Eisenhower's Family Objects to Memorial Design

Newser ^ | Feb 7 2012 | John Johnson

[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.

[newheart]

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.

[newheart]

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.

[dr_lew]

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.

[newheart]

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.

[higgmeister]

I only learned recently that General "Black Jack" Pershing out ranks all nine of the Five Star ranks.

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.

[RobbyS]

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.

[RobbyS]

I saw one of his jackets on display in a Museum in Belgium. I had not realized he was so trim.

[RobbyS]

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.

[RobbyS]

Now this would make a great statue: the aging warrior standing before a grave marker, remembering.

[octex]

“...but I can at least say that he did start out as a boy from Kansas...”
*******************
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.

[matthew fuller]

I saw that- and it’s very confusing because it was designated by the Four star insignia. And the difference is General of the Armies vs General of the Army.

[ketelone]

Will the Obama memorial show him peering out at his achievements as a boy, from a hut in Kenya?

[ConorMacNessa]

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower addressing paratroopers of the
101st Airborne Division before D-Day Normandy



Etiam non princeps sed usque ad genua, Principis Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Oztrich Boy]

What’s next?

A statue of a young Muslim boy in Indonesia looking out over vistas of his future accomplishments (or just looking out)

[Pelham]

“Better idea, a depiction of Eisenhower standing on that English airfield on the night of June 5, 1944 surrounded by his American paratroopers.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eisenhower_d-day.jpg

[Pelham]

FDR wanted those promotions so that the American commanders would have rank equal to their British counterparts, in order to prevent a character like Montgomery from refusing to obey someone like Eisenhower.

[piasa]

A tot version of the "messiah" surrounded by what appear to be frangipani bushes...LOL.

They are a very fragrant flowering shrub or small tree which in Asia is planted around sacred temples. How appropriate. On the other hand, a relative used to grow those things down here in the south. We could never remember the word "frangipani" so we called them d__k trees because that's what their thick stubby branches look like when the frost has zapped off the leaves. Fits Obama, too.

[Oztrich Boy]

On the other hand, a relative used to grow those things down here in the south. We could never remember the word "frangipani" so we called them d__k trees because that's what their thick stubby branches look like when the frost has zapped off the leaves.

Well, that's your problem.

In Australia our frangipani are different