Daily Beast: Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Does not Befit the President’s Humility
Nicolaus Mills, who wrote the authoritative book on the National World War II Memorial, comments in the Daily Beast: Disputed Vision: It’s D-Day for Ike’s Memorial 02.15.16 12:00 AM ET The battle over plans for a Washington memorial to Dwight Eisenhower drags on, but meanwhile more and more of the Greatest Generation fades away each … Read more
NCAS Slams Ike Memorial at Fine Arts Commission, Says Central Statue Belongs in a Snow-globe
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 22, 2013 CONTACT: [email protected] or (202) 670-1776 National Civic Art Society Slams Ike Memorial at Fine Arts Commission, Says Central Statue Belongs in a Snow-globe On Thursday, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts–the federal agency tasked with protecting the aesthetics of the National Mall–took up the planned National Eisenhower Memorial. (For news stories on the event, … Read more
Boston Globe’s Architecture Critic: Eisenhower Memorial Design Should Be Scrubbed
Robert Campbell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Boston Globe, wrote a hard-hitting article detailing numerous irredemiable flaws in Frank Gehry’s avant-garde design for the Eisenhower Memorial. It’s way too big. It’s too cartoony. Someone should scrub the design and start over. It’s the proposal for a memorial to Dwight Eisenhower, the World War … Read more
Eisenhower Memorial Commission Responds to Questions from House Subcommittee
On March 20, 2012, the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources held a historic hearing about Frank Gehry’s proposed design for the Eisenhower Memorial. Howard Segermark, chairman emeritus of the National Civic Art Society, testified against the design and the process that selected it. (His remarks can … Read more
Roger K. Lewis in WaPo: Modernists Should Oppose Gehry’s Memorial, Too
Roger K. Lewis, professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, writes in the Washington Post that Gehry’s design for the Eisenhower Memorial ought to be opposed not just by those who prefer classical architecture but by Modernists as well: Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design Needs to Be Rethought The Eisenhower Memorial Commission recently decided to … Read more
Richard Cohen in WaPo: Ike Memorial Doesn’t “Imitate His Life”
Writing in the Washington Post, opinion columnist Richard Cohen criticizes the design for the Eisenhower Memorial, which he says depicts the president as “an eternal innocent”: With Eisenhower, Art Does Not Imitate His Life One day in 1967, Dwight D. Eisenhower came to New York for the opening of an exhibition of his paintings at … Read more
The New Republic: Ike Memorial Design “Bombastic and Silly”
Writing for The New Republic, historian Geoffrey Kabaservice vehemently opposes the planned design for the Eisenhower Memorial: With its 80-foot-high smokestack columns towering over a four-acre site whose only representation of its subject would be a statue showing him as a barefoot boy, the current design for the proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower memorial in Washington, … Read more
Congressmen Dan Lungren and Aaron Schock Call for Rejecting Eisenhower Memorial Design
In a bold letter to the National Capital Planning Commission, Congressmen Dan Lungren (CA) and Aaron Schock (IL) have called for rejecting the Frank Gehry’s design for the Eisenhower Memorial. In doing so, they join Representative Frank Wolf (VA), who also publicly opposes the terrible design. They also join the entire Eisenhower family, who have … Read more
George Will: Eisenhower Memorial Misses the Man
Writing in the Washington Post, George F. Will joins the chorus opposing the design for the Eisenhower Memorial. He also emphasizes why Eisenhower deserves a national memorial. (For more on why Eisenhower has been underrated, see also Fred I. Greenstein’s excellent book The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader.): Eisenhower Memorial Misses the Man By George … Read more
Politico: Memorial Design Sparks Monumental Controversy
Politico reported on the opposition to Frank Gehry’s ugly design for the Eisenhower Memorial: Memorial design sparks controversy By: Puja Murgai February 15, 2012 10:49 PM EST How should Dwight D. Eisenhower be remembered? As the Supreme Allied Commander of World War II? As the president of the United States who fostered an era of … Read more
Congressman Frank Wolf Calls for Rejecting Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design
The Associated Press reports great news for everyone trying to slow down the Eisenhower Memorial freight train: A Virginia congressman is asking a federal panel to reject an architect’s design for a memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington, noting that the World War II general’s family’s objections.In a letter Friday to the National … Read more
Better Cities & Towns: NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial Is “Devastating”
At Better! Cities & Towns, one of the best publications devoted to urban planning, Philip Langdon penned what is perhaps the most thorough article yet on the flawed design of Frank Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial: . . . The most scathing response to the design has been a 153-page report, “The Gehry Towers Over Eisenhower,” issued in … Read more