Eisenhower’s granddaughters critical of Gehry’s memorial design

UPDATE: On Thursday, Dec.15, after this story was written, the Eisenhower Commission announced David Eisenhower’s resignation from the Commission.

(Alex Wong/Getty Images/GETTY IMAGES) - Anne Eisenhower.

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images/GETTY IMAGES) - Susan Eisenhower.

“Because no man is really a man who has lost out of himself all of the boy, I want to speak first of the dreams of a barefoot boy” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 22, 1945

Susan Eisenhower wants you to know that she’s grateful. Her whole family is. And they know that Dwight D. Eisenhower would be humbled that a memorial in his honor is about to be built just south of the Mall.

That’s what makes this so hard.

“We have some serious concerns about the design,” said Susan, 59, one of the four grandchildren of the 34th president of the United States. They have sustainability concerns. Logistical concerns. Aesthetic concerns.

But there’s a more essential problem for the Eisenhowers. What is their role in the creation of a memorial for the man who meant so much to so many?

“We understand that not everyone cares what we think,” said Susan, an energy specialist and Washington area resident who has a commanding presence reminiscent of the president she calls “Granddad.” “The truth is we care [about] what we know, and I don’t think my grandfather would be comfortable with the scale and scope of this design.”

The groundbreaking of the Eisenhower Memorial is scheduled for early 2012. Congress created the Eisenhower Memorial Commission in 1999, and charged it with memorializing Dwight D. Eisenhower as both the supreme commander of the allied forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th president of the United States. In late 2008, the commission selected Frank Gehry to design the memorial. Sometimes called the most famous “starchitect” in the world, he’s the type of avant-garde architect who injects movement into steel. His buildings don’t sit, they explode.

In 2010, the commission approved Gehry’s unconventional memorial design. Gehry chose set designer Robert Wilson to collaborate on the design. Together, this team has produced a plan that, to Susan and many of its critics, looks like a theater stage set.

The controversy surrounding Gehry’s concept stems from what he calls “the barefoot boy” from Kansas, a phrase taken from Eisenhower’s homecoming speech in Abilene, Kan., after the Second World War. Focusing on his childhood rather than his accomplishments is an unexpected approach to memorial design, and to the Eisenhower family, it is inappropriate.

“I just don’t think Dwight Eisenhower is remembered because he was a barefoot boy from Kansas,” said Susan. “When I look at this memorial, I don’t see any bit of him in it.”

The design has also been the subject of debate among various regulatory agencies that must approve it, such as the Commission on Fine Arts and National Capital Planning Commission. It has evolved with each subsequent hearing and meeting, as tends to happen with large memorial projects in Washington. Currently, the National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing for preliminary approval of Gehry’s concept in February.