You can probably tell that cspn is here. Its really nice when people can hear the questions that you have to ask so please make your way to a microphone if possible. The last thing id like to say, i mentioned this is the second of three events today. We do have about 500 events a year here in the store, probably another 100 or so at other locations including the busboys and poets. A lot to keep track of all those events as well as our classes and trips and other programming. If youre interested this knowing more about what were offering, you can find the information at politicsprose. Com, and we just got our august calendars. Theyre lovely. They are at the information desk. Please, feel free to pick one up so you know whats going on in august. But now to the reason that youre actually here which is the book and the author. Its really a pleasure to host Robert Doubek this afternoon at politics prose. Hell be talking about his new book, creating the vietnam memorial. If you didnt live in washington in the late 1970s or early 1980s, you might not have realized that there was an inside story behind the Vietnam Veterans memorial. Since its completion in 1984, more than 100 Million People have visited the black granite wall, and i suspect that most all of you are among those who have visited it, have marveled at its stark simplicity. I know i have maybe more than a few times and perhaps watched as loved ones passed their fingers over the names or simply stand before the wall to ponder a complicated part of our nations history. The memorial certainly has become a permanent and powerful part of the landscape of the national mall, but its evolution from the vision of a passionate set of advocates to its completion and permanent place, indeed, a complicated story. Rather than take for granted that it simply happened, we now have the full story. Robert was just the person to provide the details. He was part of the conceiving and planning of the monument, was the project director while it was constructed, he had served in vietnam in 1969 with the air force. Now he can add author to his resume. His book is a wonderful addition not only to the history of the city and our nation, but a wonderful chronicle of how ideas, policy, and people intersect in the creation of a National Monument in memory of people who sacrificed so much for our country. Its a pleasure to have you here, its a pleasure to have all of you here. Please join me in welcoming Robert Doubek. [applause] well, thank you very much. Thank you very much, lisa, and i really thank all of my friends, colleagues and come ate rots for compatriots for being here with me. Those of you who i dont know personally, im very happy to see you here as well. Just want to say in the three decades of its existence, the Vietnam Veterans memorial has become an american cultural icon. It symbolizes the difficult period in our history when we were at war this vietnam which was the defining experience of the baby boom generation. The wall, as lisa has explained, as its known has become one of the most haley visited monuments heavily visited monuments in the country. My book tells the story of how it was created and how it came close to not happening at all. As Washington Post reporter kyle murphy wrote in november 1982, the sunday before we dedicated the memorial, quote it is in keeping with the character of the vietnam war that the memorial it begalt has been the center of an emotional debate about artistic renditions of war, patriotism and heroics. Just as a brief recap, in 1979 a group of former Junior Officers and enlisted men came together and founded a Nonprofit Corporation to build a memorial to honor the veterans and the dead of the vietnam war. We perceived its purpose as recognizing the service and sacrifice of those who were there rather than continuing to use them as pawns in a debate for and against the war. A hoped for byproduct would be that the memorial could help reconcile the country after the war since supporters and opponents could agree that the veterans deserved recognition. And that led to the requirement that the memorial itself could not make any political statement about the war itself. And it turned out that we were naive as others perceived a different role for the memorial. To obtain a design, we saw a number of alternatives, one of which was to design it ourselves which is a recipe for disaster. [laughter] a second path was to find the best five architecture firms in the country and hold a Competition Among them. And this, of course, led to the question of how are you going to decide who are the best architecture firms. But we ultimately decided on an idea to hold an open Design Competition to open to any u. S. Citizen over 18 years of age whether their amateur or professional. Not longer after we announced the memorial after we began to hear from are a variety of sundry architects, designers, landscape architects, veterans, all offering to design the memorial for free. And all of us wanted to get to us before those s. O. B. S in the ab tractionist or occupy elitist camps or elitist camps messing up our brains. [laughter] so an open competition appeared to be fair. For all i knew, there could be someone starving in wyoming who was designed to or born to design this. And as we all know, thats almost the way it happened. And we set four basic criteria for the design. First, that it could make no political statement about the war, as we felt that the rancor over the war had more than anything divided deprived the veterans of their recognition. Secondly, the memorial would include an inscription of the 58,000 names of the men who died or remained missing. The intention was to honor all who served, but this would be a special tribute. The third had to do with its location. We had argued very strongly to get the congress to designate this site for us in Constitution Gardens over the objections of the park service. To basically negotiate with the park service, we had to design something that would be harmonious with the site and environment. We couldnt do another lincoln memorial, another Washington Monument, we couldnt sting a helicopter stick a helicopter on a pole, for that matter. The fourth and final criterion was the one that really went to our philosophical base which was that the memorial should be reflective and contemplative this character. We definitely werent thinking of something to make any kind of grand declaration. Now, the most difficult decision was the k06r7 decision of the jury. Composition of the jury. Again, there were advocates for ourselves being the jury and, again, that was a recipe for disaster. Because i knew very little about art and design, and the others knew even less. [laughter] the second idea was to put together a jury that would be representative of all the groups affected with by the war. There would be so many veterans, so many gold star parents, so many antiwar activists and so on. We ultimately decided to have a jury composed of the most experienced and prestigious artists and designers that we could find. And this was very important because with the reputation of the jurors was important to attract the best designers to the competition, and it was also important to minimize second guessing by the federal approval agencies, because theyd already are tied up the memorial to Franklin Roosevelt for 25 years, as we know. Again, as it turned own out, on may 1, 1981, the jury having viewed 1431 1421 industries, unanimously decided on this very stark, simple design submitted by a 21yearold woman p student. Now, wed expected any opposition for the memorial to come from the antiwar and liberal elements of society, and to our surprise and shock, it came mainly from conservatives including powerful and influential individuals like billionaire ross ross perot, jas webb whos now currently a president ial candidate, columnist pat buchanan, the novelist tom wolfe. There were some congressmen, some senators, some members of the staff of the heritage foundation, some members of the staff of the secretary of interior. They, in my opinion, had envisioned the memorial as a vehicle to justify the war and rebuke the Antiwar Movement and celebrate heroism and glory. Thusly, they saw the competitionwinning design as a betrayal. At first glance, their negative perception might have been understandable. After all, in contrast to the gleaming white tower of the Washington Monument, this thing was black and receded into the ground. Secondly, it constituted a space more contemplation rather than a object or a building or any other monument to glory. In my view, the controversy over the design that almost sank the ship constituted a perfect storm as it was intensified by teasing and touching a number of unresolved fault lines in American Society which were still present after the war. Now, these included the question of whether the war itself was right or wrong. There was the question of whether it was ill conceived from the outset or it was lost due to the activities of a domestic fifth column that stabbed that did a back stab. Also the issue was whether the veterans and dead could be horned regardless of honored regardless of whether the war was right or wrong. And finally, you know not finally, but among others, did the memorial have to be realistic andtydidactic, stating ab e wisconsin call an equivocal message and basically allowing a visitor to form his or her own interpretation. And another store point touched by the controversy involved race. Was it appropriate for a person of asian descent to design a memorial to men and women who fought against asians . As the debate dragged on, these fault lines revealed themselves in statements and rumors. We heard that the memorial had been, quote, designed by a go to to gook, that one of the jurors was a communist, that the majority of the jurors had been antiwar activists and also that the memorials abstention of any statement about the war itself amounted to an antiwar statement. The controversy reached such a point that secretary of interior watt was prepared to primarily shoot it down. He was dissuaded by the prospect of a compromise, and how we achieved that, of course, is laid out in my book. [laughter] among other things the book deals with are the challenge of conducting a, the largest Design Competition ever held in the United States and the meticulous task of verifying the accuracy and completeness of 58,000 names that were to be inscribed in stone. And, of course, many people in the book have remained in the National Spotlight over the ensuing three decades including buchanan, chuck hagel, Judith Martin whos miss manners perot, Elizabeth Taylor, john warner and webb. Id like to read a few passages. Okay. This starts off in april of 1979, and and i attended the meeting called for the purpose of generating publicity for Vietnam Veterans needs. Suddenly the lone wolf who hadnt otherwise said a word stood up and threw out his idea. What about a memorial . In view of the discussion, he came totally out of left field. What do you mean, someone said. I mean, having a National Memorial for Vietnam Veterans. Vietnam veterans dont need a memorial, they need better benefits, shot back feldman. A few others make similar remarks and others smirked while the man stood silently. I felt sorry for him. The idea didnt deserve contempt. After the man sat down, i kept looking at him and thinking about his idea. While some Vietnam Veterans truly needed more benefits, most didnt. What all did need, however, was some recognition and acknowledgment of their service in the war. I hadnt faced combat and hadnt been injured, but many had. I met some of the best people in my life in vietnam and in the military in general. Many believed in president kennedys exhortations to bear any burden in the defense of freedom. I resented hearing all of this idealism, hear rowism, sacrifice dismissed with lightlyveiled contempt by the yuppie professional class of washington. It especially galled me since my denizens had demonstrated no morality, courage or idealism. [laughter] theres some good lawyers too. [laughter] all right. The next quote or next passage deals with in december is the 79 1979 senator john warner, really not far away from here, held a breakfast at his house in georgetown to raise the initial money we needed to launch the fundraising campaign. As i rang the doorbell, i laughed to myself about what was on my mind. Soon we would learn the answer to the question in chief; would we get to meet Elizabeth Taylor . [laughter] pressure i was fairly certain that we wouldnt as assumed she stayed at wearns state in virginia. Hollywood stars stopped traffic and turned heads. Okay. Later on this kips a few minutes here skips a few minutes here. The room soon filled up with men in suits with Monica Healey the only woman. It was an equal standoff between two generations of veterannings. Thirteen of us had served in or during vietnam, the 13 corporate reps by and large were old enough to be our fathers. Many were retired military officers who had served in world war ii, korea and vietnam. I started the breakfast line in order to get mine out of the way. By 8 20 the conversation had quieted as men focused on eating while balancing plates and coffee cups on their knees. I sat on thety van under the garden windows. Suddenly, to my left the kitchen door flew open, and warner stepped through decisively. Gentlemen, the chef, he announced. And behind him through the door followed taylor. She wore a pink robe buttoned in front. The robe was tide around her neck by a white cord. On her feet she wore pink slippers which had fluffy white balls matching those on her collars. Officers, attention rang the order in my mind, the same one i had always heard when brass entered the room. Clearly, i wasnt the only one who herald it. The entire room now stood at attention. We formed fairly straight rank, and looking to my left i could see each man holding out his plate at belt level as if presenting arms with scrambled eggs. Taylor, meanwhile, was greeting each individual personally. I now became nervous, i pictured her as a general reviewing troops, and soon it would be my turn. Suddenly, i was gazing into her purpletinged blue eyes surrounded by a reith of raven hair. She had gained some weight, but her face could still launch a thousand ships. I introduced myself and felt her firm handshake. She smiled, and for an instant i appeared i had passed the test. Then sudden isenly she said, whats that . And pointed to my lapel. It was clamped on with a metal flap that folded over. These were cheap. The red cross had given out this type of button when i was a kid. I didnt like them, but for the time being they were all we had. Oh, yes, mrs. Warner, these are our vietnam lapel pins. May i have one . Oh, yes, of course. Finally, i held it between thumb and forefinger and faced a dilemma. The only place it could possibly attach to her clothing was the cord around her they can. The white fluffy ball flared out, resting dangerously close to her breasts. It went through my mind that these were two of the most renowned in the world. To clamp the disc around a cold would require a lot of dexterity. Did i dare to put my hands mere inches from magnificent orbs . She reached, took it, pinned it herself pinned it on the cord. As she moved on, i thought to myself, no guts, no glory. [laughter] all right. This last passage occurred in may. Actually, that was a total of about 18 months later. We had run through gone through the Design Competition and announced the winning design with a press conference at the aia on may 2nd or may 6th, 1981. So this talks about the reaction to the design. This is before, of course, social media and email. The mail in subsequent weeks brought letters from competitors ask veterans, mostly critical of the result. An an ark from california d architect exponded that the design fit it is the meadow setting like a knife wound scar. The American Public has been led by a coterie of nihilist [inaudible] a vietnam veteran called it, quote, a hole in the everett which suggests to me big in and hiding. The publics perception, the pit. A competitor and combat veteran from louisiana, quote, an absolute refusal to acknowledge and is honor the surviving veterans. The proposed memorial reflects the true situation of the vietnam veteran, bury the dead and ignore the needs of the living. His own design was a statue of a soldier sitting slumped over with his rifle across his knees. An architect from washington, d. C. Saw the selection as a disservice to the public, veterans and other competitors as well. With the vets war, this is their monument, and the selection should have been their choice. Give americans something to be proud of. Even his motherinlaw chimed in. Your choice was a joke, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. An army major said it was, quote, neither inspirational like the Washington Monument nor thought provoking like the iwo jima memorial. He suggested using it as a backdrop and sending the sketch of a huge piece of broken bamboo sticking up with barbed wire twining around it. Another veteran, quote it is much easier to spit in a hole than it is to spit on a statue. One could almost imagine the Selection Committee looking for a design that best made a mockery of the memory of the 58,000 dead. There are other quotes, but youll have to read those for yourself. [laughter] i just, before i conclude, you know, in writing the book and thoughing the reaction, the public reaction to the memorial and the mythology around it, i sometimes think that our opponents may be correct in that the memorial as designed really primarily honors the dead rather than all of the veterans. And this is, i think, especially because design obviously is very strongly overpowered by the inscription of the names which are one of the most powerful elements. But at the same time, i would posit that its really what the country needed. I feel