Eisenhowers want memorial redesigned
WASHINGTON - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's family wants a memorial in the nation's capital redesigned, saying the current plans overemphasize his humble Kansas roots and neglect his accomplishments in World War II and the White House.

WASHINGTON - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's family wants a memorial in the nation's capital redesigned, saying the current plans overemphasize his humble Kansas roots and neglect his accomplishments in World War II and the White House.
Architect Frank Gehry has proposed a memorial park framed by large metal tapestries with images of Eisenhower's boyhood home in Abilene, Kan. In the park, a statue of "Ike" as a boy would seem to marvel at what would become of his life, leading the Allied forces and becoming president.
Gehry's idea echoed Eisenhower's speech when he returned to Kansas after the war and spoke of a "barefoot boy" who achieved fame in Europe.
Susan Eisenhower, a granddaughter, said "Ike" was simply the wrong figure to memorialize with an avant-garde approach. He was a traditionalist, she said. Eisenhower's son, John Eisenhower, 89, also called for a simple memorial in stone.
Images of Eisenhower as a general addressing troops before D-Day and as president studying the globe would be represented in stone in "heroic scale," said Daniel Feil, the project's executive architect. Feil said he did not expect to make any major changes to Gehry's design.