A portion of the event was held by video conference. [bugle] [inaudible] love of god, fairness in human relations, responsibility, concern for the welfare of others, and conviction that each individual could through his own efforts achieve a full life. It is the firm duty of each of our free citizens to place the cause of his country before himself. We must be ready to give out to our country for history does not long entrust the care of history to the weak or timid. We must be willing to accept as a nation to accept whatever sacrifices must be required of us. A people who values privileges above principle soon will dissolved. These men came here to storm these beaches not to gain anything for themselves but just to preserve freedom, systems of selfgovernment in the world. Many thousands died for ideal such as these. But these people gave us a chance and they bought time for us so that we can do better than we have before. We must find some way to gain an eternal peace for this world. You and i, my fellow citizens, need to be strong in our faith that all nations under god will reach the goal of peace with justice. We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied. And that the scourge of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth. And that in the goodness of time, all people will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of Mutual Respect and love. Good evening and welcome to the dedication ceremony for the dwight d. Eisenhower memorial. For everyones health and safety, please exercise safe social distancing, and ensure that your masks remain on when you are not eating or drinking. To begin our program, we are honored to be joined by the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division as they were with general eisenhower, the night before dday, to present tonights colors. They will be accompanied by the president s owned marine band. The National Anthem will be performed by the celebrated group voices of service, who will then be followed by kansass own rachel math, with the pledge of allegiance. Please rise for the National Colors and please remain standing for the National Anthem and the pledge of allegiance. Please rise. [military band plays] oh, say can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed, at the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that starspangled banner yet wave, oer the land of the free, and the home of the brave . [applause] [planes fly overhead] [applause] i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [military band plays] thank you to the 177th fighter wing from the new Jersey National guard for providing flyover coverage for this evening ceremony. To give tonights invocation we are pleased to have with us u. S. Senate chaplain barry c. Black. Chaplain black served in the u. S. Navy for over 27 years and completed his distinguished military career as the chief of navy chaplains. In june, 2003 the rear admiral was elected to serve as the 62nd chaplain of the United States senate and has been in that role ever since. To open tonights ceremony in prayer, here is chaplain black. You may be seated. Let us pray. Oh, lord, the light of lights, how majestic is your name in all the earth . We marvel that you care about humanity and have crowned us with glory and honor. Today, accept our gratitude for the life and legacy of president Dwight David Eisenhower who more than self, his country loved, and mercy more than life. We praise you that his love for freedom summoned our nation to embrace our best hopes. We praise you that his love for freedom summoned our nation to embrace our best hopes. Thank you, mighty god, for his ability to plant seeds of confidence. To build bridges that help to bring unity to a divided nation and world. May this memorial dedication remind us of americas opportunity to continue to strive to create a more perfect union, where justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty, stream. Lord, give us the grace to what dust to love lord, give us the grace to love what you command and to desire what you have promised. Granted that guided by your light we may reach the light that never fades and for your truth we may reach the truth that is complete. Bless this evening our food and fellowship and reflections and inspiration we pray in your sovereign name. Amen. To recognize those who made this memorial possible and to acknowledge please welcome the vice chairman of the commission and the representative of the california fifth Congressional DistrictMike Thompson. Good evening. I am congressman Mike Thompson from californias fifth Congressional District and vice chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission. Thank you for joining us today to celebrate one of our countrys greatest leaders. Whether you are here in person or watching online, you are taking part in a unique tradition. This will only be the seventh president ial memorial to be built in washington, dc. Congress passed the bill to create the eisenhower memorial while president clinton was in office. Today, two decades later, we are gathered to dedicate this memorial and recognize a lifetime of public service. This ceremony, this memorial, would not be possible if not for the 12 member commission. Let me recognize my colleagues on the commission who gave their time and energy to establish the Dwight D Eisenhower memorial. For those of you in attendance, please stand when you hear your name. The chairman, senator pat roberts of kansas. [applause] senator joe mansion from west virginia. [applause] senator gary peters, of michigan. [applause] senator sullivan, of alaska. [applause] congressman bishop from georgia. [applause] congressman simpson of idaho. [applause] [applause] former kansas senator bob dole. [applause] Commission MemberCatherine Ann stevens thank you for your leadership and your devotion to this magnificent project. I would like to acknowledge other people with us this evening. The secretary of interior david bernhardt. [applause] the secretary of transportation elaine chao. [applause] in the secretary of education betsy de vos. [applause] thank you for the Education Department housed in the building behind me for being gracious neighbors throughout the construction process. Thank you Speaker Nancy Pelosi for taking part in tonights dedication and for your personal attention helping to make this memorial a reality. We are grateful that you are here and for all that you have done over the years for this important project. [applause] i would also like to thank the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark milley for being with us today. Thank you general. [applause] i also want to recognize Brigadier General robert for representing the marine corps. And the colonel representing the 101st Airborne Division. [applause] thank you both for being here. We are also grateful to have the ambassador of the republic of china, and the deputy chief of mission from italy with us tonight. Thank you for representing your beautiful nations and the support youve shown for this memorial. I would also like to recognize tomas osimsky, the artist and architect who created the incredible tapestry you see behind me. [applause] this oneofakind piece displays the iconic normandy coastline in peactime, which general eisenhowers troops invaded on dday. Standing at 80 feet high and 450 feet long, there is not another tapestry like this anywhere in the world. Tomas, on behalf of the commission, thank you for your incredible work. [applause] i also want to recognize the Senior Leadership from Clark Construction who are here with us. Randy, david and jared, thank you for your dedication to completing this fantastic memorial. [applause] i also want to recognize alex, kia and kaden eisenhower, president eisenhowers great grandson and great great grandchildren here representing the eisenhower family. We also have merle atwater, the son of Mary Jean Eisenhower and a great grandson of the president as well. We are honored to have you on this special day. Serving on this commission to memorialize a truly Great American hero has been a tremendous honor. Thank you very much. To make a special recognition please welcome the host of full court press and the voice of plugged in, greta van sustern. [applause] good evening. If you think this weather is rough, think of what it was like on the English Channel back in 1944. This weather is nothing like what the members of the military did for us. It is a great night tonight and we honor general eisenhower. And his spectacular military career. I am sure senator bob dole would want me to mention some of the generals accomplishments because without this service, this nation and the world would be a very different place. The general did not stop with the military career which will you will hear about tonight. Like many others from world war ii went on to serve the nation in other capacities. He became president. As president , general eisenhower, president eisenhower did incredible things. In a few brief examples, in 1956, president eisenhower championed the formation of the interstate highway system. Look where that took us all. All across the great nation. In 1958, president eisenhower established nasa the civilian, space Agency Responsible for the Space Program and look where it took us, to the moon. When the Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in schools in 1954, but one Arkansas School district defy the law, it was president eisenhower who sent troops to uphold the Supreme Court decision fighting segregation. He led us in war. As president he let us in no war through fairness and prosperity. This leads me to another world war ii vet, robert dall. The story does not back to world war ii before i was born. But it goes back to april of 2004 the night before the opening of the world war ii memorial just down the street. I was doing a live show that night, next to the memorial, celebrating. The following day the memorial would be dedicated. I had the perfect guest that night, senator robert dole. Senator dole famous for being a senator and as a quiet hero himself, he enlisted in world war ii and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant before shipping off to italy. In april 1945 and was wounded by the machine gun fire as he attempted to rescue a radioman during an assault on an enemy position. His fellow soldiers upon seeing the extent of his injury thought all they could do was give him the largest dose of morphine they dared and write mon his forehead so nobody else would give him a second fatal dose. His chances of living were slim but he did not give up, he never has. He faced overwhelming odds while spending many years in a military hospital. For his military service to his nation, to all of us, robert dole was decorated three times, two purple hearts for his injuries and a bronze star for attempting to rescue the radioman. When i said to him i said how did this come about . He said, world war ii veterans lobbied congress for the land and world war ii veterans raised the money. I was horrified. My generation, which reaped all of the benefits of all of the sacrifices of general eisenhower and all the world war ii vets including senator dole had not raised the money for the monument when we were the ones who of the great thanks to him and everyone else who fought there. We know that without general eisenhower and all the others who served, this would be a very different world. How noble they were fighting for ideals and upon winning the war not taking one square foot of, land and in the end, rebuilding the nations that were host to the war. My conversation with senator dole didnt stop at the world war ii memorial. When he told me that the project was under way to build this memorial, something he and senator roberts something they wanted to do and i thought i need to be part of this in some way and of course thats what brings us here tonight. To this dedication of this memorial to general eisenhower. Speaking tonight about general eisenhower is a great honor and it is a great honor to be here tonight to thank all of the world war ii vets and all of the current people serving in uniform, senator pat roberts, and they all helped us get here. This memorial to general eisenhower is a great inspiration, great reminder to all america and to all the great things our nation does. And all the great leaders who led us here. A special thanks to senator roberts, senator dole and everyone else who participated in the project so we can continue to remind ourselves of what we can do. Here is senator dole. I am sorry that i could not be with you this evening. As you honor a Great American, Dwight David Eisenhower. He was a wonderful man. He was honest, he was sincere he had an integrity. He was decisive. And he spent much of his time in world war ii trying to reconcile the interests of the british and the french and the americans, but he did it with expertise. He kept everybody on board and because of his brilliant approach, we won world war ii and then eisenhower moved on and became a Great American president. Eight years of peace and prosperity. And he made many, many tough decisions. So i am very proud to be from kansas, not from abilene but not far away, and im really proud to call general eisenhower, president eisenhower, major eisenhower, whatever, my hero. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome brett baer, chief Political Correspondent for fox news. [applause] good evening. Wasnt it wonderful to hear from senator dole tonight . It is a true honor to be here. Obviously, senator dole, a true american hero, Public Servant. My day job is to cover the news across the chest and around the around the u. S. And across the world. But i am also a huge fan of general eisenhower, 34th president , in fact so much so i wrote a book about him three days in january, Dwight Eisenhowers final mission. The thing i loved about ike is what has made him so beloved to this day to generations like mine and younger who werent around during his era. How he was perfectly reflecting the american ideal. He was an ordinary man that answered the call to perform an extraordinary duties and deeds, and when the war was over, he was humble about it. He realized his fame was earned as he put it in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends. Called to serve once more as president , he was fully aware of his shortcomings. He was a soldier, not a political animal, not a politician. But he was always trusted and he always trusted the American People to be smarter even than their leaders. And his own personal code was to associate with and learn from people who knew more than he did. Throughout his lifetime he maintained the manner of the scrappy kid from kansas and you see that here in this memorial. He knew that what made America Great was not its superiority with our weapon systems or the dominance of our economy. As he liked to say, what counts isnt necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. This is a special event. We are sorry that it is raining but it doesnt take away from this moment. I know i could speak on behalf of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission and say that this ceremony wouldnt be the same if it were not for all of you here tonight and all that youve done. Whether youre here in person or washing on cspan or, streaming online. Thank you for coming, thank you for watching and recognizing americas Supreme Commander during world war ii and her 34th president. One quick reminder for everyone, to keep social distancing, health and safety. They do ask of the attendees tonight to practice that and keep your masks on during the event when you are not eating or drinking. Our next speaker is a worldrenowned architect whose works include the Guggenheim Museum in spain, the walt disney concert hall in los angeles, the art gallery of ontario in toronto, and many other prestigious buildings around the world. In 1957, he completed his first professional design, his own house in idylwild, california which he worked on actually as an apprentice and his most recent is this, the Dwight Eisenhower memorial. His first design for a public project. Unfortunately, he is unable to join us tonight in person, but he did provide a recorded greeting. So please welcome frank gehry. What a day today. I am so greatly honored to be part of this effort to memorialize dwight d. Eisenhower in washington, d. C. To prepare for this formidable task, i studied everything. I Read Everything that i could find on his accomplishments, and they were vast. What a legacy. At first glance, the site did not seem great, surrounded by traffic and office buildings, but that was it. And with the help of many, starting with words of encouragement from Daniel Inouye