Groundbreaking ceremony for Eisenhower Memorial
Members of the Eisenhower family and Memorial commission, along with Frank Gehry (center) break ground on the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C.
It was my great honor to cover the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial groundbreaking ceremony, which was held in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 2. Descendants of the former president as well as Memorial commissioners and members of the design team–including architect Frank Gehry–were on hand to mark the start of construction for a memorial that has been held up in contentious legislative battles for most of a decade.
“We’ve waited so long and [have] been through so much on it,” Gehry said after the ceremony. “But compared to other memorials, I think we’re half the time! [With] everything that went on, I always believed in the Eisenhower family.”
Gehry also spoke of his personal connection to Eisenhower in an official press release from the Eisenhower Memorial Commission; many of his family members lost their lives in Germany leading up to World War II:
“This project has been an enormous honor for me both professionally and personally. I was 16 years old when Eisenhower defeated the Nazis and led American to victory in WWII. I had lost 33 members of my family in the camps, so his victory was all the more meaningful to me. His leadership in peacetime was as inspiring. He led the country with strength, but also with great humanity and humility. I hope that these values are captured in the memorial, and that it will be a place to honor and to learn from one of the greatest heroes that the world has ever known.”
Read the full story at Architectural Record.