Eisenhower National Historic Site

Television Remote Control
c 1955
Remote control for the RCA Victor color television in master bedroom.
Plastic, metal. L 11.5, W 7.6 cm
Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 3733.

TV Watching
Perhaps what best qualified the Eisenhowers as your quintessential 1950s American couple was their love of television. Mamie was so addicted to her soap operas that were she ever unable to view a particular episode, she assigned a Secret Service agent to watch it and take notes for her. According to the Eisenhower grandchildren, one of Mamie’s biggest complaints about her husband during their retirement years was his compulsive channel changing. He had a habit of monopolizing the remote control and constantly changing the channels, over and over and over. The remotes in those years would actually turn the channel selector knob on the set, so every push of the button would be accompanied by the sound of the turning knob, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk….



Television Remote Control c 1955 Remote control for the RCA Victor color television in master bedroom. Plastic, metal. L 11.5, W 7.6 cm Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 3733. TV Watching Perhaps what best qualified the Eisenhowers as your quintessential 1950s American couple was their love of television. Mamie was so addicted to her soap operas that were she ever unable to view a particular episode, she assigned a Secret Service agent to watch it and take notes for her. According to the Eisenhower grandchildren, one of Mamie’s biggest complaints about her husband during their retirement years was his compulsive channel changing. He had a habit of monopolizing the remote control and constantly changing the channels, over and over and over. The remotes in those years would actually turn the channel selector knob on the set, so every push of the button would be accompanied by the sound of the turning knob, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk….
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