|
House at this time to understand that the people of the Yet, when a monument to the first President was in-
<br /> U.S. want the Tidal Basin and the cherry blossoms pro- cluded in Pierre L'Enfant's plans for the new capital city
<br /> tected and we are going to have them protected by legis- in 1791, Washington himself objected. He thought that
<br /> lation if it is possible to do it." Boylan shot back that government funds should not be spent for such a proj-
<br /> "not a single cherry tree [would] he disturbed." ect. The trouble was compounded by the monument's
<br /> In the spring of 1938, after witnessing years of unpro- original conception, an equestrian statue with Washing -
<br /> ductive debate by Congress, a fed -up FDR approved ton in Roman dress, a truncheon held in his right hand.
<br /> both the site and a modified version of Pope's design, To many Americans, the design smacked of monarchism
<br /> pushing through a $500,000 appropriation to begin and ostentation, inappropriate for depicting the man
<br /> construction. But the First Lady didn't share his enthu- who was a role model of republican citizenship.
<br /> siasm. In what was almost certainly an act of defiance, in After Washington's death, battle lines hardened. The
<br /> the April issue of Reader's Digest Eleanor Roosevelt wrote proposed statue was championed by the federalists, who
<br /> a paean to the trees, which read in part: "I hope that favored a grand monument, and opposed by the repub-
<br /> neither ax nor water will harm them." The trees had he- licans, who questioned the Very act of commemorating a
<br /> come a cause celebre, as people chained themselves to single hero. As the decades wore on, haggling contin-
<br /> the trunks in protest. When construction got under way, ued. In 1833, a private monument society was formed,
<br /> the National Park Service took to removing the trees at bringing in gifts of money and blocks of marble from
<br /> night; eventually, 150 were destroyed or moved. states and individuals. Fifteen years later, the corner -
<br /> Ferocious as it was, the battle over the Jefferson stone was laid on the monument's present site. The soci-
<br /> Menmorial was tame compared with the earlier, century- ety had decided on a predictably grand design by
<br /> long war over the Washington Monument. As art histori- Robert Mills: an obelisk rising from a Greek temple, its
<br /> an Kirk Savage has observed, the effort to build a na- colonnade encircling a vast rotunda that would house
<br /> tional monument in Washington's memory became the statues and murals of revolutionary heroes (p. 102). The
<br /> most problematic undertaking in the campaign to de- decision was made to build the obelisk first, and by 1854
<br /> velop a national identity. You'd never guess that today; the shaft stood at 152 feet. But, that year, progress came
<br /> the 555 -foot -tall stone shaft has become one of the na- to a complete halt when Pope Pius IX donated a block
<br /> tion's most recognizable icons. of marble for the monument. Objecting to the "papist
<br /> A LL ' RIGHT
<br /> \ .. r ..
<br /> 50 WE LIED AND WEIRE
<br /> ;. , 9 � te ` + ; ` . TO O YOU — - CUTTING DOWN
<br /> ," YOUR 'DAMN
<br /> :. \ ' SO WHAT ? CHERRY
<br /> • . /4; ' itt, -':' ,:,'e/.4,4;°,7V.' ,
<br /> • 1
<br /> t., ■ 4a. ` te a . W �i '
<br /> f . � ' z. ITICS,,�
<br /> ?: t r , f , . �js� 4 �\
<br /> •
<br /> t 1 s . ,,�$� , '3 _ of uIE�RY
<br /> v te a + TRE
<br /> t 6 DESrRoYEO
<br /> - •J `f, Y `i Dr • 7:'11::3,1$.=" y Y EA'.., `. _ �'-`�
<br /> ..7... ti f e .. ...{ ... - + +wed ` '-+ .:
<br /> The building of the Jefferson Memorial precipitated the "cherry ' 1t�� ` , ,� +. \
<br /> tree rebellion," as protesters fearing destruction of trees on , � ,. �� 4 L1t
<br /> the site chained themselves to the trunks; the politicians waffled.
<br /> ►^^-'� l 504 k et
<br /> rl -r 98 al
<br /> _-
<br />
|