I am victoria, the deputy executive director of the eisenhower memorial commission. We are here tonight in washington, d. C. , at the northwest corner of the new president ial memorial for dwight d. Eisenhower. This story starts about a thousand miles west of washington, d. C. , in abilene, kansas. His family moved to abilene, kansas, when he was a toddler, and he stayed there through high school. I want to direct your view to this speech inscribed on this wall. When world war ii ended, eisenhower came home to abilene and was given a heros welcome. In a very humble way, he started talking about not that he was a hero but what he dreamed of doing when he was a young boy. Ended with the proudest thing i can claim is that i am from abilene. That first paragraph of that speech, was a primary inspiration for the designer of the memorial frank gehry. He has expressed here in this statue of Young Eisenhower as a teenage boy sitting on the stone block looking in the direction of two of his greatest accomplishments, president of the United States and Supreme Commander of the allied expeditionary forces. The stone comes from spain. All of the stone is limestone. He sits here, cast lifesized. There are 13 sculptures here on the site and sergei has done all of them. Young ike was the last to arrive. He was installed in may. There is a photograph of eisenhower, teenage boy, wearing some dungarees with a bunch of friends just sitting there. I think they were camping. That was a photo that kept coming back up to the front when gehry was looking for the photo he wanted to encapsulate this young man. One of the things we found was that everybody really liked that you had a kid memorialized. For a young person to come to a memorial and see a heroic size nine foot sculpture that are massive. We are hoping that when they come here, they can see someone their size and it will spark some curiosity. You probably could not find a site in washington, d. C. , that is more suited for Dwight Eisenhower to have a memorial. This square is surrounded by health and human services, which used to be called Health Education and welfare, which was started during the eisenhower administration. Behind you, you have the department of education, again formally hew, started by the eisenhower administration. The federal Aviation Administration and the jewel in the crown, the air and space museum, and nasa, which began during the eisenhower administration. Perfectly suited for ike. As we walk into the memorial from this corner, we have a column that has the five stars, which is the insignia for general eisenhower and the other fivestar generals during world war ii. When the legislation was passed in 1999 that created the eisenhower memorial commission, unique to this president ial memorial was the fact that it called for him to be recognized not only at the 34th president but the supreme allied commander of the European Expeditionary forces. This column, which is 10. 5 feet in diameter and the same limestone from spain, recognizes this role that he had as the fivestar general and commander of all the forces in europe in world war ii. There are eight giant columns on this site, two of them anchor the corner of the site. This one, the recognition of the general, and the one on the far opposite corner, which has a profile of eisenhower from the Silver Dollar that everyone has probably seen. The other six columns support the tapestry, and we can talk about them in a little bit. Right now, we are walking into the center of the memorial. The memorial is in the center of a four acre park. In this part of d. C. , there are a lot of government buildings. The mall is a block to the north. This is really giving people who live and work in d. C. And who come here as tourists a nice cooling place to sit down, get off their feet, have a bottle of water, just relax. And then when they are ready, proceed into the center of the memorial, which is the contemplative area. While we are here, we should stop for a minute and look at the view of the capital. We are in the middle of maryland avenue. Maryland avenue and pennsylvania avenue were sister avenues in the lenfant plan for d. C. Pennsylvania avenue was developed with a little more discipline than maryland. The intent was that from the capital, you could look all the way to the potomac down maryland avenue. You could look from the capital all the way to the white house down pennsylvania avenue. That did not quite happen. The building lines werent regular. Preserving the original way was important. Gehry has done this in greenway, which is a different kind of grass that you see on the side. It is near a granite strip that commemorates the original maryland avenue. It is one of the few places in the city where you can stand in the middle of a street and not get hit by a car and enjoy the view of the capital building. Now we are entering the center of the memorial. This is the contemplative area. This is the place where we are hoping you will stop and think about eisenhower and learn a little more about him. There are audio tours that are podcasts. They will tell you indepth what you are seeing and the idea behind it. The interview with the designer, frank gehry, and he talks about the tapestry and you will understand his concept and how he developed this memorial. Over here, we have the recognition of eisenhower as supreme allied commander. This sculpture is inspired by a very famous photo that was taken on the eve of dday. Eisenhower is speaking to the 101st airborne. He chose that group to speak to because it was anticipated that they could have a 70 or higher casualty rate. He went out there, he found some of the 101st airborne. The story goes, he wanted to know if anybody was from kansas. These soldiers do not represent any particular people. Some of the original soldiers that were in the group say he is holding his hand that way because he was talking about flyfishing. Maybe true, might not be true, but that is the story. You notice these paratroopers. All the gear they had to have with them when they jumped had to be strapped to their bodies. You will see straps and some of them hold ammunition and some of them hold the things they would need to survive. They were being dropped behind the lines. There is eisenhower with the very famous eisenhower jacket, which is that shorter cut off at the waist. The other thing i want you to look at it is how young some of these soldiers are. It is a reminder that these soldiers that were going on the invasion the next day, a lot of them were just kids. That is reflected here in this sculpture. Behind them, there is leaf, on that is carved an approach to normandy. You will see on the top right the normandy coast line, the cliffs. The americans were going in at omaha and utah and omaha had some very high bluffs they had to overcome. Then you will see some of the landing crafts approaching. This also was done by sergei and it was done in italy. There is a giant that sits askew and that message is from the dday address that every soldier was given on dday. This is one of the very famous sentences. The tide has turned, the freemen of the world are marching to victory. These sculptures were produced in italy using the same method they have been producing sculptures there for centuries. That is called the lost wax process. The sculpture makes a clay model. The wax is cut into pieces off the clay model. A hard plaster is put around the model to keep it from moving, to stabilize it. That goes off to the foundry. The foundry takes that wax impression of the statues and creates another wax impression using a very hard black wax. That is encased in another form of like a ceramic slurry. That goes into an oven and the temperature is turned up and the wax melts out and the hot bronze is poured and that is where the statue resemble the first wax impression that was made. It is done in various pieces, not all at once, and then reassembled. These took about a month. They are installed with rods that are about 18 inches long that are embedded into the stone and concrete base. Now we will walk over here and see the president ial side. People often think the 1950s, they talk about it like it was a wonderful time. It was a very dangerous time in the world. Europe was ravaged as a result of world war ii. Communism was spreading. Eisenhower had just left to run for president being the First Military commander of nato and he was trying to unify the military forces so they could prevent another war from breaking out in that part of europe. Eisenhowers approached about running for president and he is not interested in politics. He has never voted in that he does not think military people should be partisan. The republicans visit him and he is hesitant about running but he is also worried that american will slip back into isolationism. He agrees to run. He is a write in candidate, he goes into the Republican Convention with most people believing taft was going to win. He emerges with the republican nomination. He is presiding over an america in a time when the korean war is going on. The 1950s were a very dangerous time in the world. Europe was trying to reunify and rebuild. Eisenhower came into office and ended the korean war. And then really went about building on the postworld war ii economic recovery of america. He thought americans were exhausted. They needed peace and prosperity, but that was not just going to happen. That would only happen if america was strong. And so we started building up and keeping a Permanent Military establishment. In this imagery, eisenhower and three aids. One is a military aid, and two are civilian aids and this is to remind us that eisenhower always had to hold intention, peace and freedom but the power for america to defend itself and its allies. And he said it in an interview at the end of his time as president that not one soldier was lost in battle. Not one foot of land was lost in war and that did not just happen. Many people, again, think that we just cruised through the 1950s. But it was a dangerous time and eisenhower oversaw america as it really emerged into being the world leader that it now was from where it had been prior to world war ii. You have the military advisor representing americas permanent role in the world. And then you have two civilian advisors, one of whom is an africanamerican. Eisenhower is often overlooked in the civil rights struggle but while he was president , he enacted the first civil rights legislation since reconstruction. He also desegregated the district of columbia and he completed what truman began as the desegregation of the military. Another interesting factor, after the brown versus the board of education decision, in arkansas, they were refusing to carry through with the order to integrate the schools. Eisenhower brought the 101st airborne, not the same people, but the same unit you see depicted there, to little rock to enforce the law. That is what this sculpture represents. Behind them, we have a map of the world. That is to represent eisenhowers international standing. He lived in panama, the philippines, england, he was the postwar governor of europe. He probably understood the world outside of the United States better than any president we have had and part of that was due to his military career. Rzthis lintel sits askew the block. We have an excerpt from his second inaugural address we look upon the shaken earth and we declare our purpose, the building of peace and justice in a world where moral law prevails. On the back of both of these blocks are some of the texts from his more powerful speeches that he gave. On the back of the president ial block, we have an excerpt, a lengthy excerpt from his first inaugural address. Next to it, we have what most people probably remember about eisenhowers speech, which is the farewell address. We put it here in its entire context. People can read what he said about the military industrial establishment. They can decide what he was really meaning by that. His farewell address is very similar to the kind of farewell address washington gave when he left office. Doing that was inspired actually eisenhower was inspired by washington. We will walk over here to the back of the general side. He was given free range of the city of london, which we would call the key to the city. It is a poignant address. It begins by saying humility must be known by any man whose fame is earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends. It is beautiful, humble pros by this man who was been graded as a conquering hero. He went on to talk about the suffering that mothers and wives and children had because they did not have husbands or fathers returning. There are 4600 handcarved letters on the back of both these blocks. We moved back along independence avenue so we can get a full view of the most distinctive feature. Which is this massive tapestry. This tapestry consists of 600 panels of woven stainless steel cables representing a design which is normandy, france. Originally, gehrys image of this was a landscape from kansas. But it evolved. We took some photos of the normandy coast line but they did not translate to this medium very well. Frank gehry sat down and he drew it. This sketch was represented on the tapestry. Each panel has some small layer and on top of that is art wire, sometimes as many as six layers, which creates the design. If you go to the website, there is an interview with the man who came up with the methodology to create this and massproduce these panels. Our very first sample took three months to produce. We could not make 600 panels if each one took 3 months. So they had to figure it out. Lets walk a little closer and you can see the design as we get closer. The whole tapestry is under lit at night. It comes on about dusk and the wires just kind of glow. One of the interesting things about this tapestry, it looks different at every time of day. If it is a sunny day, overcast day, sometimes it serves as a screen between the department of education and the memorial. You cannot really tell the design. Other times, the sun glints off of it. Every time you visit the memorial, you will see Something Different on that tapestry. There are five beams that support the tapestry and hold it in place. And there are six columns. Those columns on the end are doing all the work of holding the tapestry in tension. When we went by the two columns, the column on the northwest corner, they are the size they are because these columns were structurally designed to support the tapestry and they are the same size for that purpose. We can walk around behind the back and see how it looks because some of the panels have the art wires on the front and some of the panels have the art wires on the back. In the daytime, this reads really well with the blue sky behind it. Sometimes it is invisible from the other side. Here, the wires looked black because they are lit from the back side. It is like an entirely different tapestry from the side. From the time this was an idea, how long has it taken for this memorial to get here . The legislation for the commission past in 1999. There are four senators, four members of the house of representatives, and former president ial appointees. Over the years, people of had to leave. Commissioners have retired. Commissioners have died. We have four who have been there from the very beginning. About 2014, senator pat roberts took over the chairmanship and that was really transformational for moving the project forward and getting it done. Gehry was selected in 2009. He submitted his first design in 2010 and it went through many iterations, which is a requirement in d. C. , before this final design was approved. The Parks Service issued the permit. The building process was about 30 months. How much do Something Like this cost . The total was about 150 million. Most of that are federal funds. President ial memorials traditionally are undertakings of the people. Unlike a lot of the memorials in washington, they are started by a nonprofit. Congress grants land for that. But the now seven president ial memorials have been paid for by federally appropriated dollars. In this case, we did raise 50 million of private funds for this project. Sorry, 15 million of private funds for this project. Our history is told in many different ways and one of the ways is through memorials and monuments, particularly in washington, d. C. We have Educational Programs that will be hosted by the eisenhower foundation. We will have a lot of teaching resources. You look over here and you say, who are those guys . What is that giant stainless steel thing over there . And then you listen to the audio tours, maybe you are here in a student group, and you go away and you learn about a guy who came from kansas. His family was not well known. His family was not rich. He figured out how to get a College Education and then went on to serve his country for the rest of his life until he retired. In 1960. It is a great story, and it is an american story. To quote from your review of the eisenhower memorial, over the past decade and almost at every step, the project was dogged by controversy. Why is that . Two reasons, one, the design idea proposed by frank gehry was unlike any other memorial in washington. It was challenging people on an aesthetic level. The other is, there were still grandchildren at the time. The family were still involved in this. So there was a question of how to honor him. We have a hearing from 2012 where Susan Eisenhower is arguing strongly against this they want to start over again symbolism will play a vital nonverbal role in capturing the essence of ikes contribution. We have heard from many people who have objections to the 80 foot socalled tapestries. Despite the commissions references to this ancient tradition, modern tapestries have been found in the communist world. Very early on in the process, the family took exception to it and worked vigorously. They joined forces with a new group that was interested in keeping memorials and buildings in a kind of conservative video. The park service has a history of maintaining our national heritage. But on occasion, circumstances can conspire to produce a real mess. This seems to be one of those instances. Congress can act to clean it up and eisenhower deserves it. She voiced her concerns as the concerns of others. But others may think this. What she says was sort of soviet. An enormous tapestry that might be looked at as a billboard and it recalls earlier chapters of 20th century history. , even the idea of auschwitz in the soviet union were brought up her rhetoric was careful to say i think this. She directly said that she did not like the design and they should go back to the drawing board. , in your article you write admiringly of 91yearold frank very. Tell us a little about him. He was probably the most famous architect of the past halfcentury. He is a canadian born architect living and working as a u. S. Citizen in the u. S. And served in the u. S. Military. Coming from the west coast, he broke with many sacred 20th century ideas about architecture and his most famous building is a museum in bill dow spain which changed the course of architecture forever. It is an astonishingly was sculptural structure. It was unlike anything else that had been made up until then and it charted a new course for architecture. To some degree, it created his reputation as an architect with one trick in his portfolio but he subsequently has been an architect of astonishingly astonishing versatility and creativity. The design for the gary memorial like any memorial that we have seen before. This memorial is unlike any memorial that we have seen before. How did he win over the family and some of his critics . That has been a long process. Gehry has a reputation of being a starkichect. Meaning an architect who was so famous he can just run roughshod over critics there was a famous moment in the simpsons in which gehry on the in which he appeared. Hes been asked by Marge Simpson due to make a museum for springfield. Genius and that becomes [indiscernible] gehry you are a genius. Thats his popular cultural reputation. Gehry as an architect does what most do and that is to marshall a lot of forces and creative types, a lot of different clients. People that have an interest in how this project comes out. To get them all in the same page and come up with what essentially a compromise that is what he did in the case of the memorial for eisenhower. He kept at it. Kept working with the design oversight groups in family and he kept working with the family and there were several meetings, some went well. Eventually, after making some substantial changes including removing some of the tapestries and moving the sculptures around and changing the symbolism of it he got the family on board. He now sites that as one of his happiest stay accomplishment in the protracted struggle to get the memorial built. What about the role of the commission in congress . It seemed also at one point that this was going to be defunded it essentially was defunded. They were moved the money for construction. The commission was at a standstill. Anne congress does not really do a good job at these sort of things. If you bring a crisis to congress, they may get involved. Especially some opportunities in congress may see a moment. Mainly this happened behind the scenes. Congress eventually refunded it and ground is broken now is set to open. You visited several times. Tell us your thoughts about it now that it is done. It is unlike any memorial in washington or in the world. Its defining feature is an enormous long tapestry. If you are expecting this is more like a park that has been designed in a hard, problematic space. It added some greenery that people dont much love. It is about eisenhower but more about the generosity of public space. I like this memorial a lot because it comes to the emotional core of his message. Kind of roundabout ways. One of the striking things and one of the most controversial things about the memorial was the idea of including this figure of a boy eisenhower. A spectator of the mans career and that is taken on a number of different meanings and purposes overtime. In one of the earlier iterations of the memorial, the figure of the boy was between ike the general and ike the president and he seemed to be looking out at his options and pondering his future. I think were doing really want to memorialize the what we have done for so long. You have to remember that the United States in the beginning of our history we were quite conflicted about the idea of memorials a man on the throne a guy in the horse it belong to a different culture these were monarchical symbols that belong to a different culture. A democracy needed it different way to think about our past. And focus on democracy as a project in the present. And do the work of collective action rather than get lost in the perpetual memorialization of these dead people. And now, with the black lives Matter Movement and the me too movement, and a more proactive sense of politics on the street, that may be the direction that we go. What are your predictions about how tourists will respond to this . When you look at how memorials in washington win an audience, for instance, the Vietnam Memorial took a number of years and now i think it is one of the most beloved memorials in washington. , i suspect at the beginning there will be a lot of questioning about how it looks at the beginning. Whether eisenhower is the right figure at this moment to be memorialized. In the long run, there is an amazing view of the capital. I think those are going to be the things that people love. And i think we will return to it with a sense of gratification. Philip kennicott, thank you for talking to us. Thank you for talking to me. American history tv on cspan 3. Exploring the people and events to tell the american story every weekend. Coming up this weekend, saturday at 10 pm eastern on real america, 3 forms about the u. S. Census of the 19 forties, fifties and sixties. And sunday at 2 pm eastern, a lot