Episode #1440
American Icons: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Friday, October 04, 2013
This is the monument that changed how America remembers war.
How do you build a monument to a war that was more tragic than triumphant? Maya Lin was practically a kid when she got the commission to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall.
“The veterans were asking me, ‘What do you think people are going to do
when they first come here?’” she remembers. “And I wanted to say,
‘They’re going to cry.’" Her minimalistic granite wall was derided by
one vet as a “black gash of shame.” But inscribed with the name of every
fallen soldier, it became a sacred place for veterans and their
families, and it influenced later designs like the National September 11
Memorial. We’ll visit a replica of the wall that travels to veterans’
parades around the country, and hear from Secretary of Defense Chuck
Hagel how this singular work of architecture has influenced how we think
about war. Bonus Track: Kurt Andersen's full interview with Maya Lin
Hear Kurt's full interview with Lin about what it was like to stir up a national controversy at such a young age, and how her artistic career has evolved in the three decades since the memorial was created.
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Bonus Track: Angela Matthews remembers Joseph Sintoni
Angela Matthews reads the letter she left at The Wall for her high school sweetheart, Joseph Sintoni. It was featured in Laura Palmer's book Shrapnel From The Heart.
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