Eisenhower's Family Objects to Memorial Design

A memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower is scheduled to be unveiled on the Washington Mall in 2015, but first a thorny dispute needs to be resolved between Eisenhower's family and renowned architect Frank Gehry. Ike's relatives think Gehry's design—which features a statue of Eisenhower as boy in Kansas looking out on vistas of his future accomplishments—as a country bumpkin. They are demanding changes before the project moves forward, and Gehry has yet to comment publicly, notes the New York Times. (The AP had a similar story last month.)

“He was chief of staff of the Army; he was a two-term president of the United States,” says a granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower. “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 National Capital Planning Commission, which must sign off on the design, has received a letter from the relatives and said only that it "appreciates the comments provided by the Eisenhower family." Groundbreaking is scheduled to start this year. (More Dwight Eisenhower stories.)