WaPo: It’s Time for a Do-Over for the Eisenhower Memorial
Sam Roche comments in the Washington Post: A Do-Over for Ike: Scrap the Pricey Memorial Design and Hold a Public Competition By Sam Roche February 12 at 1:48 PM Congress may not be very popular these days, but lawmakers are reining in at least one runaway government program on the public’s behalf: a long-delayed memorial to Dwight D. … Read more
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Editorial: Bob Dole Is Wrong: Ike’s Memorial Should Be Done Right, Not Rushed
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial board writes: Do It Right Bob Dole has a new project. Long a champion of this country’s veterans, his own withered arm says more about his wartime service and sacrifice than any statue could. Now he’s leading a peacetime campaign to get the long-planned Eisenhower Memorial in Washington finished while he … Read more
Video of National Civic Art Society U.S. House Briefing on the Eisenhower Memorial
After 15 years and $40 million spent, Frank Gehry’s wildly unpopular design for the National Eisenhower Memorial is on life support. Not a shovel of dirt has been turned, Congress zeroed all construction funding, and the National Capital Planning Commission denied preliminary approval. Recently, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment voted to eliminate … Read more
National Civic Art Society Decries Manipulated Images in Eisenhower Memorial Marketing Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 7, 2013 CONTACT: [email protected] or (202) 670-1776 National Civic Art Society Decries Manipulated Images in Eisenhower Memorial Marketing Campaign Desperate for public support for the highly unpopular design of the National Eisenhower Memorial, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission has launched a website called “Ike 2012” (http://www.iLikeIke2012.com). A mock presidential campaign, it pretends that the former president is … Read more
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Ike Memorial Is Postmodern and Meaningless
Paul Greenberg, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, writes: I Like Ike LITTLE ROCK — Ordinarily, the news that a long overdue memorial to an historic American leader has been put on hold still again would come as a disappointment. But if you’ve seen the innocuous design for an Eisenhower memorial in the nation’s … Read more
Stars and Stripes: Colonel Who Served Under Eisenhower Calls for New Memorial Competition
Writing for Stars and Stripes, Ralph Hauenstein, a retired army colonel who served under General Eisenhower in WWII as chief of the Intelligence Branch in the European theater, calls for scrapping Frank Gehry’s avant-garde design in favor of a new competition: Honoring Ike – a veteran’s perspective A memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower should reflect the values and qualities that … Read more
Retired Air Force Colonel: Ike Memorial Fails Miserably
Writing for The Weekly Standard, a retired Air Force colonel calls the planned Eisenhower Memorial design a “monstrosity.” Ike—and Me Irving B. Schoenberg July 14, 2012 10:00 AM The memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed by architect Frank Gehry fails miserably to capture the essence of our 34th president. Bruce Cole’s article “Doing Right by Ike” … Read more
The Guardian: “A Memorial Is not a Biography in Stone”; Look to the Lincoln Memorial as a Model for Ike Memorial
The British Guardian newspaper published an excellent piece by Nicolaus Mills, a professor of American studies at Sarah Lawrence College and author of Winning the Peace: The Marshall Plan and America’s Coming of Age as a Superpower: Rethinking the Eisenhower Memorial: what is a fitting tribute to Ike? The Frank Gehry design has proved controversial, … Read more
The Hill: “Deconstruct” the Eisenhower Memorial Committee
Bernie Quigley writes for The Hill: ‘Deconstruct’ the Eisenhower memorial committee By Bernie Quigley – 03/21/12 09:47 AM ET Dwight D. Eisenhower was as elementary to our lives as the five-star highways are today. He was a man like Ulysses S. Grant and Lord Nelson, but he did not strive to be. Hear Nelson declaring that … 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
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
Foreign Policy Magazine: “Who Likes Ike? Not Frank Gehry”
Writing for Foreign Policy, Stephen W. Walt, the esteemed professor of international relations at Harvard, scathingly reviews Frank Gehry’s avant-garde design for the Eisenhower Memorial. Who Likes Ike? Not Frank Gehry The family of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower is now weighing in against renowned architect Frank Gehry’s proposed design for an Eisenhower Memorial on … Read more
Washington Post: “Just Say No” to Eisenhower Memorial Design
Writing in the Washington Post, Roger K. Lewis, an esteemed architect and emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, severely criticizes Frank Gehry’s design for the national Eisenhower Memorial: Architect Frank Gehry’s design for the congressionally authorized memorial to President Dwight D. Eisenhower is creatively unconventional, innovative in form and use of materials, monumental in … Read more