World War II Memorial

On September 30, 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed a 12-member Memorial Advisory Board (MAB) to advise the ABMC in picking the site, designing the memorial, and raising money to build it.[10] A direct mail fundraising effort brought in millions of dollars from individual Americans. Additional large donations were made by veterans' groups, including the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. The majority of the corporate fundraising effort was led by co-chairmen Senator Bob Dole, a decorated World War II veteran and 1996 Republican nominee for president, and Frederick W. Smith, the president and chief executive officer of FedEx Corporation and a former U.S. Marine Corps officer. The U.S. federal government provided about $16 million; a total of $197 million was raised. Following his death in December 2021, Dole himself would have a memorial service held at the World War II Memorial.[11][12]

On January 20, 1995, Colonel Kevin C. Kelley, project manager for the ABMC, organized the first meeting of the ABMC and the MAB, at which the project was discussed and initial plans made. The meeting was chaired by Commissioner F. Haydn Williams, chairman of ABMC's World War II Memorial Site and Design Committee, who would go on to guide the project through the site selection and approval process and the selection and approval of the Memorial's design. Representatives from the United States Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Capital Memorial Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service attended the meeting. The selection of an appropriate site was taken on as the first action.

Over the next months, several sites were considered.Soon, 3 quickly gained favor:[13][14]

• U.S. Capitol Reflection Pool area – between 3rd Street and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
• Constitution Gardens – east end, between Constitution Avenue and the Rainbow Pool
• Freedom Plaza – on Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets

Other sites considered but quickly rejected were:

• Tidal Basin – northeast side, east of the Tidal Basin parking lot and west of the 14th Street Bridge access road
• West Potomac Park – between Ohio Drive and the north shore of the Potomac River, northwest of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
• Grounds of the Washington Monument – at Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets, west of the National Museum of American History
• Henderson Hall, adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery – dropped from consideration because of its unavailability

The selection of the Rainbow Pool site was announced on October 5, 1995. The design would incorporate the Rainbow Pool fountain, located across 17th Street from the Washington Monument and near the Constitution Gardens site.[15]

The location, between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, is the most prominent spot for a monument on the National Mall since the Lincoln Memorial opened in 1922. It is the first addition in more than 70 years to the grand corridor of open space that stretches from the Capitol 2.1 miles (3.4 km) west to the Potomac River.[16]

A nationwide design competition drew 400 submissions from architects from around the country. Friedrich St. Florian's initial design was selected in 1997. St. Florian's design evokes a classical monument. Under each of the two memorial arches, the Pacific and Atlantic baldachinos, four eagles carry an oak laurel wreath. Each of the 56 pillars bear wreaths of oak symbolizing military and industrial strength, and of wheat, symbolizing agricultural production.

Over the next four years, St. Florian's design was altered during the review and approval process required of proposed memorials in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Haydn Williams guided the design development for ABMC.

Critics such as the National Coalition to Save Our Mall opposed the location of the memorial. A major criticism of the location was that it would interrupt what had been an unbroken view between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial was also criticized for taking up open space that had been historically used for major demonstrations and protests.[24][25][26]

Washington Monument View

Critics were particularly bothered by the expedited approval process, which is considerably lengthy most of the time.[27] The United States Congress, worried that World War II veterans were dying before an appropriate memorial could be built, passed legislation exempting the World War II Memorial from further site and design review. Congress also dismissed pending legal challenges to the memorial.[28]

There were also aesthetic objections to the design. A critic from the Boston Herald described the monument as "vainglorious, demanding of attention and full of trite imagery."[29] The Philadelphia Inquirer argued that "this pompous style was also favored by Hitler and Mussolini"[30] The Washington Post described it as "overbearing", "bombastic", and a "hodgepodge of cliche and Soviet-style pomposity" with "the emotional impact of a slab of granite".[31]

Some supporters said that the design evoked federal architecture during the New Deal period, influenced by an austere interpretation of Art Deco/Beaux Arts styles. This view, and the monument, were dismissed by one prominent architecture critic as "knee-jerk historicism".[32]

The design unveiled by President Bill Clinton included 50 columns honoring the 48 states of the Union during World War II and two of the eight non-state jurisdictions at the time of the war: the territories of Alaska and Hawaii that subsequently were admitted into the Union. On June 2, 1997, the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly approved a Concurrent Resolution[33] requesting the addition of a column honoring the territory of Puerto Rico's participation in the war effort. Its author, Sen. Kenneth McClintock, began a lobbying campaign. Eventually, the number of columns was raised to 56, honoring the 48 states, the District of Columbia, and the seven U.S. territories at the time: Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Philippines,[34] and the United States Virgin Islands.[35]

On May 23, 2013, Senator Rob Portman introduced the World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2013 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 113–123 (text) (PDF)), which would direct the Secretary of the Interior to install at the World War II memorial a suitable plaque or an inscription with the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the United States on June 6, 1944, the morning of D-Day.[36] The bill was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Jewish Committee, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Hindu American Foundation, and the Interfaith Alliance.[37] Together the organizations argued that the bill "endorses the false notion that all veterans will be honored by a war memorial that includes a prayer proponents characterize as reflecting our country's 'Christian heritage and values.'"[37] The organizations argued that "the memorial, as it currently stands, appropriately honors those who served and encompasses the entirety of the war" and was carefully created, so no additional elements, such as FDR's prayer, need to be added.[37] But, they said, "the effect of this bill, however, is to co-opt religion for political purposes, which harms the beliefs of everyone."[37] The bill was signed into law on June 30, 2014,[38] and the Commission of Fine Arts preferred a design at the Circle of Remembrance to the northwest of the memorial.[39] With funding secured, it was initially intended to be dedicated on June 6, 2022,[40] but was instead opened a year later on June 6, 2023 on the 79th anniversary of the Normandy landings.[41]

• 
  The memorial, looking east in winter
• 
  Five state pillars and flag
• 
  North Carolina pillar
• 
  Pennsylvania pillar

• 
  Central Fountain with the Atlantic Arch in background
• 
  World War II Memorial Fountain in Washington D.C.
• 
  World War II Memorial, Fountain in the evening.

Panoramic view