WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Eisenhower Memorial Commission has launched two new Pivotal Moment films on the Dwight D. Eisenhower E-Memorial (www.eisenhowermemorial.gov). The films are designed to chronicle significant events and milestones that served as turning points in Eisenhower’s life and career.
The Pivotal Moment package entitled, “Little Rock” chronicles the bold decisions made by President Eisenhower in the fall of 1957 when he sent federal troops to Little Rock Arkansas to help desegregate the previously all-white Central High School. The film package chronicle the turbulent events of that time, President Eisenhower’s bold decisions to place the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and send paratroopers from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to restore order and protect African American students who were enrolling at Central High School.
Highlighting the Little Rock film package is an interview with President Bill Clinton, who himself came of age during the Little Rock crisis. When speaking of President Eisenhower’s decision to intervene in Little Rock, President Clinton commented, “I learned a lot about how people who are determined to prevail do it without going out of their way to humiliate their adversaries or claim too much momentary credit. He knew that the record would be written in the legacy of the lives of the kids that went to school.”
After viewing the Little Rock film, Eisenhower Memorial Commissioner and Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA), was moved to comment, “For those of us who lived through the turbulent struggle for civil rights in America, Little Rock endures as a symbol of leadership. This remarkable film captures President Eisenhower’s decisiveness at a critical time in the nation’s history. I am pleased to see this important moment chronicled so brilliantly as a part of the memorial’s educational mission.”
The second film package, “Going to West Point,” chronicles Eisenhower’s formative years growing up in Abilene, Kansas, and provides insight into young Eisenhower’s life-altering decision to leave Kansas to attend The United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, and how that prepared him for a life of leadership and service to his country.
An interview with Senator Pat Roberts, U.S. Senator from Kansas and one of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission’s founding commissioners, conveys frontier life in Kansas at the turn of the 20th Century and the powerful impact that had on Eisenhower throughout his life. Also featured is Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen, the 59th Superintendent of West Point, who provides insight into the rigor of cadet life, including historic anecdotes on Eisenhower’s days as member of the Class of 1915, which included a number of members who became distinguished military leaders.
“Ike drew on his small-town Kansas values of teamwork and a nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic when he got to West Point. These values were crucial to his success in that challenging environment, and stayed forever in the heart of the man who is a hero to all of us,” commented Senator Roberts.
Later in his life, looking back on becoming a West Point cadet, Eisenhower observed, “Across half a century, I can look back and see a rawboned, gawky Kansas boy from the farm country, earnestly repeating the words that would make him a cadet.”
The E-Memorial uses cutting-edge technologies to complement the Eisenhower National Memorial and educate students, scholars, historians, visitors to the memorial, and the broader global audience about President and General Eisenhower and the memorial itself. Additional Pivotal Moment content will be released between now and the dedication of the memorial.
The Eisenhower E-Memorial is being designed and created by the highly-respected media design firm, Local Projects, of New York, NY.
The videos can be viewed on the Eisenhower Memorial Commission website (www.eisenhowermemorial.gov) at the following links:
Little Rock
http://eisenhowermemorial.gov/experience/#/littlerock
West Point
http://eisenhowermemorial.gov/experience/#/westpoint