spots, tedder, bradley, delock, career, and many others. but all these agree with me in the selection of truly heroic figure of this war. he is g.i. joe and his counterpart in the air, the navy, and the merchant marine of every one of the united nations. he has braved the dangers of u-boat, surmounted charges in desperately defended beaches. he has fought his patient way through the fortified zoeps. zones. he has endured cold, hunger, fatigue. his companion has been danger, and death has dogged his foot steps. he and his platoon commanders have given us an example of loyalty, devotion to duty, and ind indomi indominatable courage that will live in our hearts as long as we

admire those qualities in men. >> and now the long and happy road home. for dwight eisenhower that road was paved with the cheers of the people of the allied countries. in his own homeland the hero's welcome awaited him. america's greeting for a favorite son. here the story of dwight d. eisenhower might well have ended on this note of triumphant acclaim for a job so splendidly done. but america had other tasks waiting for its favorite soldier. eisenhower succeeded general marshall as the army's first post war chief of staff. he expressed the belief that one of the greatest pillars of world peace is a strong, united states. he visited troops stationed in

various parts of the world to show america's growing sense of global responsibility. we must remain, he said, the first champions of those who seek to lead their own lives in peace with their neighbors. finally, on february 7th, 1948, the general from abilene after 36 years of service to his country left active military assignment. but not active participation in the life of his nation. he accepted an invitation from columbia university to serve as president of that great institution, enabling him so he thought at the time to devote the remainder of his useful life to the challenges of education. but events of the post war world dictated otherwise.

the urgent necessity for unity in the free world brought into being the north atlantic treaty organization and it was evident that only one man could make that vital and complicated organization work from the outset. dwight d. eisenhower. at the end of 1950 he answered his country's call once more and once more he was on european soil to assume supreme command of the land, the sea, and the air forces of a grand, defensive alliance. against the new threat rising from the soviets who had once been his nation's ally he had to create the will to defend itself so that freedom so dearly bought would not be lost. for more than a year he labored diligently at his task of coalition. when he turned over the reins of command to general matthew ridgeway the structure of

military unity among free nations on which rested the hope for continued peace was established. once again with the accomplishment of substantial victory behind him, this might well have been the end of his public career and in a sense it was. the closing chapter in the story of eisenhower the soldier. history is recording today the story of eisenhower the statesman. the stories may be separate but soldier and statesman they are the same man, dwight d. eisenhower, citizen of the united states, spokesman for and symbol of the free world. and son of abilene. as rich a study as this nation has produced of the capacity for greatness, which lies at its grass roots.

the big picture is an official report for the armed forces and the american people. produced by the army pictorial center. presented by the department of the army in cooperation with this station. weekends on c-span 3 it's 48 hours of american history. every weekend ahtv travels to historic sites, museums and archives to learn what artifacts reveal about american history. watch american artifacts sunday at 8:00 a.m. eastern. american history tv also examines the presidents, their policies and legacies through their historic speeches and

discussions with leading historians. that's every sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. eastern and again at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. find more information about our programs and our other series including schedules and online video archives at c-span.org/history. this is c-span 3 with politics and public affairs programming throughout the week and every weekend 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. get our schedules and see past programs at our websites and join in the conversation on social media sites. coming up a special presentation of american history tv focusing on our nation's 34th president, dwight david eisenhower. we take a look at the proposed memorial designed by architect frank gehry. after that president eisenhower's granddaughter, susan eisenhower, talks about her opposition to the frank gehry memorial design. that's followed later by an

archival film about his military career produced by the u.s. army. >> this past october frank gehry, the architect behind the proposed eisenhower national memorial, spoke at the national archives about the ideas behind his design. he was joined by wilson. this is about an hour. thank you for the introduction. i know how much you're looking forward to this great program we have this evening. my remarks will be brief. but as a representative of the eisenhower memorial commission, i'm happy and pleased that tonight we have with us three commissioners, chairman rocco sicilianio from beverly hills, california, commissioner alfred godelburg from new york city and commissioner susan baines harris from washington, d.c. i see around the room other

distinguished supporters of the eisenhower legacy and the president and general's memorialization. i regret that there isn't time to recognize more of you. i would like to thank the archivist of the united states for adding this evening's event to the memorialization of this great general and this great president. as someone that dabbled in history for a period of time, i think of the archivist of the united states as the keeper of the nation's memory, and if you will, of its identity. the participation of the national archiveand of that special outlier unit in abilene, the great library that karl weisenbach leads so effectively, is a huge fundamental contribution to us being able to look to the future and the

continuing first class reinterpretation of the eisenhower legacy through the decades and centuries. as we move forward, the archivist has tonight in his own way created his own historic event. the national memorialization of a president is a historic event, but this evening i think we are part of an unprecedented level of cooperation between elements of the government's action. we are a congressional commission. the archives has its own status and stature in society, and tonight as a result of the leadership of david ferreiro who has recognized the unique relationship between the designer of the eisenhower memorial and the great president that we are honoring.

in a nutshell, one of the great transitional leaders in american history was dwight david eisenhower. last president born in the 19th century, among other things the first president to look at reconnaissance photographs taken from satellites in space that he put there. a transitional leader with many other levels, and tonight we have the privilege of hearing from another great transitional leader in architecture, frank gehry arguably has brought the architectural profession to a whole new level of understanding of itself. this great architect along with his collaborator, robert wilson, to have the opportunity to share with us the creative process which will enable and result in this great

memorial is a special privilege for all of us. so, i'd like to turn the microphone back to the archivist of the united states, and thank you, david, for making this possible. [ applause ] >> so, i'd now like to introduce the two men who have collaborated on the original concept and design of the eisenhower national memory. architect frank gehry has received the highest of honors of his profession including the pritzer architecture prize and numerous other accolades. his projects are located around the world, especially in europe and the united states. they include, among others, the disney concert hall in los angeles, the status center in m.i.t. in cambridge, the guggenheim museum in spain, and the bank building in berlin. he's currently completing work

on the guggenheim of abu dhabi and the louis vuitton museum in paris. mr. gehry's work reflects his concern that people live comfortably within the spaces he creates. the buildings address the concept and culture of the sites the budgets of their clients. he holds degrees from the university of southern california and the harvard graduate school of design. collaborating with mr. gehry is theater artist robert wilson. mr. wilson has shaped the look of theater and opera through his signature use of light and classical rigor of the scenic and furniture design, he articulates the force and originality of his vision. he attended the university of texas and moved to new york and attended pratt institute in brooklyn. he became a leader of manhattan downtown art scene and turned his attention to large-scale opera. with philip glass he created the monumental einstein on the beach in 1976 which won worldwide acclaim. he worked increasingly with major european theaters and opera houses and collaborated with internationally renowned

writers and performers, and he's won numerous honors for his work around the world. in my previous life as director of the new york public library, i was proud to be responsible for the robert wilson audio and visual collection at the library for the performing arts in new york, so it's nice to be working with robert wilson again. so, please welcome frank gehry and robert wilson to the stage. >> so, we're going to talk for a little while, and then i'll show you some wonderful pictures, and then open it up for questions from you for our visitors.

so, i'd like to start by talking about the collaboration, the roles that you each play in this project. >> well, i was sort of the lead in the architectural thing. and i was worried about -- i read in order to do the competition, i read everything i could find on eisenhower and realized what a great man he was. great, but had no idea. it seemed to me that i needed somebody that understood how to present the man, how to present him, somebody who is an actor in his own. bob's an actor.

and he knows how to develop a character. and as asked the -- when we began, i said i was going to reach out to him, and i had no idea whether he'd do it or not. but we've known each other a long time. and he turned out to be ten times more than what i expected or what i thought i needed. now i know i needed beyond in developing this scene. which it is, after all, as the great bard said, all the world's a stage. and so we are creating a scene, but it's a complicated one. it lives in a complicated place,

in a complicated time. and so it's very delicate and hopefully subtle.hopelly in the the man, the modesty that is all over the history of this man. >> so, you said you did a lot of reading to bring yourself up to speed. >> yeah. >> were there any surprises, things that you didn't know before? >> well, i knew the broad picture, but just finding out what the man was really like was very powerful for me. >> and, bob, the decision-making process for you about getting involved in this? >> well, i've known -- frank says that we've known each other for many years, and i've watched his career and been a huge admirer of his work, and it was

a real honor to be able to have a chance to finally do something with him. i also kept going over and over through eisenhower's life and trying to find the one point that somehow could maybe balance this span of life. you can say that math, "a" can be a line this long and "b" can be a line that's that long. and yet i find this "a" point in this man's life that seemed to maybe balance with his longer lifespan. and i kept looking for that subtext or that text, what they could be. and as frank said, the beautiful

thing that kept coming back was this man who was the general and an important man in the history of war, and he's the president, yet throughout his life you can see the little boy in him. and that's so touching. it has been said that genius is childhood recovered at will. and this is then eisenhower. and it comes in various things that he says throughout his life. so, that became this "a" point. >> in his last speech i guess when he went -- >> yeah, it's so touching. tell them. >> but he came back -- and i can't quote it. >> to abilene.

>> and said, kind of, it's amazing that a barefoot boy could have his life -- have this incredible life. but he wasn't beating his chest and saying -- >> no. >> -- hey, look at me. he was, like, going back to his childhood and saying, man, what an incredible experience i've had. and -- but all through it, all through it, i came back here because this is where i'm from. a barefoot boy. >> do you have the quote? >> yeah. the only quote i have is from the address where he says i come from -- carl can quote it. >> you are the director, carl. >> so how did that translate -- >> you have the lincoln memorial

is so strong and it's one image. it's just etched in our brains. we have the washington memorial and it's this one monument, this one visual element and it's so powerful. so, i don't know. one of the great things about this country, part of the american myth is you say it's as simple as apple pie. jackson polak, you know, painted with house paint. abraham lincoln was born in a log cabin. so this idea of the barefoot boy from kansas, towards the end of his life has this way of reflecting of himself that he's simply a boy from kansas. somehow it became very compelling.

>> and iwo because when we started out, we had much more complicated images. we wanted to build a tapestry. we did a lot of research and the jacquard and the tapestries, and it was logical that it could be built with metal fibers, so -- if it couldn't be done, we didn't have a plan "b," so we had to really work it. and then when we realized we were 70 feet from the education building and they didn't like the idea of looking into the back of a tapestry, that we had to make the tapestry transparent, which is very hard to do. with a jacquard loom.

we managed to do it, but it lost its artistry. it became less -- it became more of a scene, and yet the fine arts commission, one of the commissioners mentioned, he thought that we ought to stay away from making a billboard, which we all agreed. we wanted to have an artist do it, but if you ask an artist to do a tapestry like that, like chuck close, he would select the imagery so we were stuck. we couldn't find an artist that would do it. and lo and behold, there's a polish fellow, an artist from poland, this is kind of an all-purpose handyman and he's worked in my office, and he does construction work.

but whenever i've ever had a problem of how to put something strange together, he always comes to the fore. and he kept saying to me, let me try it, let me try it, let me try it. and i said okay, so then he made this. and it's gotten much better. this was the first try, and he studied albrecht dure's drawings and developed a language of strokes from the dure, and he applied it to the photograph we had of abilene. and it came out -- >> it's a landscape of trees. >> so why don't we look at -- >> want to look at it? >> yeah. so that people can see this extraordinary tapestry.

>> this was the -- >> they're seeing it here. >> i'm looking at it right there. okay. so this was the competition, and the competition -- excuse me, i'm going to put somebody's eye out. i better go this way. [ laughter ] >> i'm sorry. >> so this is the education building. there's the tapestry at one point. and then we were thinking of independence avenue, driving by. this is kind of like a theater, and maybe eventually you would find places to sit on the back end of the aerospace museum, which is not used at all. it's a beautiful terrace that overlooks this thing. and we needed to hold up the tapestry, and the engineers told

me i needed a ten-foot round column to do it, and so i decided at that point to make them in stone. when we did that, it sort of clicked into washington. i don't see it as a post-modern thing as much as a -- i mean, thco they're bigger than the ones in the pension building, in the -- whatever you call that building now. in this tapestry, we had v.e. day. so we covered that. we had eisenhower in the cabinet. we had eisenhower fixing a fence post, and we had talked about making reliefs -- stone reliefs. i was hoping they would get as good as the greek sculptures. so that's the dream. and then we had this grove with

the tree for a quiet place for eisenhower. as we proceeded, we pulled in the tapestry quite a bit on each corner so that -- and you could see the education building from independence avenue so it wasn't blocked out. and instead of these being parallel to independence, they kind of created the territory. and they sort of create the space because these buildings are very different designs.know some people don't like them. but i think we're trying to

create a terrain, and when bob came in with the abilene picture and said, we realize this is incredible fortuitous image to pick for this from a functional standpoint, because it allowed the most open space in the sky, so we could make it transparent, so the guys could look out and that it wasn't bombastic. it wasn't overpowering. it wasn't beating your chest eisenhower. it was just bringing the midwest scene. abilene is 400 miles from the geographic center of the united states. i don't think there's a midwest representation of the midwest. there's a lot of people out there. so we pull these in, made it

more modest, kept the cartway, and these trees, i think you can see it in the -- the cartway for maryland avenue that had to be protected for the view to the capitol. it's just a clearing in the trees, and then in the summer you have trees with leaves. unfortunately, we can't put leaves on the tapestry for summer. so it becomes a big park, a garden where people can come and relax. they're not being pummelled with information. it's very subtle. and the tapestry turned out to be a lot more transparent than we thought. there's the cartway. there's one like it at

princeton. i think it is a called einstein walk. it's from the president's house to the hall at the institute for advanced studies. that's kind of the image. that shows his house. that shows the grain elevator here. i thought that was the speech. the final image bob and i will go to abilene and take the picture. this is not -- it will be close to this, but it will probably -- and so this -- this was taking the dure picture and breaking it down that led to this. these are all handmade, and it's one guy. so it's going to take him two years, and he's a brilliant ti