Captioning performed by vitac captioning performed by vitac. You and i, my fellow sense, 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 faith, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied and that the scourge of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made disappear from the earth, that in the goodness of time, all people will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the finding force of Mutual Respect and love. Evening, and welcome to the dedication ceremony for 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 own u. S. Marine band. The National Anthem will be performed by these celebrated group, voices of service, who will then be followed by kansas own rachel mast, who will honor our flag with her rendition of the pledge of allegiance. Please rise for the presentation of colors and please remain standing for the National Anthem and the pledge of allegiance. O 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 . 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. Thank you to the 177th fighter wing new jersey fighter guard for providing flyover coverage for tonights ceremony. To give tonights in vocation were pleased to have with us barry c. Black. He served in the navy for 27 years and completed his distinguished military career as the chief of navy chaplains. In june 2003, rear admiral barry black was elected to serve as 62nd chaplain of the United States senate and has been in that role every since. To open tonights ceremony in prayer, here is chaplain black. You may be seated. Let us pray. O 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. Thank you mighty god for his ability to plant seeds of confidence, to build bridges that helped 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 love what you command and to desire what you have promised. Grant that guided by your light, we may reach the light that never fades, ilumened by your truth we may reach the truth that is complete. Bless this evening our food, fellowship, reflections and inspiration, we pray in your sovereign name, amen. To recognize though who made this memorial possible and acknowledge tonights attendees, please welcome the vicechairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission and representative of californias fifth congressional district, Mike Thompson. Good evening, im representative Mike Thompson representing Fifth District and vice chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission. Thank you for joining us today to celebrate one of our countrys greatest leaders. Whether youre here in person or watching online, youre taking part in a unique tradition. This will be only the seventh president ial memorial to be built in washington, d. C. Congress passed the bill creating eisenhower memorial while president bill 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 it were not for the 12member 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 who are in attendance, please stand when you hear your name. The chairman, senator pat roberts of kansas. Senator joe manchin of west virginia. Senator gary peters of michigan. Senator dan sullivan of alaska. Congressman Sanford Bishop of georgias second district. Congressman mike simpson of idahos second district. Congressman Mac Thornberry of texas 13th district. Former kansas senator bob dole. Commission member alford judolic. Commission member susan harris. Commission member susan ann stephens. Thank you for your leadership and devotion to this project. I would like to acknowledge a few other people who are with us this evening. Secretary of interior david bernhardt. Secretary of transportation elaine chao. Secretary of education betsy devos. Your respective departments all hold important pieces of president eisenhowers legacy. Thank you for joining us to celebrate this occasion. Thank you to secretary devos and Education Department housed in the building directly behind me, for being such 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 memoranda reality. Were grateful that youre here and for all that you have done over the years for this important project. I would also like to thank the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley for being with us today. Also want to recognize Brigadier General here representing the marine corps. And colonel here representing 101st Airborne Division. Thank you both for being here. Were also grateful to have the ambassador of the republic of china and deputy chief of mission from italy mauricio with us tonight. Thank you for representing your beautiful nations and the support you have shown for this memori memorial. Id also like to recognize tomas, the artist and architect who created the incredible tapestry you see behind me. This oneofakind piece displays the iconic normandy coastline in peace time, which general eisenhowers troops invade 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. I also want to recognize Senior Leadership from Clark Construction who are here with us. Randy sea wauld, david and jared, thank you for your dedication to completing this fantastic memorial. I also want to recognize alex, kia and kayden eisenhower, president eisenhowers great grandson and great, greatgrandchildren, who are here representing the eisenhower family. We also have meryl atwater, son of Mary Jean Eisenhower and great grandson of the president as well. Were 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. Please welcome the host of tvs fullcourt press and voice of americas plugged in greta van susteren. Good evening. If you think this weather is rough, i bet just think of what it was like on the English Channel back in 1944. This weather is nothing like what members of our military did for us and saw them. This is a great night tonight. We honor general eisenhower, his spectacular military career. Im sure senator bob dole would want me to mention some of the generals accomplishments. Without his service, this nation, the world, would be a very different place. The general, of course, didnt stop with the military career, which youll hear much about that tonight. Like others, many from world war ii went on to serve this nation in other capacities. He became president. As president , general eisenhower, president eisenhower, did incredible things. Just a few brief examples. In 1956, the. Eisenhower championed formation of interstate highway system. Look where that take us 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. In 1954, when the u. S. Supreme court struck down racial segregation in schools, and one Arkansas School district defied the law, it was president eisenhower who sent in federal troops to uphold the Supreme Court decision fighting segregation. He led us in war and as president , and he led us through years of no war, of fairness and prosperity, which brings me to another world war ii vet, robert dole. With it comes a personal story. This story doesnt go back to world war ii, thats before i was born, but it goes back to april 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 fact that the following day that memorial would be dedicated. I had the perfect guest that night, senator robert dole. Senator dole famous not only for being a member of congress and Senate Majority leader from kansas but as a quiet hero himself. He enlisted in early years of world war ii and Second Lieutenant before shipping off to italy. While in italy april of 1945, he was seriously wounded by german machine gunfire as he attempted to rescue a radio man during an assault on an enemy position. It has been reported his fellow soldiers on seeing the extent of his injuries thought that all they could do was to give him the largest dose of morphine they dared and write m on his forehead in his own blood, so no one who found him would give him a second fatal dose. His chances of living were slim. He didnt give up. He never has. He beat overwhelming odds while spending many years in a military hospital. For his military service to his nation, to all of us, dole was deck indicaorated three times, star for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radio man. In 2014 i was embarrassed and horrified as i was sitting next to him talking about the memorial of world war ii, i said to him, how did this come about . We were killing time. 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 the benefits of all the sacrifices of general eisenhower and all the world war ii vets including senator dole had not raised the money for that monument, when were the ones who owed a great thanks to him and everyone else who fought there. We know without general eisenhower and all the others who served, this would be a very different world. How noble they were. Fighting for ideals. Upon winning the war, not taking one square feet of land. In the end rebuilding the nations that were host to the war. My conversation with senator dole did not stop with the world war ii memorial, because i wanted to change the topic. So when he told me that the project was under way to build this memorial. Thats something he and senator roberts from kansas wanted to do, i thought, you know, i need to be part of this in some way. And of course thats what brings all of us here tonight to this dedication of this memorial to general eisenhower. I just want to say speaking tonight about general eisenhower is a great honor, and its also a great honor to be here tonight to thank all the world war ii vets, all the current people serving in uniform. Senator pat roberts, they all helped us get here. This memorial general eisenhower, a great inspiration, a great reminder to all of america and all the great things our nation does and all the great leaders who led us here. A special thanks to senator roberts, to senator dole, and for everyone else who participated in this project so we can continue to remind ourselves of what we can do. Here is senator dole. Im sorry i cannot be with you this evening as you honor a Great American, dwight david eisenhow eisenhower. He was a wonderful man. He was honest. He was sincere. He had an integrity. He was decisive. He spent much of his time in world war ii trying to reconcile the interest of the british and the french and the americans. But he did it with expertise. He kept everybody on board 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. He made many, many tough decisions. So im very proud of kansas, not from abilene but not far away, and im really proud to call general eisenhower, president eisenhower, major eisenhower, whatever, my hero. Announcer ladies and gentlemen, please welcome bret baier, chief Political Correspondent for fox news. Good evening, im bret baier. Wasnt it wonderful to hear from senator dole tonight . Its 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 u. S. And around the world. But im also a huge fan of general eisenhower, our 34th president. In fact, so much so, i wrote a book about him three days in janua january Dwight Eisenhowers final mission. The thing i love about ike 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 who answered the call to perform extraordinary duties and deeds. Then when the war was over, he was humble about it. He realized that 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 life eisenhower maintained the manner of the scrappy kid from kansas. You see that here in this memorial. He knew that what made America Great was not its superiority with our Weapons Systems or the dominance of our economy. As he liked to say, what counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog. This is a really special event. Were sorry its raining, but it doesnt take away from this moment. I know i can speak on behalf of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission and say the ceremony would not be the same if not for all of you here tonight and all that youve done, whether youre here in person or watching on cspan or streaming online. Thank you for coming. Thank you for watching and recognizing americas Supreme Commander during world war ii and our 34th president. One quick reminder, obviously, to everyone to keep social distancing, health and safety. We do ask the attendees tonight to practice that and to keep your masks on during the event when youre not eating or drinking. Our next speaker is a world renowned 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 idyllwild, california, which he worked on as an apprentice. His most recent is this, the dwight d. Eisenhower memorial, his first design for a public project. Unfortunately hes unable to join us tonight in person, but he did provide a recorded greeting. So please welcome frank gehry. What pa day today. Im so honored to be part of this ceremony to honor Dwight Eisenhower in washington, d. C. To prepare for this formidable task, i studied everything. I Read Everything i could find on his accomplishments, and they were vast. What a legacy. At first glance the site wasnt or didnt seem great. Surrounded by traffic and Office Buildin buildings. But that was it. With the help of many, starting with words of encouragement and the eisenhower commission, led by the indomitable senator pat roberts we got it done. There were sensitivities for sure expressed by many, including the eisenhower family. We listened to all and the result was better. For my life, this is one of my proudest moments. I only regret i couldnt be there with you. Please welcome the president s own United States marine band and their rendition of song of the marching man and arrangement performed by the band at both the 1953 and 1957 inaugurations for president eisenhower. The president s own marine band sounds good in any weather tonight evecht literally would not be possible without our next speaker. U. S. Senator pat roberts is a native kansan and has been with the Eisenhower Memorial Commission since its inception in 2001. As the senior u. S. Senator of ikes home state, it is only fitting that senator roberts join the eff