Spring Break
Proposed memorial causes controversy
Matt Campbell and David Goldstein
Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Nation & World News
It's a long, arduous task to get a new monument approved for the mall. Besides Congress, city and federal hurdles concerning design and other issues must be overcome.
Some mall enthusiasts have complained in recent years that the green stretching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial is overcrowded and can't handle more projects. They point out that Congress has declared the mall a "substantially completed work of civic art."
The Liberty Memorial, its 217-foot tower overlooking downtown, has been a part of the Kansas City landscape since the 1920s.
Construction began in 1921, three years after the Armistice. In attendance were some of the war's leading military figures, such as Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France and Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force and a Missouri native.
Anita Gorman, a memorial trustee, first pitched the idea of Kansas City as the main World War I centennial site to President Bush. He was in town earlier this year for a political fundraiser for Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri.
Gorman and other supporters said that the centennial festivities could help increase understanding of the war's historical impact and aid the city's case for becoming the official World War I memorial site.
"I feel so strongly that this community can do this right," Gorman said. "It seems to me the people around here reflect the values of this country about as well as any place you could find."
Some mall enthusiasts have complained in recent years that the green stretching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial is overcrowded and can't handle more projects. They point out that Congress has declared the mall a "substantially completed work of civic art."
The Liberty Memorial, its 217-foot tower overlooking downtown, has been a part of the Kansas City landscape since the 1920s.
Construction began in 1921, three years after the Armistice. In attendance were some of the war's leading military figures, such as Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France and Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force and a Missouri native.
Anita Gorman, a memorial trustee, first pitched the idea of Kansas City as the main World War I centennial site to President Bush. He was in town earlier this year for a political fundraiser for Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri.
Gorman and other supporters said that the centennial festivities could help increase understanding of the war's historical impact and aid the city's case for becoming the official World War I memorial site.
"I feel so strongly that this community can do this right," Gorman said. "It seems to me the people around here reflect the values of this country about as well as any place you could find."
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