President Dwight D. Eisenhower wasn’t much interested in seeing himself on the screen in films about World War II. After all, he had been there, done that. And in the process, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, he had preserved democracy.
“I remember being at the farm and my brother David and I were in a back room watching a World War II film,” said his granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower, of the farm at the Eisenhower National Historic Site, which Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie, purchased in 1950 and visited frequently during his presidency. “We’re watching the film in one room. He was in another room thinking about the future and solving problems.”
This year’s third annual Gettysburg Film Festival focused on the theme of World War II, a concept supported by Eisenhower, who serves on the film festival’s advisory board. Her grandfather may have preferred to watch Westerns at the nearby Majestic Theater with his wife and Susan’s grandmother, Mamie, when he was in town, but his granddaughter knows the value of the films that told his story and the story of WWII.
“I think it’s up to all of us to try and make sure that America’s fully aware of the consequences of this war and what we fought for,” said Eisenhower, an author and policy strategist.
“History is the best possible teacher we have,” said Ken Burns, award-winning filmmaker and Advisory Board Chair for the festival, and festival participant.
The Film Festival kicked off on May 8, marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (V-E) Day. The festival included special guests Burns and Eisenhower as well as actor Martin Sheen, among others. The event screened films about the war and included talks by Burns on “Victory in Europe: 80 Years Later” and “Reflecting on Ike” by Eisenhower, among other speakers and topics. There were also musical guests, with Judy Collins singing “Amazing Grace” and Trace Adkins, a staunch supporter of veterans, performing the national anthem.
Burns said he found it quite fitting that the festival would begin on the anniversary of V-E Day. “They weren’t getting paid,” he said, speaking of Americans who chose to fight and whose story he told in his documentary “The War.” “There was not loot or stuff. They were doing it for an idea. We’re here to celebrate the importance of that idea,” he said.
Since its inception three years ago, the festival has continued to grow in popularity. Andrew Dalton, president and CEO of the Adams County Historical Society and Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum as well as Festival Producer, said there were 41 events, 43 speakers and moderators and 7,000 people attending, coming from all across the United States and as far away as the Netherlands. Dalton said attendance had doubled from last year’s event.
With its own significant history, “Gettysburg is just the perfect place to highlight the American story,” said Dalton.
And it is unique in doing so. “When we started this project,” said Dalton, “we looked for another example of an American history film festival, and it doesn’t seem to exist anywhere. So, this is really the first and only festival that brings these stories to the big screen.”
The idea of the festival came about in 2020 when local documentary filmmaker Jake Boritt, Festival Director, was working with Burns on a video for the campaign to raise money for what would become the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum.
During their conversations by way of email, “I had this crazy idea,” said Boritt. “I said to him, ‘You know what Gettysburg really needs is a Ken Burns Film Festival.’” To Boritt’s shock, Burns replied with, “Love it.”
“I turned to my wife and said, ‘I think that’s a yes,’” said Boritt. “This is someone who is booked up for the next 10 years and is incredibly busy.”
The response from Burns in many ways was not surprising. “Gettysburg is the Grand Canyon of my historical life,” says Burns, whose films include the groundbreaking documentary “The Civil War” and whose latest project is on the Revolutionary War.
The first Gettysburg Film Festival was held in 2023. The following year, the festival would include such participants as actor Martin Sheen, who played General Robert E. Lee in the movie “Gettysburg.”
“It’s good to be back here,” Sheen said at the time.
Perhaps so much so, that he returned this year to talk about a different war and screen his 1974 film, “The Execution of Private Slovik,” which is the true story of the only American soldier executed during World War II for desertion, and the first since the Civil War. Coming out around the time as such movies as “Patton,” “The Execution of Private Slovick” tells a different kind of story, but one no less significant, said Sheen.
“At the time we did it,” he said, “there was a plea in the United States to end the death penalty and the general belief that it was a deterrent to crime.”
In the case of Slovick, “Even the soldiers that were ordered to participate,” said Sheen, “had a feeling of reserve. It really destroyed the morale of the community at the time.”
General Eisenhower would cancel the next one. “There was a guy right behind Eddie Slovick that was ready for execution,” said Sheen.
Sheen, a committed advocate for social justice, said he hoped the film would inspire “mercy and compassion.”
Sheen said that at the time “there were wholesale executions in practically every state. The main focus of our production was to say, maybe we should pause and think about this because there were so many people being executed who were later proven innocent, you know?”
“I think what this festival is doing is bringing people into town and bringing people whose involvement is not just the Battle of Gettysburg, not just the Civil War,” said Jeff Shaara, film festival advisory board member and New York Times best-selling author of such books as “Gods and Generals” and more recently “The Old Lion” about Theodore Roosevelt. “It’s about history and the importance of history and the characters, the people of history.”
For those like festival attendee Tom Rogers, it is something even more. “Listening to Martin Sheen, Ken Burns, it’s almost like they’re giving us guidance,” says Rogers, who traveled from North Carolina with his two brothers-in-law for the festival. “It’s about how we should live and the way we should be as Americans. We’re really learning about citizenship. And I think that is so important.”
And Gettysburg’s own history has not been confined to the battle itself. There is the “unfolding” of history, as Eisenhower likes to put it. “My grandfather brought the greats from World War II here to Gettysburg,” she said. “Everyone from Winston Churchill to Charles de Gaulle.”
And sometimes, world leaders were known to accompany Ike and Mamie to a movie at the Majestic Theater. The theater, which opened its doors in 1925, was also the place where Eisenhower held press conferences when he was in town.
“Our team has been so busy screening all the films, testing them, getting ready for the festival,” said , Majestic Theater Executive Director Brett Messenger. “As I was walking through Cinema Two the other day, they were screening one of the films that features Eisenhower. Where that cinema was built in our renovation 20 years ago was actually in the place where Eisenhower gave his press briefings. Right about where you would see him on screen in Cinema Two is where he stood and told the world that he wanted Khrushchev to come and see a free people and a happy people. It gave me goosebumps.”
Featured image photo by Rick Gregory.
Lisa Gregory is an experienced journalist whose articles have appeared in publications nationally and internationally including the Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report. She is also a frequent contributor to Frederick Magazine, Hagerstown Magazine and Carroll Magazine, among others. A published author of fiction, she has short stories in the books, “For the Love of Gettysburg” and “On Hallowed Ground.”