take my jobs this way. a woman with a hundred goats. airplanes are important, but so are goats. people come from miles around. has a smaller. then cows milk and is more easily digested. so i guess i am helping people on both jobs. >> those lockheed lightning's kerry with them or hopes and dreams, the american kids who put them in the sky. >> next, edelin found another u.s. world war i centennial commission. he talks about developing a national world war i committee of -- world war i memorial.

sitently, the park is the of a memorial for colonel john pershing. the commission introduced legislation to congress, which passed in the house but is still awaiting action in the senate. this event from the national press club is about 40 minutes -- 45 minute. >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the national press club. edwin pleased to have found and to discuss the world war i memorial. my name is tony gallo. i am with the national press club. memorial eisenhower controversy now. that has been going on for years and we have no idea when the eisenhower memorial is being

billed good we have several other the more of but not a world war i memorial. so there is much excitement about this project. to stick few words about our speaker. thend fountain is in international law firm jones day game he is the grandson of not one but two world war i veterans. i cofounded the world war memorial foundation. this led to the advocacy of a national world war i memorial on july 2013, he was nominated to the world war i centennial commission. he was elected vice chairman of 2014.mmission in july mr. fountain is the graduate of the university of carolina, the london school of economics, and the university of virginia law

school. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. fountain, theund vice chairman of the u.s. world war i monument commission. it was given the mission of ensuring a suitable observation of the centennial of the great war and commemorating the service of men and women and the consequences of that war. it has 12 members appointed by a president. i am here this morning to talk about the commission's proposal to establish a new national world war i memorial on pennsylvania avenue in the nations capital. i want to start with a brief context. work in us who

washington are very familiar with the great man approach to memorials. the town is full of the question and other statues. pershing park, where we propose to establish a new memorial is one of the last great man memorials in the city you're after the civil war and, local communities around the country established memorials to their local residents who fought and died in the wars. those of us who grew up in the eastern half of the country are so the -- are familiar with civil war memorials. the d.c. war memorial is a fine example of a local memorial two world war i. the 1970's that

we began thinking in terms of and not tor memorial the generals but to the common soldiers. we have been backfilling ever since after the vietnam veterans memorial and the korean war memorial and world war ii. now we are here talking about world war i. one of the differences is that there is no living constituency. the last american veteran of world war i passed away three years ago at the age of 110. so there is not the representation of veterans in congress. there is not the representation of veterans on the boards of our major corporations and foundations. so it is a different challenge for us, but one we we can meet.

i got involved in this effort semi-is ago when i decided to advocate for restoration of the d.c. war memorial in the law -- in the mullahs had fallen into disrepair. that effort led me to talk about rededicating that memorial as a national and local world war i memorial on the mall. the question will come up why pershing park, why don't you want to be on the mall? that is an excellent question. the commission thinks that working from a blank slate, we would be on the mall. the congress enacted a commemorative works ask him years ago to establish the location of memorials in the nations capital. and one clause provides that the national mall is a completed work of civic heart and there shall be no new memorials, civic centers, museums on the mall except those that were grandfathered in, the world war ii memorial, the martin luther king the moral, and the visitor center at the vietnam war

memorial. i thought for a couple of years to get a national world war i memorial on the mall, but the d.c. government leadership and mayor gray were strongly opposed to the proposal. the national parks service and others that are stewards of the mall were opposed to that proposal. for theit came time commission to think about establishment of a memorial, we decided not to fight a losing battle by trying to be on the mall and we chose to propose redevelopment of pershing park. notthose of you who are familiar with it, it is just a block away from the national press club. picture in the upper left of the sport, that is an overhead shot. pershing park is founded on the southern age five in slovenia -- southern edge by pennsylvania avenue. between 14th and 15th

streets. the northern part of the map is pennsylvania avenue. it is a prime location. is onene and i -- it end of what is the significant concourse. it is one block away from the white house and from the .reasury department it is a symbolically important location. and it's one that could receive a lot of foot traffic for people visiting the white house and other sites in this part of town. to us, it is a highly important acation, one we think merits significant memorial and one we think will do justice to the veterans of world war i. again, we prefer the mall, but

we play the cards we are dealt with. there are some drawbacks. it is a park with a world war i element in it. the pershing memorial is tucked away in the lower right corner in the photograph in the selfies corner. that part of the park is very obscure from the street. it is elevated and there are earthen berm's topped by 10 foot stone walls in that corner of the park. there is nothing inviting about the park for the passerby. there's nothing that says world war i or pershing memorial or a there is nothing that draws you in. really two sides of the park that are accessible to passersby are the western edge, 15th street, which is at the far edge

of where the memorial on it is. if you look at the park from 15th street, you don't really see the memorial component that is currently there. on pennsylvania avenue, there is the taxi stand in a line of parking spots that service the willard and other restaurants and hotels there. so it is very uninviting to passersby and there is nothing about it that draws you in. the second drawback to the current site is that it is a history lesson more than a memorial. you see this wall there. andas two very good maps some very nice narrative text about the involvement of the united states in world war i. but there is no mention in that tax of 160,000 american livesemen who gave their in the war. there is no mention of the fact that the combat the tally rate wasombat fatality rate twice that of world war ii.

there is no mention that america suffered more combat fatalities and world war i in five months than in either three years in korea or eight years of active combat in vietnam. when i testified on the hill a few months ago on the bill that would authorize this memorial, there was also testimony on a bill to add a feature to the korean war memorial. saiddvocate for that bill with great emphasis that, in korea, america lost 1000 men a month. in one, we lost 10,000 men a month. what people don't know in this country about world war i is what a horrific and bloody and savage war it was very they americanerstand that servicemen demonstrated the same valor and courage and heroism and feats of arms in world war i that they have in every other war that this country has fought. that is part of the commission's

mission to educate. memorial that is there now is also very unemotional. , but, you can't quite see there is a statue of general pershing with a pair of binoculars in his hands. he is not even riding a horse. with all due respect to the designers of this memorial, it is a very static, passive memorial that lacks any real pathos or humanity. you compare to the list of names on though wall of the vietnam memorial or the platoon of soldiers at the korean memorial or the tableaux at the grand memorial, each of those in very different ways really conveys something about the humanity of the warfare and this unfriendly does not. it is a memorial to general pershing, but not much else. so those are some criticisms of

the current site and why we think you need to be not just redesignated as a national world war i memorial, but read and sievert and redeveloped good -- reconceived and redeveloped. we are certainly very alive to the fact that this is and should be a working urban park. be threew, there will groups of people who would come to this memorial. first, the world war i it is used who want to come and pay their respects to the veterans of world war i. second, the guests and workers and other visitors who work or live or come to that part of town and want a nice urban oasis to get away to have lunch or just take a breather. and then the third, we hope that there will be here an iconic s ak of art that serves a

commemorative feature. that is our vision for the memorial. we have the sense to not have a preconceived notion of what a design of this arc would be as a new memorial. and we anticipate and have already begun planning for a design competition. tony mentioned the eisenhower memorial. i am not involved in that process, but i followed it to some extent. suffice it to say we will do it differently than has been done with the eisenhower memorial. so i anticipate that the omission will throw this open to an open design competition, much as was done with the vietnam memorial that yielded that stunning and surprising design that really changed the ground with respect to

that competition will walls -- will most likely involve two rounds of competition, and open competition from which we will select a handful of finalists, and given stipends to further develop their designs. it will be an independent panel of jurors that will make recommendations to the commission on the selection of the finalists and the winning design. again, the commission has the sense to know that we are not design experts and it's not our place to proofing -- to preconceived what the design will look like. it is also our intention to engage the many stakeholders in this tomorrow, and in this site at the very outset of the process, so we can tell entrance into the competition, give them the parameters of what needs to be there and not be there, what field we are looking for the site, what other uses besides memorial uses will be provided by the site, how it will relate to freedom plaza across the street and the surrounding

neighborhood. it's a very complex site given this location, and it will all be required following the outcome of the common addition. we will be following along with national parks and the national planning commission, fine arts, neighbors around the park, veterans groups, many stakeholders. we have a consensus on what our objective is even before we begin the competition. there is currently no budget for the site other than what we have done on the back of an envelope. the world war ii and martin luther king memorials each ran about $100 million. i'm realistic. i don't believe we could raise $100 million for a world war i memorial, but nor do we envision something as elaborate as the world war ii memorial. in my own mind kimye harken back to the d.c. one war -- in my own mind, i harken back to the d.c. war memorial.

it was a place removed from the hustle and bustle around it. it is that kind of contemplative feel, that kind of somber feeling i would like to re-create. this will not be a triumphant memorial, because there was nothing triumphant about world war i. we do not envision a complex memorial. again, this is a budget barely on the back of him -- of an envelope. i do not want to hear two years now that we have exceeded our budget. it is about $10 million to $15 million. if we go much beyond that, we go beyond our purposes, and right-click, -- and frankly, unrealistic as far as our ambitions. it is her marble that the memorial was completed from start to finish in a matter of months.

we have a little over four years. we hope to dedicate this on armistice day 2018. we anticipate conducting the design competition through most of 2015, working on getting the necessary design approvals from the various reviewing agencies during 2016. spending 2017 sending drawings to engineers. and breaking ground at the beginning of 2018. that or years is a tight timeframe for a memorial of this significance, but we think if we do the work right up front, we can make the world -- the process go quickly. and efficiently, and produce a memorial that will stand the test of time and do proper justice to the american veterans of world war i. this ultimately was -- we hear a lot about the greatest generation.

this is what i call the silent generation. they were the parents of the greatest generation. they suffered through two great calamities, world war i, and the great depression. and then they sent their sons and daughters off to fight in world war ii. again, this goes back to why this is not a triumphant memorial, but something more somber and reflective and reverential, that would do justice to a generation of americans that was largely not recognized in this country, certainly not by today's generations for the contributions and sacrifices they made to this country. that is our proposal and our plan. again, i should say a word about the pending legislation if i haven't. we have introduced a bill to authorize the commission to proceed with this proposal.

bills were introduced simultaneously in the house and senate this year on a bipartisan basis. we are very grateful to representative daniel cleaver of kansas city and senators mccaskill and blunt of missouri,

who have been our champions of this effort, along with congressman ted poe from texas, who was involved with a world war i memorial efforts for some years. senator rockefeller has been of great assistance as well, as have others. bills were introduced in both houses on bipartisan basis. the house bill was passed as an amendment to the defense appropriation bill earlier this year. it has already been approved by the house. hearing cap and held the senate -- hearings have been held in the senate a couple of months ago. it is anticipated that the memorial bill will move forward possibly as a stand-alone bill and get passed by this house. all of the major agencies are on board and have come out publicly in support of the proposal. i talked to your neighbor, oliver carr, a few weeks ago and they are very engaged as well. oliver carr owns the hotel. the problem is, i guess, couple of months ago when i was testifying before a house panel on this, the chairman of that subcommittee said to another group who was also testifying that day, he said, you've got a real problem. this bill makes sense and is the right thing to do, and we don't do things that way up here. that is my one concern appear about this. i don't have to tell you all about how things work on capitol hill. even the easy stuff is hard. but it is the right thing to do.

time is of the essence. with the attention that the centennial -- that the start of the war has brought just in the fact -- past few weeks, we think we are optimistic that it will pass and we will be moving forward. [applause] >> we now have time for questions. can you please give your name and identify [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] is this the first warm oriole -- war memorial in washington that has ever been done without one single veteran still alive? why has this taken 100 years? >> to the first part of your question, i cannot speak whether there were memorial -- veterans of the war of 1812 or the spanish-american conflicts after all of the veterans had passed. as to why it has taken so long, again, the idea of memorials of this sort is only 30-year-old idea. i should say that the good citizens of the -- of kansas

city, missouri did erect a memorial soon after world war i not just to the veterans of kansas city, but to the nation's veterans. there has in a memorial for quite some time, but in kansas city. and with all due respect to kansas city, it's not the nation's capital and does not draw the international visitors that the city does. at the idea of a nation's capital only goes back 30 years. the vietnam veterans advocated for and establish their oriole -- there memorial and we have been working back. we did world war ii, now we're getting to world war i. we used to commemorate wars primarily locally, or on the battlefields themselves. that cannot be done with respect to the wars of the 20th century. >> alan flavor, national press club. the national gallery in london has an article if it -- an art

exhibit commemorating the devastation of world war i. what is being done in this country that will help educate and rigid kate the american public -- and reeducate the american public along similar lines and to help build a growing consensus for and support for your memorial? >> many different things. the commemoration of the centennial in this country is unfolding in classic american fashion in two respects. one, as was world war i itself, we are late to the party.

the europeans have been planning for their centennial efforts for much longer and have been dedicating more significant resources than this country has. and that makes sense, because it was much more a european experience than it was an american experience for many obvious reasons. the war was fought there for four years, whereas we fought for five months. their loss of life was significantly greater than ours. it was fought largely over european causes. we were drawn into the war by attacks on u.s. interests. in the second, the grassroots basis. congress in its wisdom formed our commissioning davis no charter and no resources -- formed our commission and gave us no charter and no resources. because that is how they establish memorials and great offense -- great events, by calling on private citizens to use their own dime. part of our mission is to reach out around the country and

encourage support of other organizations that are engaged in world war i centennial activities. much of what we have been doing in our initial months have been building that network. the gratifying thing is that so many organizations are out there doing so many things on their own without encouragement from us. the new york public library has an exhibit that certain on july 28 regarding the war. -- started on july 28 regarding the war. the academy of fine arts will be putting on what will be a definitive exhibition on world war i american art. kronos quartet, which is the somewhat avant-garde classical music group has already performed a symphony of their own composition on world war i. the kansas city company is working on a symphony as well. there are groups around the country.

one of our volunteers for the commission is spearheading the world war i memorial inventory project, which sets out to document every world war i memorial in the country, call attention to them, aid in their restoration, get the local citizens to research the names of those memorials. glenn marcus heer is working on a major conference of documentary on american's involvement in world war i. there are many americans doing a lot of things. we are trying to coordinate with them and take credit for is much of what they are doing as possible, but also spearheading our own efforts. we have already held our first conference on world war i where we had a panel talking about the war here in washington. tonight, we have a we think will be a series of programs on various aspects of world war i. we are working to put on a conference in 20 16 on military aspects of world war i.

we are working on a conference possibly next year focusing on the events that drew the united states into war, including the media aspects of how things like the lusitania sinking affect other events. there are many things going on and we have the luxury -- not to mix metaphors, but going to a crescendo of event in 2017, 2018, which will mark america's participation in the actual events of the war. >> i'm curious if you got any

feedback on this proposal. >> not specifically. i have been in touch with the district of columbia office and they have been supportive. the state historic preservation office also sits on the national capital memorial advisory commission. that commission has signed off and to that extent, the district of columbia has been heard. i believe elegant nordin has spoken in support on this site -- delegate norton has spoken in support of the site, but we have not spoken specifically. but i've never heard of any opposition and i'd be surprised to hear any. >> other questions?

i have one for you. according to the "washington post," we have about 4 million visitors to the world war ii memorial. is it of that scale? >> no, it will be unique. the reason we will be near the national mall is because we want to take advantage of that foot traffic. we think there is significant traffic coming by the site anyway. it won't be those numbers, but we think it will be significant. >> you said you had to grandfathers in the war. talk about what they did. >> one of them never got out of this country. he went through officer training, but never came out of the united states. my other grandfather, my grandfather fountain, grew up on a farm in north carolina, new how-to handle horses, so they made him an artillery man. because all of the artillery in world war i was drawn by horses. he was in the 81st black cap division, in the 315th field artillery regiment. he was scheduled to go to the front lines on november 12. fortunately -- perhaps i never -- i am standing here today because he never got to the

front lines. but he was, i believe, at least an alternate delegate. he's up -- he served his muster out in 1919. no great stories of heroism in my family, and friendly, that's not how i got involved in this. that is more incidental. i came to this effort from an historic preservation background. i was formerly the president of the d.c. preservation league, which is a group here in washington. we had featured the d.c. war memorial a number of times in our programs because it had fallen into rate disrepair. it was at one point a sapling growing out of the top of the memorial and it had become very water damaged, and the paving around it had become very difficult to pass. some years ago in 2008, i formed a world war i memorial

foundation whose regional purpose was simply to advocate for funds for restoration of that memorial. i will take credit, and i think the park service will give me credit for bringing enough public attention to the condition of the d.c. war memorial that when the park service received $500 billion in stimulus funds for capital projects and all of the park units around the country competed for the money within the park service, restoration of the d.c. more memorial -- war memorial rose to the top of that list, as well as the reflecting pool and the jefferson memorial. in working with the d.c. war memorial, given where it's located -- and if you don't know, it's on the national mall right between the world war ii and korea veterans memorials right off of independence avenue and across the street from the mlk memorial. you stand at that memorial and you cannot help but look around and see memorials to the three other great wars in this country, but why is there

nothing for world war i? my sense of symmetry was offended, if nothing else. that led me to advocacy for a national war memorial on the mall. that is how i got appointed to the commission. >> is is the first time you are announcing the design competition? >> we just this week sent out solicitations for a professional advisor for the design competition. most design competitions are not actually run by the commission sponsoring the memorial, but they usually engage some other architecture or service professional advisor. we are in the process of hiring that individual. we expect to throw this open

sometime in the first quarter of 2015. >> you mentioned what word in all of our car -- all of her car -- oliver carr. what other process is going on with the current trump hotel or the post office as well as with easy officials? >> we have been in touch with the dpw. in fact, i think the picture on the right has been taken from the rooftop restaurant of the hotel. we have reached out to the marriott. we haven't heard from them yet.

we will definitely be inviting the trumps to our initial planning meetings, for what should be obvious reasons. and certainly, all of the neighbors. we have even been in touch with the secret service already, because of course the inaugural polar a -- inaugural parade goes right by the site. the plans are ongoing, but this is sort of step one, where we are today. we are certainly talking it up every chance we have will stop -- we have. once we have an advisor on board, our first step will be to sit down with all of the stakeholders, and that will certainly include the d.c. government. >> one of america's most popular military related films is sergeant york, which portrays what happened with the drafting and induction and service of alan york, one of the most popular movies of its type ever. there are other films as well. is there any plan to consider using those in helping to

educate the public about what happened? >> to some extent, that has already happened. turner classic movies did a film festival on world war i throughout the month of july. every friday during july they had world war i movie programming. the commission itself has no plans beyond that. we are beginning to make contacts in hollywood to talk about new feature films. i've always said that what world war i needs is the canon -- the ken burns treatment and the saving private ryan treatment. we have a few projects in the works and have announced some time ago that leonardo dicaprio will be paying woodrow wilson in an ad that tatian of scott berg's biography. i don't know how much that would focus on -- in an adaptation of scott berg's biography. but on how much that will focus on world war i. there is a celebrated unit of african -- african american soldiers that served with great

distinction during the war, as well as in europe. and also during the racism of the american military and political establishment of that time. our understanding is that novel has been optioned by sony pictures and will smith. i look forward to sitting down across the table from will smith and asking him how he would like to be the tom hanks of world war i. some been like that, particularly given who he is, a major production like that would do more than anything the commission could do over the next four years to bring awareness and interest to world war i. that is the nature of our society. our mission is to penetrate the consciousness through every channel possible, whether through fine art or other occupation.

there is interest in presenting primetime features this year on world war i. there are also ways to introduce content to secondary and primary education. there are many channels to get this out. >> has any consideration been given to the fact that the pershing memorial will go down as the eisenhower memorial goes up and general pershing will be rolling over in his grave? >> first, pershing leaving the site, that is a discussion we have not had yet. that will be a question, but i don't even know how i would answer that question. and it is something we will engage the stakeholders with, and we will certainly be engaging general pershing's family on that. it is interesting. i talked earlier about the great man approach to memorials, and eisenhower is very much a great man approach.

and you can quibble with that, whether that is the proper thematic approach. the roosevelt memorial is a lot more about -- it is more than roosevelt. it is more about what was happening in the country and the

administration. the pershing memorial may be part of the ultimate design. i don't know that yet. it all remains to be seen. >> other questions? >> i'm with a local law firm here, but interested in this area. if you would mention a place where no one can keep track of the activities of the commission and the planning for all of this, a website and things like that. >> obviously, the commission does have a website and it is worldwaronecommission.org. worldwaronecentennial.org. there is the website itself and then we have gotten more active names getting the word out. i appreciate the question. >> [inaudible] >> yes, we are raising money for commission activities in general. the history channel has been very generous. as have other organizations. we have not yet begun formal foreign raising -- formal fundraising for the memorial, because we do not want to because -- before congress has given us approval to do so. we are sensitive to the timing of that. the design competition, we may fund from our own resources, but certainly once the memorial is approved, we will undertake the grassroots fundraising as well as the corporation and

foundation donors. >> some civil rights groups have brought up the fact that if we have a memorial to world war i, it cannot help but entail a major role for president wilson, who as we know did desegregate the u.s. government when we had much improvement in race relations from president lincoln up to president wilson. has that come up at all? >> it has not come up. my own personal view without commenting on president wilson himself one way or another that he would not be particularly visible in this memorial. again, to me, the memorial is not about the politicians who

led us into the war or to the generals who led the troops into the war. it's about the troops. i don't think, other than part of -- i don't know what narrative text there might be at the memorial that could talk about wilson and his leaders leading us into war, but i do not anticipate him being a significant presence in the war. -- in the war memorial. >> i have a question. i am a private citizen. my question is about fund raising. are you going to consider using things like crowd sourcing to get access to small donations from people like yourself who have ancestors who served in the war? >> without picking to specific channels, absolutely. obviously, the heavy lifting comes from major donors, but my belief is that were memorials -- war memorials such as this ought to be supported by the public at large.

we will welcome and solicit restaurants donations, as well as from those who have any interest in the war, and clearly those who have ancestors who fought in the war. those will be part of our fundraising efforts. >> thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] you are watching 48 hours of her grinning every weekend on c-span. follow us on twitter at

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