I picked this topic because I did not know that there was controversy with how memorials were designed. In 2012, I went on the trip to Washington D.C. for a class trip. My favorite part of the trip was when we visited the different memorials in D.C. It was my first time seeing these memorials in person and I was interested to learn more about them even though we covered a small portion about them in Mr. Moore's history class. As an eighth grader, I did not know that there was controversy for many of these memorials. I picked memorials/monuments that are controversial in the Washington D.C. area. This is because these monuments are well known and can be portrayed differently by various people.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial was to honor our 32nd president for his leadership during the Great Depression. The memorial is divided into four "rooms." The first room represents his inauguration and his years as the President. In room two, The Breadline is represented as the buildup to the Great Depression. Room three is the waterfall, which represents the downfall of the economy and the beginning of the Great Depression. The last room is a monumental bas-relief that represents the death of Roosevelt.
As with any monument, there was controversy about Roosevelt's sitting in a wheelchair. In 1921, Roosevelt was paralyzed from polio. In 1974, Lawrence Halprin was chosen by the FDR Memorial Commission for the best proposal for the memorial. "Lawrence Halprin designed the memorial in a way that was accessible to people with all sorts of disabilities." (NPS) I believe that Halprin's intention was to allow the people with disabilities to move freely in the memorial. When I visited in eighth grade, I remembered how open and friendly the environment around the memorial was. Some people believed that the statue should acknowledge Roosevelt's paralysis. According to NPS, others argued that the statue would "increase awareness and set an inspiring example for others who struggled with disability." (NPS) What this meant was that Roosevelt did not like showing that he was paralyzed and he did not want to "increase awareness" to his problem. Even though Roosevelt did not want disability to stop him from doing his job as the President, the memorial reminds the country of the man who did not let this happen.
Who gets to decide how we symbolically remember events from the past? Most designers are chosen through a competition. Maya Lin, Henry Bacon, and Lawrence Halprin were all selected by a committee dedicated to that memorial. Out of hundreds of other designs, they were all chosen to design the memorials. Even though the committee decides on who gets to design the memorial, the people of the country also have a say in how they want it to look like. This why were is controversy with each memorial.
With any memorial or monument there is always a controversy with a design or even the person designing the memorial. There are people who view the symbolic meaning to the memorial in a different way. The people who design the memorial will propose a plan but the plan changes so that everyone is satisfied. Memorials commemorate those who have changed our country, whether it was a President or even an important event.
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The United States has been involved in many wars and in order to honor those who have fought for our country, we build memorials and monuments. Other memorials are dedicated to a certain person who have contributed to our country in the past. Public memorials and monuments attract millions of visitors from around the country and even from the world. The purpose of these memorials or monuments is to illustrate the fallen soldiers or a significant event in America's history. We not only treat these memorials as remembrance of the people in the past and for events with respect, but they are also beneficial to our education. These monuments are designed in a specific way because each of these memorials have a symbolic meaning to them.
The Lincoln Memorial was built in 1922 by architects Henry Bacon and Daniel Chester French. Henry Bacon was the winner of a national design competition. Daniel Chester French, chairman of Fine Arts Commission, was chosen by the Lincoln Memorial Committee to design the statue of Lincoln. He had to resign from his chairman position in order to design the statue. The memorial is constructed with granite, marble, and limestone, and is designed based on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The monument is surrounded by 36 columns, representing the number of states during Lincoln's presidency. Henry Bacon wanted the primary impression to be "dignified, imposing simplicity." (NPS) This Greek design caused controversy among some people. For example, William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie, two architects, opposed to the design. From the Editorial, The Independent, Purcell wrote: " We have great admiration for the architecture of the Greeks, we have great admiration for the personality of Lincoln, but somehow we cannot make these two things match in our mind." (Organica) He believed that it was wrong to resemble a democratic form of Lincoln in a Greek setting. There was also controversy about the location of the memorial and opposed the proposed location. Many people believed that the Potomac River was a swamp and didn't want the memorial located on a swamp.
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| This picture is of the Iwo Jima Memorial. This memorial shows men working together to fight for our country. This memorial is meant to honor them. |
The Lincoln Memorial was built in 1922 by architects Henry Bacon and Daniel Chester French. Henry Bacon was the winner of a national design competition. Daniel Chester French, chairman of Fine Arts Commission, was chosen by the Lincoln Memorial Committee to design the statue of Lincoln. He had to resign from his chairman position in order to design the statue. The memorial is constructed with granite, marble, and limestone, and is designed based on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The monument is surrounded by 36 columns, representing the number of states during Lincoln's presidency. Henry Bacon wanted the primary impression to be "dignified, imposing simplicity." (NPS) This Greek design caused controversy among some people. For example, William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie, two architects, opposed to the design. From the Editorial, The Independent, Purcell wrote: " We have great admiration for the architecture of the Greeks, we have great admiration for the personality of Lincoln, but somehow we cannot make these two things match in our mind." (Organica) He believed that it was wrong to resemble a democratic form of Lincoln in a Greek setting. There was also controversy about the location of the memorial and opposed the proposed location. Many people believed that the Potomac River was a swamp and didn't want the memorial located on a swamp.
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| This picture is of the Lincoln Memorial. This architecture design was based on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. |
In 1979, Congress gave permission to the Vietnam veterans' committee to build a Vietnam War Memorial dedicated to the American soldiers who had lost their lives during the war. The committee made a competition and choose the best idea for the memorial. Out of 1,400 proposals, Maya Lin, an Asian Yale undergraduate living in America, was chosen to design the memorial in 1981. When I was first researching about this memorial, I thought that there was controversy from her ethnic background, but her design for the memorial caused anger among the veterans and the rest of the country. Maya Lin's plan for the memorial was to have to V-shaped granite walls with approximately 60,000 names of those who died facing towards the Washington Monument and the other side facing the Lincoln Memorial.
Her design was different than traditional monuments that had flags and statues of soldiers. Many people thought the color of the memorial, black, was controversial because they thought it had to do with death. According to Green Museum, a protestor said: "One needs no artistic education to see this memorial design for what it is: a black scar, in a hole, hidden as if out of shame." The protestors wanted to change the color to white, flags, and have some statues of soldiers. The committee came up with a solution to keep the color black, and to have flags at the end of each V.
Her design was different than traditional monuments that had flags and statues of soldiers. Many people thought the color of the memorial, black, was controversial because they thought it had to do with death. According to Green Museum, a protestor said: "One needs no artistic education to see this memorial design for what it is: a black scar, in a hole, hidden as if out of shame." The protestors wanted to change the color to white, flags, and have some statues of soldiers. The committee came up with a solution to keep the color black, and to have flags at the end of each V.
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| This is the Vietnam Memorial, and as you can see one side of the V is pointed towards the Washington Monument. There are also names of those who died fighting for our country. |
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| This picture shows a bronze statue of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his dog, Fala |
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial was to honor our 32nd president for his leadership during the Great Depression. The memorial is divided into four "rooms." The first room represents his inauguration and his years as the President. In room two, The Breadline is represented as the buildup to the Great Depression. Room three is the waterfall, which represents the downfall of the economy and the beginning of the Great Depression. The last room is a monumental bas-relief that represents the death of Roosevelt.
As with any monument, there was controversy about Roosevelt's sitting in a wheelchair. In 1921, Roosevelt was paralyzed from polio. In 1974, Lawrence Halprin was chosen by the FDR Memorial Commission for the best proposal for the memorial. "Lawrence Halprin designed the memorial in a way that was accessible to people with all sorts of disabilities." (NPS) I believe that Halprin's intention was to allow the people with disabilities to move freely in the memorial. When I visited in eighth grade, I remembered how open and friendly the environment around the memorial was. Some people believed that the statue should acknowledge Roosevelt's paralysis. According to NPS, others argued that the statue would "increase awareness and set an inspiring example for others who struggled with disability." (NPS) What this meant was that Roosevelt did not like showing that he was paralyzed and he did not want to "increase awareness" to his problem. Even though Roosevelt did not want disability to stop him from doing his job as the President, the memorial reminds the country of the man who did not let this happen.
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| This picture shows the statue of FDR in a wheelchair. This statue is what caused controversy. |
With any memorial or monument there is always a controversy with a design or even the person designing the memorial. There are people who view the symbolic meaning to the memorial in a different way. The people who design the memorial will propose a plan but the plan changes so that everyone is satisfied. Memorials commemorate those who have changed our country, whether it was a President or even an important event.
Annotations:
Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans' Memorial: From this website, I learned how the Vietnam Memorial design was chosen and how there was controversy with the design that was chosen and how at the end the committee made a compromise.
Green Museum: I used this website to learn about the design of the memorial and the small details that bothered many veterans and other citizens of America. I also learned about Maya Lin's background.
Vietnam Wall Controversy: I used this website to learn about the controversy with Maya Lin's design. It talked about how she didn't want to change the design because she believed it "violated the integrity of her work" I also got a time frame of when this occurred.
Vietnam Wall Controversy: I used this website to learn about the controversy with Maya Lin's design. It talked about how she didn't want to change the design because she believed it "violated the integrity of her work" I also got a time frame of when this occurred.
Lincoln Memorial Primary Source: This source is a primary source and I used these documents to help me learn about how people opposed and why they didn't like the design of the memorial, especially architect Purcell.
Lincoln Memorial: I used this website to learn more about the design of the Lincoln Memorial, and why Bacon and French designed the memorial and the statue that way.
Henry Bacon: I used this website to learn about Bacon's background and how he was chosen to design the memorial
Daniel Chester French: Like the website above, I used this to learn about French's background and how he was chosen to design the statue.
Franklin Roosevelt Memorial: From this website, I learned about the design of the memorial and how each room had a specific reason to why it was there. I also learned that Roosevelt's statue of him sitting in a wheelchair caused controversy.
Controversy about FDR: In this website, I also learned about the controversy with FDR's memorial.
Purpose of FDR Memorial: I used this website to learn about the purpose of the memorial and why it was built and the reason to why it was designed in a specific way.
Henry Bacon: I used this website to learn about Bacon's background and how he was chosen to design the memorial
Daniel Chester French: Like the website above, I used this to learn about French's background and how he was chosen to design the statue.
Franklin Roosevelt Memorial: From this website, I learned about the design of the memorial and how each room had a specific reason to why it was there. I also learned that Roosevelt's statue of him sitting in a wheelchair caused controversy.
Controversy about FDR: In this website, I also learned about the controversy with FDR's memorial.
Purpose of FDR Memorial: I used this website to learn about the purpose of the memorial and why it was built and the reason to why it was designed in a specific way.
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