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 archives and 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. and i had no -- i knew 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 it was just a fluke when i 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, bu