Posted by artscivica on February 15, 2016 · Leave a Comment
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
Category appropriations, closed competition, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, exorbitant cost, House Natural Resources Oversight Investigation, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, New Eisenhower Memorial Competition, New Eisenhower Memorial Design, Ret. Gen. Carl Reddel, Rocco C. Siciliano
Posted by artscivica on August 3, 2015 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on September 7, 2014 · Leave a Comment
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
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, bloated size, Bruce Cole, Catesby Leigh, classical and traditional architecture, closed competition, Congressional opposition, Congressman Rob Bishop, debris, durability, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edward A. Feiner, Eisenhower Family, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, exorbitant cost, Frank Gehry, Freedom of Information Act Request, GSA, impermanence, Justin Shubow, Kansas, maintenance cost, memorial funding, Modernism, National Capital Planning Commission, National Civic Art Society, National Park Service, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, New Eisenhower Memorial Competition, Philip Kennicott, President Barack Obama, private fundraising, public opposition, Robert Wilson, Rocco C. Siciliano, Soviet style, starchitects, statuary, tapestry, Teresita Fernández, the Memorial and the law, theater for cars, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, U.S. House Subcommittee on Public Lands
Posted by artscivica on March 26, 2013 · 1 Comment
Jeffery Frank, author of the new book Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage, comments for The New Yorker: March 25, 2013 Rescuing the Eisenhower Memorial By Jeffrey Frank On the anniversary of President Eisenhower’s first Inauguration, he went to Fort McNair, which was nearby, to have lunch with some Army pals. His … Read more
Category "tapestries", barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, bloated size, Congressional opposition, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, exorbitant cost, John S.D. Eisenhower, New Eisenhower Memorial Design, public opposition, statuary, Susan Eisenhower
Posted by artscivica on January 31, 2013 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on December 4, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on August 9, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on July 16, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on July 4, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on April 6, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Greg Crosby published an article in the Tolucan Times, a Los Angeles-area newspaper, critiquing the Eisenhower Memorial design: Do They Really Like Ike? By Greg Crosby on April 5th, 2012 The wisdom has always been that history is written by the winners of wars. And today it appears that it works the same way for the culture wars … Read more
Posted by artscivica on March 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on March 10, 2012 · 1 Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on February 28, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Category "tapestries", barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, classical and traditional architecture, Congressional opposition, Congressman Aaron Schock, Congressman Dan Lungren, Congressman Frank R. Wolf, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, fast-tracked governmental approval, maintenance cost, Modernism, National Capital Planning Commission, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, public opposition
Posted by artscivica on February 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on February 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment
In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pulitzer-Prize winner David Shribman thoughtfully weighs in on the controversy regarding how President Eisenhower ought to be memorialized. His article does an excellent job at placing Eisenhower in historical context. National Perspective: Which Ike to Like? By David Shribman In World War II, he tamed America’s allies and conquered its adversaries. … Read more
Posted by artscivica on February 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on February 10, 2012 · 1 Comment
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
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, closed competition, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, National Capital Planning Commission, National Civic Art Society, public opposition, Susan Eisenhower, theater for cars
Posted by artscivica on February 10, 2012 · 1 Comment
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
Posted by artscivica on January 31, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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
Category "columns", "tapestries", barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, Frank Gehry, Kansas, National Capital Planning Commission, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, public opposition, the Memorial and the law, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
Posted by artscivica on January 31, 2012 · 1 Comment
Susan Eisenhower has launched an exciting new blog (www.susaneisenhower.com) to express her criticisms of the planned Memorial to honor her grandfather, President Eisenhower. We encourage to read her thoughtful, highly persuasive commentary. The entire Eisenhower family has previously written a letter calling for a halt to the Memorial. And in December 2011, David Eisenhower … Read more