Speaker. Edwin fountain is a partner in the Washington Office of the International Law firm jones day. He is the grandson of two world war i veterans. He cofounded the world war i Memorial Foundation. This led to the advocacy of a National World war i memorial on the mall. Of 2013, he was appointed by harry reid to the u. S. World war i centennial commission. He was elected vice chairman of the commission in july of 2014. Mr. Fountain is a graduate of the university of north carolina, the London School of economics, and the university of virginia law school. Mr. Fountain. [applause] thank you, tony. Good morning. My name is edwin fountain. I am vicechairman of the u. S. World war i centennial commission. The commission was formed by congress in january 2013 and given the mission of ensuring a suitable observation in this country of the centennial of the great war and more importantly of commemorating the service of american servicemen and women and educating the American Public about the causes and consequences of that war. It has 12 members appointed by the president , majority and minority leaders of both houses of congress, the american legion, veterans of foreign wars, the National World war i museum in kansas city. Im here to talk about the commissions proposal to establish a new National World war i memorial on pennsylvania avenue in the Nations Capital. I would like to start with brief context about the history of this countrys memorialization of its wars. Those of us who work and live in washington are familiar with the great man approach to memorials. Equestrian full of and other statues to civil war and revolutionary war generals, other political leaders. Park where we propose to establish a new memorial is sort of the last great man War Memorials in the city erected in the late 1970s to John J Pershing who commanded the American Expedition a forces in world war i. After the civil war and after world war i, local communities around the country established memorials to their local residents who fought and died in the wars. Those of us who grew up in the eastern half of the country are familiar with civil War Memorials. Theyre silent sam on the campus of my university, a statue of the confederate soldier on washington street in Old Town Alexandria here, the d. C. War memorial is a fine example of a local memorial to world war i. 1970s thatntil the we began thinking in terms of national War Memorials, not to the generals, but to the common soldiers in our Nations Capital. The Vietnam Memorial was a game changer memorials in this country. By being a National Memorial on the mall to the everyday soldier who fought and died in that war. We have been backfilling ever since. After the Vietnam Memorial came the korean Veterans Memorial and world war ii. We are now here talking about war one world war i. One difference is there is no living constituency. The last American Veteran of world war i passed away three years ago at the age of 100 and. There is not a representation of veterans in congress. There is not representation of veterans on major corporations and foundations. It is a different challenge for us but when we think we can meet. I got involved in this effort some years ago when i decided to advocate for restoration of the war memorial on the mall which had fallen into disrepair. That effort led me to talk about rededicating that memorial as a national and local world war i memorial on the mall. The question will come up, why pershing park, why dont you want to be on the mall . That is an excellent question. The commission thinks working from a blank slate, we would be on the mall. To congress enacted the commemorative works at to govern establishment and location of memorials and the Nations Capital. Nationale provides the mall is a completed work of civic art and there shall be no new memorials, monuments, museums, Visitor Centers on the mall except for those rent fathered in such as the world war ii memorial, the Martin Luther king jr. Memorial, and the proposed museum and Visitor Center at the vietnam Veterans Memorial. Formed and fought for to get a National World war i memorial on the mall, but the werenment leadership strongly opposed to that proposal. The National Park service and others that are stewards of the mall were opposed to that proposal. When it came time for the commission to think about the establishment of the memorial, we decided not to fight a losing battle by trying to be on the mall. We chose to propose redevelopment pershing park. For those of you not familiar with the pershing park, it is located one block away from the National Press club. You can see the picture on the upper left of this board. That is an overhead shot. Pershing park is bounded on the southern edge by pennsylvania avenue across the street from the department of commerce. It is between 14th and 15th streets. The Northern Edge is pennsylvania avenue next to the Willard Hotel and the oxidant to restaurant. It is a prime location. What isrs one end of the most significant concourse in the Nations Capital, pennsylvania avenue. From pershing park, you have a direct line of sight to the capitol dome. It is one block away from the white house and from the treasury department. A symbolically important location which is why it was chosen in the first place, as a memorial to John Pershing and the American Expeditionary force. He could receive a lot of foot people visiting the white house and other sites in this part of town. This is located a few blocks off the mall. To us, it is a highly important location. One we think merits a significant memorial and one we think will do justice to the veterans of world war i. We prefer the mall, but we deal the play the cards we are dealt. Location aside, there are serious drawbacks to memorial site. A park with, it is a world war i commemorative element located in it. The pershing memorial is tucked away in the lower right corner of that photograph in the southeast corner of that site. Securedt of the park is from the street. It is elevated. There are 10 or 12 foot grass earthen berms topped by stonewalls on that corner of the park. To the passerby, theres nothing inviting about the park. There is nothing that says world war i or pershing memorial. There is nothing that draws you in. The two sides of the park accessible to passersby are the western edge at the far edge of where the memorial element is. As you look in the park from 15th street, you dont see the memorial component. On the north edge, there is the taxi stand and a line of parking spots that service the willard and other restaurants and hotels. It is very uninviting to passersby. There is nothing that draws you in. The second drawback to the current site is it is a History Lesson more than a memorial. You see this wall. That has two very good maps and nice narrative text about the involvement of the United States in world war i. But there is no mention in the text of the servicemen who gave their lives turned the war. During the war. There is no mention of the fact the combat fatality rate in five months of fighting in world war i was twice that of world war ii. There was no mention that the america suffered more fatalities in five months than three years in korea or eight years of active combat in vietnam. When i testified on the hill a few months ago on the bill that would authorize this memorial, there was testimony on a bill to add a feature to the korean war memorial. The advocate for that bill said with great emphasis that in korea, america lost 1000 minimum. 1000 men a month. In world war i, we lost 10,000 in the month. What people in this country do not know about world war i is what a bloody and savage war it was. They dont understand that american serviceman demonstrated servicemen demonstrated the same valor and heroism in world war i that they have in every other war this country fought. Part of the mission is to educate the American People about that in addition to the broader geopolitical aspects of the war. The memorial there now is very unemotional. There is a statue of general pershing with a pair of binoculars in his hands. He is not even riding a horse. With all the respect the designers of the memorial, it is a static, passive memorial that lacks any real pathos or humanity. You compare it to the Vietnam Memorial or the platoon of soldiers at the korea memorial or the tableaux at the grant memorial. Each of those conveys something about the humanity of the warfare. This one, frankly, does not. It is a memorial to general pershing but not much else. Those are some criticisms of the current site and why we think it needs to be not just redesignated as a National World war one memorial but reconceived and redeveloped. Right now, it is a part that happens to have a world war i commemorative feature. Our objective is to make it a world war i memorial located in an urban park setting. We are alive to the fact this should be a working urban park. In my view, there will be three groups of people that will come to this memorial. First, the world war i enthusiasts who want to convey their respects to the veterans of world war i. Second, the guests and other visitors who live or come to that part of town and want a nice urban oasis for lunch or to just take a breather. Third, we hope that they will be here to see an iconic work of art, that will draw people in its own right, regardless of theme. That is our vision for the memorial. We have the sense not to have a preconceived notion of what a design of this park would be as a new memorial. We anticipate and have already begun planning for a Design Competition. We anticipate tony mentioned the eisenhower memorial. Im not involved in that process, but i have followed it to some extent. Suffice it to say, we will do things differently that have been done with the eisenhower memorial. I anticipate that the commission will throw this open to an open Design Competition, much as was done with the Vietnam Memorial that yielded that stunning and surprising design that really changed the ground with respect to memorials in this country, and in the world indeed. That competition will most likely involve two rounds of competition, and open competition from which we will select a handful of finalists, and give them stipends to further develop their designs. There will be an independent panel of jurors that will make recommendations to the commission on the selection of the finalists and the winning design. It will be the commissions choice. Again, the commission has the sense to know that we are not design experts and its not our place to preconceive what the design will look like. It is also our intention to engage the many stakeholders in this tomorrow, and in this in this memorial and in this site at the site at the very outset of the process, so we can tell entrants into the competition, give them clear parameters of what needs to be there and not be there, what field we are looking for the site, what other uses besides memorial uses will be provided by the site, how it will relate to Freedom Plaza across the street and the surrounding neighborhood. Its a very complex site given this location, and a lot of thought will be required at the outset. We will have conversations with National Parks and the National Planning commission, fine arts, neighbors around the park, veterans groups, many stakeholders so we have an objective before we start the competition. Theres currently no budget for the site other than what we have done on the back of envelope. The world war ii and Martin Luther king memorials each were about 100 million. I dont believe we could raise 100 million for a world war i memorial. Nor do we envision something as elaborate as the world war ii memorial. In my own mind i harken back to , the d. C. War memorial which i fell in love with precisely because it was a quiet, sober place removed from the hustle and bustle of the city around it. It is that contemplative feel i would like to recreate in a world war i memorial. This will not be a triumphant memorial because there was nothing triumphant about world war i. We do not envision a complex memorial. Our working budget for this, this is back of the envelope, so i dont want to hear two years from now that we have exceeded our budget. It is about 10 million to 15 million. If we go much beyond that, we go beyond our purposes, and beyond what is realistic as far as our ambitions for fundraising. The schedule is ambitious. It is remarkable that the Vietnam Memorial was completed from start to finish in a matter 28 months. That is nearly impossible in todays environment. We have a little over four years. We hope to dedicate this on Armistice Day 2018. It would be the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended world war i. We anticipate conducting the Design Competition through most of 2015, working on getting the necessary design approvals from the various reviewing agencies during 2016. Spending 2017 sending drawings to engineers. Freaking ground 2017 and completing and dedicating the memorial by veterans day 2018. Four years is a tight timeframe for a memorial of this significance, but we think if we do the work right up front, we can make the process go quickly and efficiently and yield a memorial that will stand the test of time and do proper justice to the American Veterans of world war i. This ultimately was we hear a lot about the greatest generation. This is what i call the silent generation. They were the parents of the greatest generation. They suffered through two great calamities, world war i, and the great depression. And then they sent their sons and daughters off to fight in world war ii. Again, this goes back to why this is not a triumphant memorial, but something more somber and reflective and reverential, that would do justice to a generation of americans that was largely not recognized in this country, certainly not by todays generations for the contributions and sacrifices they made for this country. That is our proposal and our plan. Again, i should say a word about the pending legislation if i havent. We have introduced a bill to authorize the commission to proceed with this proposal. Bills were introduced simultaneously in the house and senate this year on a bipartisan basis. We are very grateful to representative Daniel Cleaver of Emanuel Cleaver of kansas city and senators mccaskill and blunt of missouri, who have been our champions of this effort, along with congressman ted poe from texas, who was involved with a world war i memorial efforts for some years. They have carried the water with us. Senator rockefeller has been of great assistance as well, as have others. Bills were introduced in both houses on bipartisan basis. The house bill was passed as an amendment to the defense appropriation bill earlier this year. It has already been approved by the house. Hearings have been held in the senate a couple of months ago. We anticipate that if the senate does not pass the appropriations bill, the memorial will move forward possibly as a standalone bill and get passed by this house. Get passed by both senate and house. There is no significant opposition to the proposal. All of the major agencies are on board and have come out publicly in support of the proposal. I talked to your neighbor, oliver carr, a few weeks ago and they are very engaged as well. Oliver carr owns the hotel. This is easy. The problem is, i guess, couple of months ago when i was testifying before a house panel on this, the chairman of that subcommittee said to another group who was also testifying that day, he said, youve got a real problem. This bill makes sense and is the right thing to do, and we dont do things that way up here. [laughter] that is my one concern about this. I dont have to tell you all about how things work on capitol hill. Even the easy stuff is hard. But it is the right thing to do. Time is of the essence. With the attention that the centennial that the start of the war has brought just in the last few weeks, we think we are optimistic that it will pass and we will be moving forward. [applause] we now have time for questions. I will call on you. Can you please give your name. Dentify who you are with if you are with the National Press club, say that. [indiscernible] is this the first war memorial in washington that has ever been done without one single veteran still alive . Why has this taken 100 years . Why was this not done a long time ago . To the first part of your question, i cannot speak whether there were memorials of the war of 1812 or the spanishamerican war or other conflicts after all of the veterans had passed. As to why it has taken so long, again, the idea of memorials of this sort is only 30yearold idea. It was the Vietnam Veterans. I should say the good cit