Whitman, Ann, 1908-

Ann C. Whitman (1908-1991) was a native of Perry, Ohio. She briefly attended Antioch College in Ohio and then moved to New York in 1929 to obtain work as a secretary. For many years she was the personal secretary to Mrs. David Levy, whose father was one of the founders of Sears, Roebuck & Co. In 1941 she married Edmund S. Whitman, an official of the United Fruit Company. In 1952, while working as a secretary in the New York office of the Crusade for Freedom, Whitman was recruited by Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential campaign staff. She went to Eisenhower¿s headquarters at Denver, Colorado, where she became Eisenhower's personal secretary. After Eisenhower was elected president, she accompanied him to Washington, D.C., and served as his personal secretary the entire eight years of his presidency. She helped manage Eisenhower's correspondence and was responsible for maintaining Eisenhower's personal files which he kept in his office at the White House. When President Eisenhower left office in January 1961, Whitman accompanied him to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and continued to work for a few months as his personal secretary. She later joined the staff of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, for whom she worked until she retired in 1977. She died on October 15, 1991.

From the description of Whitman, Ann C. (Ann Cook), 1908-1991 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10572890