Q: In 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie sent informal novelty Christmas cards to their closest friends. These cards, made by Hallmark, were inscribed with this message: "We wanted to put something of ourselves in our Christmas card to you." What was inside the card?
A: an imprint of Mamie's lipstick and the president's fingerprint
For the First Family’s personal Christmas cards in 1958, Hallmark Cards in Kansas City created a custom design featuring a painting of the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, framed by a Christmas wreath. The First Lady ordered 300 of this design. The First Lady also ordered 200 humorous and informal Christmas cards from Hallmark, which included Ike and Mamie on the cover in Santa suits along with a gold greeting that read, “We wanted to put something of ourselves in our Christmas card to you…”; the inside of the card featured side-by-side whimsical ovular frames of Mamie’s lipstick imprint in pink and the President’s fingerprint in black.