Pulling The Plug On An Unacceptable Idea

The Daily Caller posted an article today stating that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies has not included any money in its 2013 fiscal year appropriations bill to fund the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission (EMC).

The article reports:

Opposition to the memorial has been spearheaded by the National Civic Art Society (NCAS) — a nonprofit devoted to upholding and promoting Western ideals of classical beauty in art and architecture. NCAS has criticized the “secretive, elitist, and undemocratic” memorial design competition, pointing out that the competition considered 44 entries whereas the National World War II Memorial considered 407.

NCAS has also criticized the memorial’s proposed design, which the society called an “impious, soulless design … [that] suggests nothing noble or heroic” and “represents a fundamental cleavage with the tradition of national presidential memorials.”

The planned memorial focused on President Eisenhower’s boyhood in Kansas. There was no recognition of the accomplishments of the man as a General and as a President. I was born after World War II, so my appreciation of General Eisenhower came mainly from history books.  But it also came from being the daughter of one of the men under his command on June 6, 1944. My father was not a career military man–he graduated from Clemson in 1942 and went into the army as a second lieutenant. He resigned his commission after the war. He was one of the men who landed in France on D-Day. Even though his generation said very little about their war experiences, it was always clear that he had a tremendous amount of respect for General Eisenhower. The General deserves a memorial that reflects the respect that the men who followed him into battle and the Americans who supported him as President had for him.

I am glad to see the memorial as it is presently planned defunded.

 
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