Eisenhower en va-nu-pieds: la famille s'oppose au monument

L'idée du monument me semblait bonne et l'architecte s'est inspiré d'une citation de l'ancien général et Président. La famille ne voit pas les choses du même oeil.

"The design shows Eisenhower as a youth gazing out at images of his adult accomplishments against a backdrop of the Kansas plains. But the Eisenhower family objects to the design and is attempting to delay approval of the project in a dispute that has pitted a leading American family against one of the country’s most recognized architects. The family says Mr. Gehry should portray Eisenhower as a man in the fullness of his achievements, not as a callow rustic who made good.

 “He was chief of staff of the Army; he was a two-term president of the United States,” said Susan Eisenhower, a granddaughter. “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 family has asked that the project be delayed until its objections are addressed, and others have joined its cause.

 “The statue of Ike as a Kansas farmer-boy mocks the president as cornpone in chief, the supreme allied bumpkin,” said the nonprofit National Civic Art Society, which focuses on architecture and urban design.

 Last month the Eisenhower family made public its concerns, which also include the memorial’s scope and materials, upon realizing that the project was on a fast track, saying that its views were being disregarded. Mr. Gehry has so far not responded publicly. Officials overseeing the memorial’s construction say they worry that a lengthy dispute would prevent the elderly veterans who are most enthusiastic about an Eisenhower memorial from seeing it.

 The memorial application was submitted last month by the National Park Service on behalf of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, which included the former president’s grandson, David, until he resigned to work with the Eisenhower Foundation. The $112 million memorial will be primarily financed by taxpayers and will be dedicated on Memorial Day 2015, 70 years after the war ended. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/arts/design/eisenhower-memorial-by-frank-gehry-draws-objections-from-family.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23