Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial

Authorizing a memorial and establishing a memorial commission

Three individuals drove the effort to establish a memorial to President Dwight D. Eisenhower: Rocco Siciliano, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), and Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). After graduating from Georgetown Law School, he worked for the National Labor Relations Board and was appointed by Eisenhower as Assistant Secretary of Labor and later Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management. In 1958, Siciliano arranged a meeting between Eisenhower and African American civil rights leaders.

As head of the Eisenhower Institute in the 1990s, Siciliano decided in 1999 to push for a memorial. He knew Senator Stevens, a decorated World War II pilot who had worked in the Department of the Interior under Eisenhower and had received the Eisenhower Leadership Prize in 1999. Stevens suggested a bipartisan effort and brought in Senator Inouye, who had served in Italy with the segregated 442nd Infantry Combat Regiment and received the Medal of Honor.

Siciliano worked with both senators to write the legislation authorizing the memorial and establishing a memorial commission.

Design competition

The design process began in 2006. At a commission meeting in March 2006, Siciliano mentioned Frank Gehry as a possible designer. Susan Eisenhower asked whether the design vocabulary would be modern or traditional, but a commission staff member called the question premature. In 2007, the commission hired Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to outline goals and requirements for the memorial.

The following year, it issued a call for proposals through the General Services Administration's Design Excellence Program. The General Services Administration revealed that fewer than 50 firms submitted design entries; none were minority-owned, six were women-owned, and 11 were small businesses. On March 31, 2009, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission selected Frank Gehry's proposal. According to Washingtonian magazine, Gehry was Commissioner David Eisenhower's second choice, though David Eisenhower said he could vouch for the integrity and excellence of the selection process.

Design development

In March 2010, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission gave its unanimous approval to a design concept by Frank O. Gehry, and the team finished its initial meetings with federal review agencies. The four-acre memorial, planned for Maryland Avenue, would feature giant welded steel tapestries held up by columns that are 80 feet tall and 10 feet wide. The biggest tapestry, stretching almost the full city-block length of the Department of Education Building, would show a present-day aerial view of Normandy Beach.

The design also included parts of Eisenhower’s Abilene, Kansas home. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts unanimously approved Gehry’s first tapestry design, which showed the Kansas landscape, in September 2011, confirming its scale and artistry were suitable. The Department of Education had concerns about the tapestries at first, but after revisions and mock-up reviews, Secretary Arne Duncan stated the department supported the current design. The National Capital Planning Commission backed the design but had not given preliminary approval.

The Architect of the Capitol endorsed the revised design, praising the team’s work and noting no negative effects on views of the U.S. Capitol. The approved concept represents Eisenhower as both president and general using large stone bas-reliefs and text.

Funding

Activities of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission and the design and construction of the memorial were initially intended to be fully funded by the federal government, as with most previous presidential memorials. The commission assured the Eisenhower family that no private fundraising would be needed, a concern because the family sits on the board of six legacy organizations and feared fundraising competition. In 2008, House Appropriations Committee staff informed the commission that Congress was unlikely to fully fund the project due to the Great Recession, requiring some private fundraising.

In February 2011, the commission consulted the fundraising firm Odell, Simms & Lynch (OSL) to develop a strategy. The Eisenhower family met with OSL in March 2012 and expressed concern, but OSL argued the legacy organizations would benefit from the memorial's completion. OSL crafted a plan, and outreach to 200 major donors began in 2013, targeting individuals with direct links to Eisenhower, organizations interested in the e-memorial educational component, and admirers of Frank Gehry.

Working with retired Marine Corps General Paul X. Kelley and former Republican National Committee chairman Frank Fahrenkopf, OSL also reached out to members of the Giving Back Fund. As of March 2013, the commission had raised $1.7 million in donations and pledges, and after design approval planned to approach corporations, foundations, and international organizations.