Good news: The federal commission in charge of designing a memorial to Dwight Eisenhower in the nation’s capital has moved to delay its formal application to the agency that must approve it.
Whether Washington needs yet another memorial is open to debate. But if anyone qualifies for such enshrinement, it’s certainly Eisenhower.
As supreme commander of allied forces, he led the effort that freed Northwestern Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany. He then served as the first NATO commander and president of Columbia University.
In 1952, he was elected the nation’s 34th president in a landslide — and re-elected four years later by a similarly overwhelming margin.
As president, he ended the war in Korea, confronted Soviet aggression, built the national highway system, sent troops to Little Rock to enforce desegregation and began America’s space effort by creating NASA.
But the central theme of the proposed memorial, designed by noted architect Frank Gehry, is not these accomplishments but rather Eisenhower’s humble prairie roots. Which is why the Eisenhower family is rightly upset and pressing the commission to redesign the monument.
True, Eisenhower once described himself as “a barefoot boy from Kansas” — words that Gehry took as his inspiration. That’s why the centerpiece of Gehry’s design is a statue of a young Eisenhower “dreaming” of his future acheivements.
But then, the Lincoln Memorial doesn’t depict the 16th president in a log cabin.
As Ike’s granddaughter, Susan, told Congress last week: “The man we celebrate is not a dreamy boy but a real man who faced unthinkable choices, took personal responsibility and did his duty — with modesty and humanity.”
Other objections note the monument’s proposed scope — four acres, rising 80 feet high — which is not in keeping with Eisenhower’s “simple” character.
Foes of a redesign cite the likely added cost and delay, which could make it impossible to complete the memorial by 2015, the 70th anniversary of V-E Day.
As Susan Eisenhower noted, it took three designs to produce the FDR memorial after his family raised concerns. To his credit, Gehry has agreed to consider changes, and discussions with the family are under way.
“We should not be afraid of getting this right,” says Susan Eisenhower.
Well put.