Panel Allows WWII Memorial Plan to March On

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted Thursday to approve the design plans for a World War II memorial on the National Mall after hearing nearly six hours of arguments about the wisdom of adding a sprawling new historical plaza between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

The action by the federal agency--one of four involved in overseeing the memorial--moves the long-planned monument a step closer to construction that could begin as early as this fall. In September, the National Capital Planning Commission will vote on the project. Finally, the secretary of the Interior must decide whether to give his approval.

The project has pitted veterans who want a prime, central site on the mall for a World War II memorial against those fearful of detracting from the aura of the presidential monuments.

Opponents expected Thursday’s setback and began preparing their next move.

“The deck was stacked against us,” said John Graves, head of Veterans to Save the Mall, one of the organizations fighting the plan. The six-member panel voted unanimously to approve the site.

Graves noted that the witnesses who spoke in favor of the site included a number of members of Congress, including Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Rep. Robert Weygand (D-R.I.). Former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas heads a $100-million national fund-raising campaign for the memorial.

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Opponents say they will call on the U.S. National Park Service, which originally favored a less prominent spot before acquiescing to the controversial site, to begin a new search for another location. The opponents say they will file suit to block construction if their requests are not heeded.

“The U.S. Park Service has repeatedly and egregiously violated federal regulations and their own procedures in the site selection process,” said Beth Solomon, spokeswoman for the Veterans to Save the Mall coalition. “If they don’t correct the problems, they’re facing a legal challenge.”

Dole discounted the opponents’ chances of success. “Where were they six years ago when the site was chosen?” Dole asked. The site, now occupied by the Rainbow Pool at the end of the Reflecting Pool, which stretches east from the Lincoln Memorial, was first approved and dedicated in 1995.

The commissioners voted after Friedrich St. Florian, the architect, explained that he had modified his first design plan to address concerns that the memorial would obstruct the view between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

The central feature of the memorial, he said, will be water--a smaller version of the current pool--and that most of the 7.4 acres used will be left in a natural state.

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St. Florian’s neoclassical design includes large triumphal arches at the north and south entrances to the memorial. He said the arches, which commemorate the Allied victories in the Atlantic and Asia-Pacific theaters, are surrounded by 56 smaller pillars that signify the unity of the U.S. states, territories and the District of Columbia during the war.

Haydn Williams, chairman of the design committee of the federal American Battle Monuments Commission, charged with overseeing the memorial’s construction, said he was considering using statements from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and contemporary historian John Keegan for the inscriptions.

Williams said the committee hopes the memorial can be completed by Memorial Day 2003. He said he hopes to avoid further delays, noting that 1,000 World War II veterans die every day. The average age of the veterans is 80.

Opponents have charged that the memorial’s site intrudes on property that is officially part of the Lincoln Memorial’s grounds. They say the imposing new plaza could spoil one of the most stirring vistas in the nation’s capital: the Washington Monument’s towering obelisk and the temple-like Lincoln Memorial, separated by the mirror-like Reflecting Pool.

They would prefer a site on one of the flanks of the National Mall. The Vietnam and Korean War memorials occupy such prominent--but less central--locations.