Posted on 02/07/2012 7:57:00 PM PST by WilliamIII
A memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower is scheduled to be unveiled on the Washington Mall in 2015, but first a thorny dispute needs to be resolved between Eisenhower's family and renowned architect Frank Gehry. Ike's relatives think Gehry's design—which features a statue of Eisenhower as boy in Kansas looking out on vistas of his future accomplishments—as a country bumpkin. They are demanding changes before the project moves forward, and Gehry has yet to comment publicly, notes the New York Times. (The AP had a similar story last month.)
“He was chief of staff of the Army; he was a two-term president of the United States,” says a granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower. “It’s in those roles that America has gratitude for him, not as being a young boy with a great future in front of him.” The National Capital Planning Commission, which must sign off on the design, has received a letter from the relatives and said only that it "appreciates the comments provided by the Eisenhower family." Groundbreaking is scheduled to start this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at newser.com ...
Is that an example of Texas logic, Gal logic, or is it uniquely yours?
Gehry is known for his statues of naked children.
I wouldn’t mind if the boy was in white limestone, and he was gazing at a bronze statue of Pres. Eisenhower in the distance.
A shill? I love it. Been around this forum since 1998 just so I could shill for Frank Gehry. (check my about page if you don’t believe me.) You caught me.
I thought I was just one guy with an opinion, but apparently you don’t think I am entitled to believe that a memorial that celebrates the way a kid from a small Kansas town can rise to the extraordinary level of achievement that Ike managed is an honor to both the man’s memory and to the country he lived in. Check out the murals. The rest of his achievements are indeed celebrated.
And with all due respect to his family, I don’t think the design dishonors Ike. But hey, maybe I am not allowed to have an opinion that differs from yours. Maybe in the new regime you can be put in charge of opinion control.
(Nice scotch, Talisker, but I prefer Lagavulin, just my opinion though.)
You're certainly entitled to think it, and to express it, but you're dead wrong. The thing is transparent.
I've been wrong before, and I will be wrong again. But I am going to think for myself. PC from the right is just as wrong as PC from the left.
This is a canard. Political Correctness is a uniquely leftist phenomenon. The idea of right wing PC is kneejerk tu quoque.
ROFL. I'll see your u quoque and raise you an ignoratio elenchi.
Suggesting that only the left can be PC is like them saying that a white man can be racist. Please. Unthinking ideology blinds wherever it reigns. Left or right.
Political Correctness has nothing to do with unthinking ideology, and unthinking ideology has nothing to do with the objections to this proposed Ike memorial.
We will have to agree to disagree on the issue of whether there is a relationship between political correctness and unthinking ideology. But unthinking ideology has everything to do with the accusation of “insidious” “shill” which was raised against me.
Certainly most of the sympathy for the Eisenhower family is earnest and well meaning. But I merely, and respectfully, took another view.
Suggesting that only the left can be PC is like them saying that a white man can be racist.
That should read:
Suggesting that only the left can be PC is like them saying that ONLY a white man can be racist.
This is a fair analogy. They say that racism is an historical institution, and as such was perpetrated by whites against blacks. Point taken.
In response to this we may say that that was then, this is now. I don't see the corresponding flux of time and tide in the case of PC.
Here’s the time and tide:
Ideologies are segregating philosophies. They enable us to put ourselves on the right side of a conflict and others on the wrong side. Once we establish that division those on the other side are no longer worthy of respect and so, insults like insidious shill are perfectly acceptable. That was my objection. Political correctness is a symptom of the same illness. Dehumanize those who disagree with you and you can treat them in any way you like, with impunity.
I am not advocating a facile inclusiveness, but I am arguing for some modicum of respect for those with whom we disagree. Especially in the context of a forum like FR, where we probably have more in common with the rest of the participants than we do with anyone on the left. Yet the slightest variation from some unwritten value results in ridiculous name-calling. And what is political correctness other than the demand that there be no deviation from the party line?
To be sure, I am not saying that you are guilty of this problem in any way. You disagree with respect and your arguments rise way above name-calling.
As there was no prescribed insignia for this rank, General of the Armies of the United States, General Pershing chose the four stars of a full general, except in gold. The rank has been argued to be equivalent to "6-star" general, as the insignia of the next lowest rank "General of the Army" is designated by five stars. According to the biography Until the Last Trumpet Sounds by Gene Smith, Pershing never wore the rank on his uniform.
Then in 1976, Congress posthumously appointed General Washington to the grade of General of the Armies to out rank them all.
Eisenhower understood war. He loathed violence for its own sake, but knew how and when to apply force. If Ike had been President after 1960, there would have been no dictatorship in Cuba,nor missle crisis no war in Southeast Asia.
I saw one of his jackets on display in a Museum in Belgium. I had not realized he was so trim.
I invite everyone to visit his farm. I got a viseral sense of what the man was like from my visit. Also read his wartime papers. He was no intellectual but he had a firm gasp of first principles. A great planner. It is said that during the Lebanon crisis, he directed the whole thing from the Oval office. A massive concentration of naval and air power, and all the public knew about it was a few marines splashing ashore in Lebanon.
Now this would make a great statue: the aging warrior standing before a grave marker, remembering.
“...but I can at least say that he did start out as a boy from Kansas...”
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Actually, Ike was born in Denison TX and his parents later moved to Kansas.
I agree with the family on this. The statue needs to be tasteful and respectful; certainly not a creepy monolith like was done for MLK Jr.
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