Battle over memorial design rages
Widespread opposition to the proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial design — which includes the Eisenhower family — is reaching a fever pitch as plans for the memorial near the National Mall approach preliminary approval.
The controversy surrounding the memorial planned to be next to the National Mall at Independence and Maryland avenues has pitted the Eisenhower family and their supporters against famed architect Frank Gehry, whose work includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
The design has had its detractors since Gehry unveiled it before the National Capital Planning Commission in the District last year. But opponents’ fire has been fueled recently by the resignation of presidential grandson David Eisenhower from the Eisenhower Memorial Commission along with a National Civic Art Society report that asserts the process to select the memorial’s architect was tailor-made for Gehry.
In a letter to the planning commission, which is expected to consider preliminary approval of the memorial this spring, granddaughter Anne Eisenhower wrote on behalf of the family asking it to delay approving a memorial the family believed was “flawed.” Mainly, the family and others object to Gehry’s emphasis of Eisenhower as a “barefoot boy” from Kansas, rather than a World War II general and world leader.
“We don’t feel this is the appropriate way to memorialize him,” she told The Washington Examiner.
Gehry did not return requests for comment on this story.
Others who have joined in the criticism include architect Leon Krier and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who has joined the family in asking that the design competition be reopened. Meanwhile the art society’s recent report calls the designer selection process “secretive, exclusive [and] elitist.”
Eric Wind, the society’s secretary and chairman emeritus, said it was unclear why the process was closed in the first place. More than 2,000 designs were offered for the Vietnam Veterans and Martin Luther King Jr. memorials combined, but Eisenhower’s was open only to 44, preselected firms.
“The government wouldn’t buy airplanes without a competitive bidding process,” Wind said. “They should have had a competitive process that’s democratic and open to all.
“I don’t think that only architects can design appropriate and lasting memorials.”
Preston Bryant, chairman of the planning commission, said it would be up to the GSA whether to reopen the design competition. But he has “strongly encouraged” the memorial commission to work with the Eisenhowers, who are seeking a new design.
“We, obviously, as a commission, like to have projects come before us that have broad support from all of the major stakeholders,” he said.
