Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

George W. Bush Marks First Memorial Day As President

Aired May 28, 2001 - 10:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is marking Memorial Day with several events honoring veterans. For more on the holiday schedule, let's go to the White House and our Major Garrett -- Major, good morning.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

President Bush marks his first Memorial Day as president by signing legislation that will end a long simmering dispute that has tried to answer the question how should Washington, how should the nation best honor and memorialize the 16 million Americans who donned uniforms during WWII.

Well, President Bush signed legislation today clearing all the remaining legal hurdles to begin construction of a 7.4 acre monument to the WWII veterans on the National Mall. In a signing ceremony, he said it was long past time to honor their sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation must always remember the heroism and humility and terrible suffering and that memory must be and will be preserved on the Washington Mall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Daryn, an interesting historical note here. President Bush is the first president to sign legislation that will create a memorial in part to his father. The 41st president of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush, was a naval aviator in WWII Four hundred thousand Americans, 407,000 to be exact, died in WWII

This monument at first drew tremendous controversy. Many people thought it was much, much too big and that it would spoil the beautiful vista on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It was redesigned. There were countless public hearings, both in Congress and in other venues, and yet there were still legal disputes even after the redesign. Congress decided last week to end all of those disputes, to set aside the legal hurdles. The House and the Senate passed identical legislation. The president signed it today, setting in motion a process that will begin construction within about two months.

Those who are involved in the construction say that mall, rather, that monument, rather, on the Mall will be ready in 2004 -- Daryn?

KAGAN: A lot of "m" words there for you, Major.

GARRETT: That's right.

KAGAN: Thank you very much. We'll see you in a bit.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, although President Bush today cleared the way for the WWII memorial, there's still controversy. Thousands of war veterans will get the glory they so deserve. But critics argue the monument is in bad taste. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is at the National Mall, the future site of this monument, and she has more -- Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that monument will be located right behind me, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. With me right now is Mike Conley, who's a spokesman for the WWII memorial. Your reaction this morning must be at last.

MIKE CONLEY, AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION: At last. Your absolutely right. I mean this is a great day for the memorial and a great day for the nation, but most importantly, a wonderful day for America's WWII generation, the men and women whose sacrifice and achievement we're going to honor here at this magnificent site.

MESERVE: But do you believe for a minute that the controversy is over?

CONLEY: Controversies are endemic with memorial building in Washington. You know, every memorial has had its controversy. We have a small element here in Washington that objects to our efforts. But overwhelmingly across the nation the people support this thank you to the WWII generation.

MESERVE: Now, the big objections to this have been the location and the design. Quickly, can you rebut what they're saying?

CONLEY: Well, there is no more appropriate spot in the entire country to commemorate what is without a doubt the most important turning point in our history and world history of the 20th century than WWII directly between these magnificent icons to the 18th and 19th century transitions, the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. And the design is going to be a beautiful enhancement to this site. I mean it's going to frame this...

MESERVE: And will it obstruct the vista?

CONLEY: No. The design, the architecture will frame this vista and nothing will be obstructed.

MESERVE: When will construction begin? When will it be over?

CONLEY: We're hoping to actually begin work in late July and it'll be about a 30 month construction process project so we think it'll be completed and dedicated in early 2004. MESERVE: And when it's over, what will it mean for WWII veterans and what will it mean for the rest of us?

CONLEY: Well, actually for the rest of us it'll be a reminder that too often enormous sacrifice is required to preserve the freedoms that we take for granted, the freedom that is represented by a day like Memorial Day. There could be no more appropriate day for the president to have signed that legislation than today.

MESERVE: And for the veterans, how many will still be alive, do you project, when this project is done?

CONLEY: The Veterans Administration tells us that we will only probably have three and a half million of the 16 million who served in uniform alive to receive the tribute. That's one of the sad realities. We're losing that magnificent generation at the rate of 1,100 a day.

MESERVE: Mike Conley, thanks so much for joining us here today.

CONLEY: Thank you, Jeanne.

MESERVE: So once again, construction due to begin in July right here behind me on the National Mall -- and back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jeanne Meserve. Thanks so much -- Daryn?

KAGAN: It was one of this country's least popular wars, but today more than 58,000 American men and women who gave their lives in Vietnam will be honored. Our national correspondent Bruce Morton has more for us. He is live this morning from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall -- Bruce, good morning.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

This memorial, like the war it honors, started in controversy when it first opened back in 1982. People said oh, it's too gloomy, it's black, it's not grand enough. But over the years since then, this has come to be a unique place in Washington. People come here in the day time, at night time. The Vietnam Memorial Veterans Fund says it's the most visited thing in Washington, more than four million people a year. People come to mourn, people come to grieve and people come to heal.

We can pan over, I think, and show you some of them. People come, some just want to touch a name. Some take rubbings of a name. And they leave things. More than 60,000 objects have been left here since this opened in 1982. People leave flags. People leave letters. Sometimes people leave old snapshots, a patch, maybe, from one American division or another, a unit that served in Vietnam. And it has come to be in, I think an extraordinary way, a place of healing.

There'll be a ceremony here later today, one o'clock Eastern Time. But what really matters about this place, I think, is what happens every day. People come like the ones you see here. People leave things. People grieve. People heal. I have never come here but when I've seen at least one person in tears -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Bruce, what do they do with all those objects that people leave behind?

MORTON: They're kept. The government keeps them. There's a warehouse full of them by now. I don't know eventually what's going to become of them. I did go once and have a look just to see what they did with them and there are shelves and shelves and shelves full of snapshots, flags, letters and so on.

KAGAN: And I know as the years have gone by they have had to add names to the wall. How do they do that? Is there a space at the end? I know the idea is to go year by year, but how do they add names that need to be added later?

MORTON: It is chronological. They're adding a half a dozen -- well, they've been actually inscribed already. They'll be announced at today's ceremony and they do go at the end and usually it's people -- not always -- but it's somebody who was wounded during the war, say, and 25, 30 years later might die of the eventual effects of that injury, those kinds of cases.

KAGAN: Bruce Morton at the Wall, thanks for joining us this morning. Good to have you with us.

MORTON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com