Two coming developments, one dismal and one excellent, pertain to America's memory of a great man. One of several oversight panels soon will consider a proposed memorial to Dwight Eisenhower. The proposal is an exhibitionistic triumph of theory over function — more a monument to its creator Frank Gehry, practitioner of architectural flamboyance, than to the most underrated president.
Fortunately comes Jean Edward Smith's biography "Eisenhower in War and Peace," which demonstrates why the man's achievements merit a memorial better than the proposed one.
Filling 1.6 hectares across Independence Avenue from the National Mall in Washington, the memorial will have a colonnade of huge limestone-clad columns from which will hang 26-meter stainless-steel mesh "tapestries" depicting images evocative of Eisenhower's Kansas youth. And almost as an afterthought, there will be a statue of Eisenhower — as a boy.