Eisenhower family on memorial: Go back to the drawing board

[alp227]

Source: CNN

The controversy over the design of a planned memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower made its way to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

The House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands held a congressional oversight hearing this morning on the design and development of the proposed memorial.

Speaking on behalf of the Eisenhower family, the late president's granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower, told the committee, "Public debate has demonstrated the American people overwhelmingly endorse the memorial, but they are saying its time to go back to the drawing board and we agree."

The Eisenhower family has publicly voiced opposition to the narrative design created by architect Frank Gehry. The work's central statue depicts Eisenhower as a child gazing at images of himself as the supreme commander of the Allies in Europe and as president from 1953 to 1961. "Dreams of a Barefoot Boy" is a reference drawn from Eisenhower's homecoming speech from World War II.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/us/eisenhower-memorial/index.html

[msongs]

1. MLK JR got one made in China lol, maybe Ikes can be made in Germany? nt

[MADem]

2. The WW2 Memorial looks like Hitler's inner circle designed it.

It's horrible and ponderous. Almost as ugly as the MLK statue, which looks more like Mao than Martin.

[LibertyLover]

4. Thank you!

The first time I saw the MKL statue I turned to my husband and said that it looked like it could have come from any monument in China to Mao. And given that I've seen several Mao monuments, not to mention those huge photos of the man himself while in China, I knew whereof I spoke. Several of the other parents in our Families with Children from China group concur.

[MADem]

11. I know an old lady who thinks the worst--and she has a THEORY!

Her theory is that they made the MLK statue so clunky and ugly because, when the Chinese take over the world, it will be easy to carve the thing down slightly and change the face from a bad version of MLK to Mao! Mao on the Mall, she says! It's coming!

[former9thward]

7. The WW II Memorial and the MLK statute are the two uglist things on the Mall.

Both should be redone.

[MADem]

8. +1!!! nt

[TheManInTheMac]

3. "...design created by architect Frank Gehry."

Well that's your problem right there.

[earthside]

5. Ha!

And by the way ... what is it with federal monuments lately?

Last Spring I visited Mt. Rushmore for the first time since the old, classic, visitor's center was torn down (the one featured in 'North by Northwest').

The new visitor's center is just horrible -- ponderous, big, heavy, 'federal', dark, stoney and laden with obvious 9/11 security measures.

Really, whoever designed this monstrosity has ruined what used to be a charming, visitor friendly monument.

I think the problem may be that we are getting this kind of centralized government, power emanating from the top-down kind of architectural theme.

[rwsanders]

14. Just a way to remind us how "great" the country is...

We'll be overwhelmed with monuments and banners and parades to celebrate great americans and the ignorant masses will care nothing for what they stood for.
A better memorial would be to remember what they did and stood for, maybe even (gasp) teach it in schools.

[Snake Alchemist]

10. I think Ike with death rays would be pretty cool.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/swanky-vegas-hotel-death-ray-proves-inconvenience-guests.html

[earthside]

6. It is pretty bad.

Here is a link to what looks to be the present Gehry design:
http://eisenhowermemorial.org/menu.php?mid=19

It is too busy, too personality oriented, too military (we do already have the WWII monument), too open and yet too crowded within a confined area.

Yup, I don't blame the family for telling the commission to start again.

I would, however, disagree with Susan Eisenhower about the "overwhelming' approval for a memorial. I 'Like Ike', but just how crowded is the mall going to get with memorials to people who live just in the past 100 years?

What space is going to be left for the 'heroes' or great events of the future?

It seems to me like a better place for the memorial to Ike is where his presidential library is now ... where he grew up in Kansas.

[Snake Alchemist]

9. I think Ike with death rays would be pretty cool.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/swanky-vegas-hotel-death-ray-proves-inconvenience-guests.html

[MADem]

12. I like the trees, I hate the scale.

Simplicity is elegance.

[naaman fletcher]

16. I don't see the problem

and frankly, I don't see why his grand-daughter should have any more say than anyone else. In fact, she is inherently biased and she have no say whatsoever.

[24601]

17. So you disagreed with the King Family influencing the changes to the MLK memorial?

[naaman fletcher]

21. yes

because on top of that the King family is a bunch of assholes for whom it is a money making venture

[wordpix]

18. "just how crowded is the mall going to get?" Watch out, soon there will be a * memorial

Seriously, every freaking modern pres. and event is getting a memorial lately. I say "Save the Mall!"

BTW, the best presidential memorial is FDR's. But we certainly don't need a memorial to every pres. and every war, esp. since we're in a period of neverending wars lately.

[Science Trumps All]

13. Memorials overdone

What used to be a broad, beautiful expanse of Mall is becoming cluttered. Everybody who's been involved in some event wants it memorialized, and the beauty of the Capitol grounds is suffering. Pierre Charles L'Enfant's got to be rolling in his grave. I advocated for some sort of memorial for MLK but what evolved is horrible. It's out of proportion, physically. Now, if we memorialize Ike, who led Allied forces to victory in WWII, should it be even larger than the MLK? What's next?—an even bigger tribute to the Bush family? Get real.

The Eisenhower Library is, by itself, a fitting tribute to the man. We don't need to tear up the Mall to honor him. Issue another USPS stamp with his picture. Or, how about pay "tribute" to Major Dwight Eisenhower's role in busting up the Bonus Marchers' "Hoovervilles" in 1932? I know, I know, he was only "following orders," and the ensuing violence did result in the election of FDR.

[lunatica]

15. All the heroes are such a mixed bag aren't they

Our excuse as human beings is that we're only human.

That says everything

[wordpix]

19. "We don't need to tear up the Mall" I agree, but the Mall IS torn up now, literally

I can't figure it out. The grass on the Mall was wrecked from various large events including O's inauguration but all the Park Serv. needed to do was put some fences around it so the grass would grow back. Instead, they are literally tearing the entire Mall apart. One visitor asked me if they were building an underground parking lot because that's what it looks like.

[woo me with science]

20. Good post.

I agree.

[TuxedoKat]

22. Agreed

There are getting to be too many memorials on the mall. Four acres seems excessive too. Not that Pres. Eisenhower doesn't deserve one somewhere, but so do some other presidents, perhaps more than Ike. What about Pres. Truman?