Susan Elaine Eisenhower (born December 31, 1951) is a consultant, author, and expert on international security and relations between the Russian Federation and the United States of America. She is the daughter of John Eisenhower, and the granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower.[1][2] She was married to space scientist Roald Sagdeev,[3] formerly the director of the Russian Space Research Institute and a Hero of Socialist Labor. Despite the end of the marriage several years ago, they remain friends and business partners.[4]
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Susan Eisenhower is President of the Eisenhower Group, Inc, which provides strategic counsel on political, business and public affairs projects. She has consulted for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies doing business in the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union and for a number of major institutions engaged in the energy field.
She is the Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs & Chairman Emeritus of the Eisenhower Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. and in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania part of Gettysburg College. Eisenhower served as the president of the Eisenhower Institute twice, and later as Chairman. During that time, she became known for her work in the former Soviet Union and in the energy field. Eisenhower is a Senior Director of Stonebridge International and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [5].
Eisenhower testified before the Senate Armed Services and Senate Budget Committees on policy toward the region. She was also appointed to the National Academy of Sciences' standing Committee on International Security and Arms Control, where she served for eight years.
In 2000, she was appointed by the United States Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson to the Baker-Cutler Commission, to evaluate U.S.-funded nonproliferation programs in Russia, and since that time she has also served as an advisor to another United States Department of Energy study. She currently sits on the Nuclear Threat Initiative board, co-chaired by Senator Sam Nunn and Ted Turner, the Energy Future Coalition and the US Chamber of Commerce's new Institute for 21st Century Energy. She also serves as an Academic Fellow of the International Peace and Security program of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She has co-chaired Save America’s Treasures, first with Founding Chair Hillary Rodham Clinton and later with First Lady Laura Bush.
She has provided analysis for CNN International, MSNBC, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Fox News, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Hardball with Chris Matthews, One on One with John McLaughlin, the BBC, and three network morning programs. Over the years she has appeared on many other programs including Nightline, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, This Week with David Brinkley, and CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.
Eisenhower has also been seen as a "talking head" on many TV programs and documentaries, including Oliver North's War Stories, Sony Pictures Why We Fight (2005 film) and, most recently, Sputnik Mania.
She has received four honorary doctorates, most recently from the Monterey Institute, where she was cited for her work on nuclear non-proliferation. Ms. Eisenhower received the 2008 Dolibois History Prize from Miami University.[6]
Eisenhower has written extensively on nuclear and space issues. She is the author of three books: Breaking Free, Mrs. Ike, and Partners in Space: US-Russian Cooperation After the Cold War. She has also edited four books on regional security issues; the most recent – Partners in Space (2004) – was also published by Nayuk, the publishing house of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2000, she co-edited a book, Islam and Central Asia, which carried the prescient subtitle An Enduring Legacy or an Evolving Threat?[6] She has written chapters for a number of collected volumes, and penned hundreds of op-eds and articles on foreign and domestic policy for the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, United States Naval Institute's Proceedings, The Spectator, the National Interest, Politique Americaine, USA Today and other Gannett Newspapers.[6]
Although a lifelong member of the Republican Party, Eisenhower endorsed Barack Obama for president of the United States in 2008.[7][8][9] Eisenhower announced on August 21, 2008 that she was leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent.[10]
She spoke on the final day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Her speech was delivered at INVESCO Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, and began with, "I stand before you tonight not as a Republican or a Democrat, but as an American."[11] The full transcript of her remarks as delivered[11] are on her website, as well as video of her remarks at the Convention.[12]