's staff denied that there was ever an affair between them, and dismisses Summersby's book as "fanciful".[10] Rumors and jokes about their relationship were common among soldiers, however. Eisenhower's son John, who briefly served as an aide, described her as "the Mary Tyler Moore of headquarters. She was perky and she was cute. Whether she had any designs on the Old Man and the extent to which he succumbed, I just don't know."[5]

Summersby began the war as a British subject and the equivalent of a private in the British forces and ended the war as a US citizen and a captain in the US Army WACs, which came about through the direct efforts of General Eisenhower. It is generally agreed that Kay and Ike were extremely close, were seen together in many press photographs during the war (as shown in the two books and other literature) and (as evidenced by letters between the two), Summersby was not well liked by Eisenhower's wife (who was alive when the second book was published). Summersby was married and divorced prior to meeting Ike and married Morgan some time after her discharge from the army. There was an engagement to marry US Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Richard "Dick" Arnold, that overlapped her initial period with Eisenhower; however, this was ended by the death of her fiancé during the North Africa campaign.[11]

President Harry S. Truman reportedly told author Merle Miller that in 1945, Eisenhower asked permission from General George Marshall to divorce his wife to marry Summersby, but permission was refused.[8] Truman also allegedly said he had the correspondence between Marshall and Eisenhower retrieved from the Army archives and destroyed.[12] But Truman's account of the Summersby controversy has been widely rejected by scholars. Historians say Truman had a mistaken recollection, and emphasize that Eisenhower had asked permission to bring his wife to England. Others have speculated that Truman lied about Eisenhower because of animosity between the two men that intensified during the Eisenhower presidency (Truman stated that Eisenhower did not invite him back to the White House during his administration).[13] Historian Robert H. Ferrell has alleged that Miller fabricated some of the quotes in his interviews with Truman, which were published after Truman's death.[14]

Eisenhower biographer Jean Edward Smith broadly credits Summersby's account of her affair with Eisenhower.[15] Smith cites Omar Bradley, who in his autobiography wrote that the two were in love and that "Their close relationship is quite accurately portrayed, so far as my personal knowledge extends, in Kay's second book, Past Forgetting." Other evidence cited by Smith includes:

References

Notes
  1. ^ Bust portraits of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Kay Summersby Morgan, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division via Popartmachine.com, cph 3b20861
  2. ^ Find-a-grave (Which gives her year of birth as 1910)
  3. ^ a b Entry in Census of Ireland, 1911
  4. ^ a b c Wyden, Barbara, Papers, 1944-1945, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
  5. ^ a b c d e f Mulligan, Hugh A. (1995-05-28). "When Gunfire Ended, So Did Ike's War Romance". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  6. ^ Announcement of marriage, Time, Monday, December 01, 1952
  7. ^ Announcement of death, Time, Monday, February 03, 1975
  8. ^ a b c Kifner, John (June 06, 1991). "Eisenhower Letters Hint at Affair With Aide". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 August 2012. ((cite news)): Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Lester, David (1981). Ike & Mamie, The Story of the General and his Lady. Academic Press. ISBN 0-399-12644-9. ((cite book)): Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ D'Este, Carlo (2003). Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life. Henry Holt and Company. p. 419. ISBN 978-0-8050-5687-7. Retrieved November 26, 2011. No evidence exists, beyond the fanciful allegations in a memoir [Summersby] did not live to see published.
  11. ^ Korda, Michael (2007). Ike: An American Hero. harpercollins. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-06-075665-9. ((cite book)): Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Miller, Merle, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974) Putnam Publishing Group. ISBN 0-399-11261-8.
  13. ^ Nixon, Richard M. (1978). RN: The Memoirs of Richard M. Nixon. Grosset & Dunlap. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-671-70741-5.
  14. ^ Ferrell, Robert H.; Heller, Francis H. (May/June 1995). "Plain Faking?". American Heritage Magazine. 46 (3). Retrieved Nov 8, 2011. In the Miller tapes in the Truman Library there is no Truman conversation, nothing, about Kay Summersby. ((cite journal)): Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Smith, Jean Edward (2012). Eisenhower in War and Peace. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6693-3.
Bibliography

Further reading

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