America's Greatest Monuments: Washington, D.C.

Many Americans at some point in their lives visit the national capitol in Washington, D.C., touring the city's ever-expanding collection of memorials and monuments without necessarily learning the stories behind these landmarks. This Smithsonian Networks production introduces the viewer to some of the Washington Mall's newest (comparatively) attractions, notably the FDR Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Wall, and monuments honoring the soldiers of World War II and Korea. Although most of these newer memorials were plagued by disagreements over style, location, or substance, controversy also dogged older monuments to American leaders George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. Some felt that the building of the Jefferson Memorial, for instance, was an unnecessary diversion from the war effort during WWII, while others protested that the swampy location for the Lincoln Memorial was an insult to the memory of the Great Emancipator, and the building of the Washington Monument was interrupted as the ideals of the Founding Fathers were tested by America's Civil War. Many of us, however, are only familiar with the mixed reaction to the Vietnam Veterans Wall, which some felt represented a black gash of shame. The meaning of memorials can shift over time: the Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, founded partly from a desire to punish landowner Robert E. Lee, later became a revered and eloquent tribute to fallen heroes, while the Lincoln Memorial, originally conceived as a celebration of the reunification of the states, became a frequent backdrop for the struggle to advance civil rights and liberties. Presenting an excellent historical overview of Washington's famed memorials, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)