Eisenhower Memorial in D.C. is complete. Coronavirus delays dedication to September

Honoring Dwight D. Eisenhower with a memorial took 21 years to complete.

Now that it’s complete, it will take another five months to open at a dedication ceremony.

May 8 was supposed to have been the dedication of the Eisenhower National Memorial which was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. on Sept. 17.

“For all intents and purposes, the Memorial is complete,” said Kansas U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission. “It’s a wonderful memorial.”

The four-acre memorial to General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower is two blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building. It sits between the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and adjacent to the Department of Education.

On May 7, 75 years ago, at 2:40 a.m. in Rheim, France General Eisenhower and Nazi Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl signed the surrender ending Nazi German’s involvement in World War II.

“There were five paragraphs and it took 10 minutes,” Roberts said. “It was made public on the 8th. They wanted to give enough time to stop the U-boats against Germany and stop the hostilities. There was peace. Gee whiz. On the 8th, people were dancing in the streets; hugging each other, kissing each other, shots fired up in the air, everybody buried in confetti. It was an amazing time after six years of Nazis. That was a pandemic in itself from a whole different perspective.”

He said that was the first time in six years that the lights were back on in the Capitol.

He said 2,000 people came out to great General Eisenhower when he came home.

Dedication

This year’s pandemic also delayed the trip to Washington by people from both Abilene and Denton, Texas.

“We are going to dedicate it regardless of where we are with social distancing,” Roberts said of the September date.

He said the memorial is “extremely important”.

“We can reflect back onto the Greatest Generation and what that was all about and the man who was really responsible,” Roberts said.

“He never wanted to win the war. He wanted to win the peace and there is a big difference,” Roberts said about Eisenhower.”

He said that Eisenhower had to deal with some big egos in Winston Churchill,”Monty” Montgomery, Charles De Gaulle and George Patton.

“But he was able to bring them together to a common purpose. His great ability was to work it out so they thought it was their idea,” he said. “I think he always had that ability as the Supreme Allied Commander and also as our president,” he said.

Eisenhower’s eight years as president were of peace and prosperity, he said.

Roberts said that when Eisenhower asked what was his top achievement as president, he said,”no man or woman in uniform was wounded or gave their life for their country during my whole administration.”

Activities had been scheduled throughout the week of the memorial dedication, including a trip to the Eisenhower home in Gettysburg.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to give the main speech.

“It was going to be a nice memorial. It is now. We just have to delay things,” he said.

The memorial was commissioned back in 1999.

“This thing got bounced around, back and forth,” Roberts said. “I don’t know how many sites.”

It took an organization to agree on the design and several organizations to secure the funding, he said.

Disappointed

Mary Jean Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Eisenhower said she was disappointed.

“I don’t really see how they could have done it any other way under the circumstances,” she said. “The sad thing is one of our very honored guests who could have been there has passed away, and many we wanted to honor with an invitation cannot make the new schedule.”

Julie Roller Weeks, director of the Abilene Visitors and Convention Bureau, said, while the delay of the dedication was disappointing, the Memorial will be available for years to come.

“The more people know about Ike’s life and legacy, the more Abilene will benefit,” she said. “On June 22, 1945 Dwight D. Eisenhower said ‘the proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene.’ The completion of the Eisenhower Memorial gives Abilene even more reason to be proud of Ike.”

Roberts said that quote is in the Memorial.

Roller Weeks said, through the efforts of Senators Jerry Moran and Roberts and Congressman Roger Marshall, several representatives from Abilene received invitations to the dedication. Those invitations are still good for the new dedication.

“We will work with our partners in Denison, Texas to explore opportunities to continue the postponed Eisenhower Legacy Trip to see the new Memorial,” Roller Weeks said.

Roberts said he was at the Republican National Convention when Eisenhower received his first nomination in 1952.

“I was a 15-year-old kid and happened to be in the room when my Dad (C. Wesley Roberts) proposed the fair play amendment that seated Ike delegates in Texas, Alabama and Mississippi.”

He said supporters of Senator Robert Taft of Ohio had seated their own delegates.

“So Dad proposed the fair play amendment. That led to the other states coming on board and Ike was nominated on a first ballot. Dad was the National Republican Chairman after that.”

Sen. Roberts said he met Eisenhower twice.

This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 1:24 PM.