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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Descendants of ex-US presidents speak of affinity
Clifton Truman Daniel, David Roosevelt and Mary Jean Eisenhower, from left to right, descendants of former US presidents Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower respectively, appear at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
/ Staff writer, with CNA
Descendants of former US presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower yesterday said that they felt a sense of affinity with Taiwan because of their grandfathers’ links to the nation during World War II and afterward.
Mary Jean Eisenhower, Clifton Truman Daniel and David Roosevelt, invited by the government to participate in events marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, said at a news conference in Taipei that it was a special experience for them to attend the events.
“Each of our grandfathers played a vital and interesting” role in the war and the subsequent developments in Taiwan and the rest of the world, said David Roosevelt, a grandson of the former president.
David Roosevelt said he was not invited to attend commemorative events in China, but if he had, he would still have chosen to accept Taiwan’s invitation because his grandparents had a close relationship with Chiang Kai-shek （蔣介石） and his wife, Soong Mayling （宋美齡）.
“So I would honor that relationship,” he said.
Mary Jean Eisenhower, a granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower, said that given her grandfather’s love for Taiwan and her own love for the nation, there was no place she would rather be to commemorate the anniversary.
“Taiwan almost feels like a second family to me, not only because of what my grandparents and my parents told me about the country, but also because of my own experiences,” said Mary Jean Eisenhower, who is on her ninth visit to Taiwan. “For me, it’s logical... to support the beginning of this friendship that happened so many years ago and several generations ago.”
She said it is a special experience to attend the commemorative events in Taiwan, because “it represents to me the historical start of a friendship that has transcended generations.”
Daniel, a grandson of Harry Truman, said he was honored to be able to help Taiwan remember the sacrifices and triumphs in the war.
He said that even if he had received an invitation from China, he would have chosen to come to Taiwan because his grandfather had helped defend the nation’s sovereignty and had defended democracy.
Daniel said he takes seriously the birthright to represent his grandfather and worked over the past few years to record stories of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
