Eisenhower Memorial's 'Refined' Design Makes Family Wary

WASHINGTON -- The Eisenhower family isn't feeling optimistic about a "refined" design for the controversial Frank Gehry-designed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial that is to be revealed Tuesday.

President Eisenhower's granddaughter Anne Eisenhower told the Washington Examiner that she doesn't have high hopes that the refined design will address the Eisenhower family's concerns about the memorial's proposed design.

The 34th president's family objects to both the focus and details of Gehry's design for the memorial, which features a statue of a young Eisenhower looking at bas-relief depictions of his future achievements. Woven steel tapestries depicting Eisenhower's Kansas upbringing will frame Eisenhower Square, a spot off the National Mall where Independence and Maryland avenues SW intersect in front of the National Air and Space Museum and Department of Education headquarters.

The family's primary concern is that the memorial, which has been the subject of a congressional hearing, focuses primarily on Eisenhower's boyhood, rather than on his two-term presidency and military accomplishments. Anne Eisenhower told the Examiner that she and other members of the Eisenhower family are also worried about the cost of maintaining the steel tapestries -- and that, despite Gehry's public pronouncements that he is "open to exploring other options" with the family, the family isn't expecting Tuesday's unveiling to address its concerns.

Check out the design for the Eisenhower Memorial in the slideshow below. What do you think of it?